Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was another ordinary, routine day of the week, and Alhaitham was just heading home after another day’s of satisfactory productivity. The life and salary as the Grand Scribe suited him very well, and he intends to hold on to this life for as long as he could.

As he was making his usual way towards his house, it started to rain.  Clicking his tongue, Alhaitham raised his cape over his head.  

It was late, and the streets were decently empty at the rainy hour, with stragglers scrambling for shelter. Alhaitham liked this kind of atmosphere, so he slowed down on his walking pace, disregarding his outfit which was slowly becoming drenched as the gale picked up, indulging in the smell and feel of rain. 

It was some time before he became aware of a very shrill noise disrupting  his peaceful rainfall ASMR. Brows furrowing in annoyance, he clicked his tongue as he identified it as high-pitched… squeaking? He couldn’t tell what animal it was, but at least it wasn’t a lost child, because that would be a severely undesirable impromptu responsibility to handle.

Alhaitham wished he could will himself to ignore the cries, but contrary to what his annoyed expression may suggest, his heart ached for the poor animal. Following the piercing calls, Alhaitham turned into a small alleyway and located the source. 

It was golden-blonde in colour, completely drenched through and shivering pathetically in a crumbling cardboard box beside the dumpsters, small mouth open and screaming for all it was worth. At first, he was bewildered as to why someone would abandon a bunny right in Sumeru City like this. But his expression soon softened at the sight of the sorry animal. Crouching down, he held his cape over it, amused by the way the screaming abruptly stopped, as if the little bun was stunned by the sudden ceasing of rainfall. Alhaitham smiled at its stunned reaction, holding out a hand.

“Do you want a home, little one?”

*

Alhaitham was no pet owner, but he was 90% sure that dogs are the attention-seeking breed, and not bunnies.

“Calm down, Newton’s Third Law of Motion,” Alhaitham grunted, trying to rip open the bag of rabbit feed while the strangely clingy bunny lolloped around his ankle repeatedly. “I need to open this bag first.”

Alhaitham has many strengths, but the skill of naming was not one of them. Thus, he’d come up with the simple expedient of naming the animal with whatever major topic he was currently reading about. After all, he found that the bunny would respond to his tone no matter what he called it. 

A thump was heard, which was probably Newton’s Third Law of Motion’s agitated reply to his words. Alhaitham sighed, having learnt that this thump meant that the rabbit was angry, as if it was Alhaitham’s fault that it was born with an impatient streak.

After a minute’s struggling — why are all these cursed pet food bags so difficult to open — Alhaitham succeeded in freeing the delicacies. “There you go, wasn’t that hard to wait a while, was it.” He carried it over to the food bowl he’d gotten recently, but as he was pouring the feed, the wretched thing pounced, latched onto the plastic and yanked, causing the bag to topple from Alhaitham’s hands and spilling the feed everywhere.

“You—”

As if to add on to his chagrin, Newton’s Third Law of Motion started eating off the floor rather than his overfilled, paid-for food bowl.

Ugh. And he’d literally cleaned the house earlier that day.

“Please stay put for the whole of dinner,” Alhaitham sighed aloud, picking up the bag and tying it up before depositing it to one side. It was nearing his usual bedtime, but he hadn’t even started making his own dinner yet.

Archons knew how difficult it was to care for a single animal on his own.

*

Alhaitham was laying on his bed, reading his book, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when something furry slid against his leg under the blanket.

“…How the hell did you get out of your cage?”

The bunny continued exploring around the underside of his blanket, rubbing its fur over his bare thighs and boxer — it was a strange ticklish sensation. Alhaitham dived under the covers to seize the offending creature.

“Stop it, Newton’s Third Law of Motion,” Alhaitham chided, glaring at the bunny who did not seemed the least bit remorseful at breaking out of its cage. “If you wanted to sleep on my bed, I can consider it once you’ve stopped making my life difficult for me.”

The rabbit perked its snout hopefully, as if it could actually understand his words, which should’ve been meaningless sounds to its ears. Somehow, this sight was so endearing that Alhaitham felt his lighthearted annoyance at the animal fade away.

“Hmph, but I suppose I’ll allow it tonight. Just don’t run around and disturb me or you’ll be back in your cage immediately.”

Laying on his side, he put the golden bunny down on the bedsheets next to him, and it immediately slumped right against his chest. Annoying aside, Alhaitham had to admit this creature was quite snuggly and loveable.

Marking his page in the book, Alhaitham put it away and turned off the lights, resting a gentle hand over the fluffy warm ball of fur.

*

Alhaitham blinked open his eyes slowly,  still feeling strangely groggy. Light was filtering through the mullioned window in his bedroom, and it took a while before his eyes adjusted to the morning’s light. Stretching, he suddenly became aware of a small weight on his chest, but he relaxed when he saw it was Newton’s Third Law of Motion, its eyes closed and settled in a peaceful loafing position.

He hadn’t had such a good night’s sleep in a while, even after Kaveh had left for his project, allowing him to have his quiet place to himself. 

He slowly turned his head to face his nightstand, feeling strangely lazy, before he perceived his clock and shot out of bed like he’d been electrocuted. He heard a distant thump as Newton’s Third Law of Motion was launched into the air and crash-landed on his carpet from the force of his movement.

Archons, he was late for work!

Alhaitham scrambled around, mind in a frazzle as he hunted for his usual wear. He’d never, ever slept past his alarm before, especially not on a work day. Pumped with adrenaline, Alhaitham almost flew out of his bedroom; hastily refilling Newton’s Third Law of Motion’s food and water bowl, he went back to locate the bunny. Thankfully, it was still sitting as if stunned on his carpet, and Alhaitham thanked the Archons that it hadn’t fled under his bed or anywhere else that would be difficult to extricate the tiny creature from. Carrying it towards its cage, Alhaitham petted it placatingly and uttered a hurried apology at his unceremonious manner of waking it up, before shutting the cage door and rushing for the door.

He was officially late by a grand total of 23 minutes. He’d dashed towards the Akedemiya on an empty stomach, which was now punishing him for this extremely foolish decision as his head swam the moment he stepped into the new Great Sage’s office to report for duty. 

“G-Grand Scribe Alhaitham! Are you alright? What happened?”

“Apologies for — being late— Alarm… didn’t go off,” he panted, and the sight of his flushed expression must be so unorthodox and genuine that the Great Sage patted him and handed him a folder containing his day’s tasks.

“That’s quite all right, the Akedemiya recognises your long-standing contribution to the city. Once you’re done with the tasks listed here, you may head home.”

“Thank you for your generosity, Great Sage,” Alhaitham wheezed, still trying to catch his breath.

*

Returning home hours later, Alhaitham was greeted with the sight of Newton’s Third Law of Motion perched on the arm of his couch, staring directly towards the door as if waiting for his return home, having somehow escaped its cage again. 

Alhaitham sighed in resignation, but he was honestly too tired to scold the bunny. Aside from the little piles of waste everywhere, at least his house hadn’t been trashed in his absence. 

Alhaitham walked towards the bunny, which looked up at him expectantly. He reached out a hand to stroke its soft fur. “I suppose you’re hungry? I tried to come home as soon as possible.”

Newton’s Third Law of Motion rubbed its chin hard on Alhaitham’s fingers as if in agreement. Smiling despite his bad day, Alhaitham went to prepare their dinner. 

Though, there was just one more event to add on to his woes for the day.

When Alhaitham retired to bed with the bunny in hand, about to do his usual pre-bedtime reading, he found the pages of the book that he was reading yesterday partially ripped off, with its crumpled, ripped portions littering his desk.

“…You—!”

As if sensing his growing fury, Newton’s Third Law of Motion suddenly shot off his bed and raced into the living room where its cage resided.

*

It took Alhaitham hours of his rest day and much fiddling of his Dendro powers to repair the book back to a decent condition. To give the devil his due, at least Newton’s Third Law of Motion knew not to disturb him this time and stayed quietly in its cage as it watched him. Its lopped ears seemed to droop even further, as if it was finally remorseful for its antics.

After his book was repaired, Alhaitham felt satisfaction overriding his anger for his bunny. He’d raised his voice to openly scold it this morning, sending it cowering into its hide box, but perhaps he had been a little too harsh. 

Alhaitham opened the cage door and held out a hand, allowing Newton’s Third Law of Motion to sniff him. Soon, it started rubbing its body against his palm.

“If you don’t want to get scolded again, don’t touch my books. I don’t like scolding you either.” Alhaitham held the rabbit up and, because he felt like it, pressed a kiss to its forehead. “You drive me up the wall, but I can’t seem to stay mad at you for long. Heh, it’s just the same with a certain someone.”

The bunny perked its ears at this.

Alhaitham headed for the armchair, settling Newton’s Third Law of Motion onto his lap, stroking the bunny’s fur as he continued with his book.

Well, maybe the life of a pet owner isn’t too bad at all. Alhaitham hoped that Kaveh would be alright with a bunny in the house.

Chapter Text

Kaveh was, as with any sane person in his shoes (or paws?), naturally freaked out and had perhaps maybe overreacted in retrospect.

He had just been drinking with that dodgy old hag whom he’d met on his project and who had also travelled to the desert on a commission. The old woman turned absolutely unhinged under the influence, and in an attempt to show off her witchcraft, proudly turned — yes, turned Kaveh, a human, a Vision holder, into a freaking bunny right in the middle of the tavern. Kaveh didn’t understand what was going on at first; one second he was watching the witch’s drunk-ridden figure, and in the next second, folds of fabric were all that he could see. It didn’t take long for Kaveh to recognise that the fabric was his clothes, and it didn’t take long for him to proceed to lose his sanity. This confusion was then manifested in extremely high pitched squealing issuing from Kaveh’s own mouth, horrifying even himself upon the discovery that he, the renowned Kaveh, could make such pathetic noises — his now-tiny body felt so weird to control, and he was feeling so much terror that, ignoring the witch’s drunken cry of “Come back!”, instinctively dashed out towards the night. 

He moved as fast as this four-limbed, muscular structure that is not adapted for long-distance running allowed, racing back the beaten path to Sumeru City. 

Whenever his mind was in a blank, either from boredom or shock, his thoughts always drifted to Alhaitham, his annoying roommate-and-definitely-not-his-crush-at-all. Therefore, his current, very desperate solution was to enlist Alhaitham’s help, if he could even help in such an unprecedented problem like this.

It was thanks to Kaveh’s lucky stars that he did not come across any lumbering Sumpter beasts or Rishboland tigers whilst on his trip back to Sumeru City. It was getting darker and Kaveh feared he would lose his way to Alhaitham’s house. Sure enough, as if to taunt him, the skies darkened perceptibly the moment he hopped into the city, and soon Kaveh felt the very unsolicited pattering of raindrops on his skin— no, fur.

Suddenly seized by uncontrollable shivering, Kaveh dragged his tired rabbit’s body into a nearby alleyway; he was too tired to seek proper shelter in the other establishments, which just seemed so far for him to reach in his current state. He willed his beating heart to calm, and panted pathetically in a crumpled and soaked cardboard box after having no doubt overexerted his small muscles. 

The rain fell harder, completely soaking his fur through, and Kaveh felt so miserable and tired that he let out a high whine of complaint.

“Where the heck are you, Alhaitham?! Come and find me already…”

Of course, these words could not issue from his tongue, instead coming out in a series of curious squeaks. Kaveh soon found that this made breathing difficult, though. 

Curling up upon himself, Kaveh helplessly cried out once more, cursing his fate at having met that crazy old witch.

It took some time for him to notice that the rain had stopped. He abruptly stopped screaming when he realised the reason why.

Alhaitham!

By some miracle from the Archons, Alhaitham was crouching over him, holding his cape over the cardboard box, face diffused into a gentle smile rarely ever directed at Kaveh, a helping hand stretched out. Kaveh almost cried in relief as he instantly jumped into Alhaitham’s waiting arms.

Alhaitham’s touch felt unusually warm and loving. Kaveh would be lying to himself if he said he’d never ached to feel this way in his junior’s embrace.

*

It took Kaveh two days to recover from his cold. Alhaitham didn’t have anywhere warm and appropriate to keep him, so he’d nursed him back to health on his bed, feeding him puréed pumpkin and other suddenly-delicious foodstuffs Kaveh would never dream of touching in his human form. Kaveh was getting very comfortable with this arrangement until one day, Alhaitham came back from work carrying a large cage and a bag of rabbit feed.

Bunnies weren’t able to show expressions well, but Kaveh was sure Alhaitham could feel the disgust radiating off him as he stared incredulously from the comforts of Alhaitham’s duvet.

“Don’t look at me like that, you can’t keep living on my bed forever.” Alhaitham raised an eyebrow at Kaveh’s offended stare. Kaveh tried to avoid Alhaitham’s approaching hands; his junior was too quick, and he soon found himself wriggling in his hold.

Kaveh landed into the padding of the cage with a bump, and he immediately lunged for the exit, but Alhaitham, being that audacious little bitch that he is, shut the door right on Kaveh’s face.

“There, home sweet home.” 

You piece of crap! Kaveh yelled back in his mind, glaring through the bars of his locked cage. I’ll definitely make you pay for embarrassing me like this! 

*

Although he hated the cage, Kaveh had found the rabbit feed unexpectedly delicious. It was actually the best thing he’d ever tasted in his entire life. It was even better than Collei’s Pita Pockets. Which was why he was impatiently lolloping around Alhaitham’s left ankle as he watched him fumble with the bag containing the goods.

Oh my Archons, hurry up, Kaveh wanted to roll his eyes at Alhaitham’s uncharacteristic slowness. Wasn’t this man all about speed and efficiency? 

“Calm down, Newton’s Third Law of Motion,” came Alhaitham’s exasperated voice. Of course this huge nerd would name an animal after a freaking theory. Though, Kaveh found it rather cute, but hell can freeze over before he’d admit that openly. Still, he thumped his foot petulantly just because he can.

At long last, Kaveh heard the bag rip. Alhaitham bent over to pour it into his food bowl that he’d purchased earlier. Kaveh decided to help speed things up by hopping and biting at the opened rip, pulling it over with his weight, causing food pellets to spill all over the floor. Well, Alhaitham can blame himself for being too slow for that. Kaveh dived for the nearest pellets and began eating them happily.

*

The lights were off in the living room, and Kaveh could make out a glimmer of light shining through the crack from under Alhaitham’s door to his room. So far, Kaveh’s record for being in that area whilst Alhaitham was around and awake before getting kicked out had been 23 minutes, which was rather impressive in his opinion.

Kaveh hated trying to make things out through the bars of the cage. Curse Alhaitham for making him feel like a criminal, damn it! Thankfully, rabbits had a decent night vision, so he worked valiantly in the dark, sticking his paws out to fiddle with the clamp shutting his cage door.

At long last, after using a useful, firm little length of stick discovered from the debris of the cage’s padding, the cage door opened with a satisfying click. Kaveh couldn’t help but do a little victory hop, smug at having one-upped Alhaitham. He nosed open the cage door and slipped out, pattering directly towards Alhaitham’s room.

The door wasn’t locked since Alhaitham thought Kaveh was presumably away. Trying to ignore the way his heart fell at this action, Kaveh nudged opened the door quietly, not wanting to draw attention just yet. He had an ultimate goal to achieve before being inevitably found, after all.

Operation Being a Little Shit: Get into Alhaitham’s pants and tickle him.

He couldn’t think of anything better to give that usual unfazed personality a good shock. He was sure his bunny face was twisted in an evil grin, if bunnies could sport evil grins in the first place. 

The green carpet spanning Alhaitham’s small room was a godsend, muffling his movements. The man was, as was his usual practice, reading a book, his blanket drawn up to his torso. Kaveh chose an angle where he would be strategically covered by Alhaitham’s bent knees, and pounced onto the mattress. Alhaitham hadn’t moved despite the probably noticeable dip of the mattress — Kaveh thanked the Archons that his roommate is a hopeless bookworm. Sneakily, he scrambled underneath the blankets and headed directly for the crotch.

Kaveh didn’t realise he was getting too close to Alhaitham’s legs, but being jostled by the glorious bare thighs from Alhaitham’s sudden reaction was an euphoric moment that Kaveh really wanted to immortalise in his future projects, if he could find a way to.  

“…How the hell did you get out of your cage?”

Kaveh ignored the question, choosing to trot smugly right onto his junior’s groin, but before he could do that, he found himself being grabbed.

“Stop it, Newton’s Third Law of Motion.” Alhaitham was frowning, but Kaveh was too smug to care. It’s strike one for him against Alhaitham, after all. “If you wanted to sleep on my bed, I can consider it once you’ve stopped making my life difficult.”

And the same to you, Kaveh argued back in his head, though he couldn’t help but pert his snout hopefully at the prospect. He fully expected Alhaitham to bring him back to his cage, and was considering whether he should break out again to spend the night in his own, more comfortable bed before Alhaitham’s next words stunned him.

“Hmph, but I suppose I’ll allow it tonight. Just don’t run around and disturb me or you’ll be back in your cage immediately.”

Eh?

Kaveh’s eyes widened in shock as he found himself being settled beside the warm body of his junior.

Ehh??

Well, who is he to deny his own sly, opportunistic nature? Kaveh slumped immediately against Alhaitham’s chest, relishing the firm pectorals muscles right on his back and feeling overly blissful. 

Soon, the lights were off, and Alhaitham’s hand came to rest on him, engulfing his entire body with warmth. 

Kaveh stilled, blinking rather rapidly at this unexpectedly warm gesture. Did something get in his eye, or what? 

Oh well.

Kaveh closed his eyes, listening to the even breathing of Alhaitham, and wishing that time would stop so he could experience this inexplicable contentment forever. 

*

BRRRNG!

Kaveh shot awake instantly; his hearing was unfortunately enhanced in this form, and Alhaitham’s alarm was no short of torture. He hopped onto the bedside table where the annoying device stood clanging merrily away. With a huff, he stuck out a paw to slam the button to shut the alarm up.

Kaveh turned to look at his sleeping junior, who had shifted slightly in his sleep at the first ring, but had no doubt relaxed into unconsciousness the moment the other persistent rings did not follow. Kaveh found himself staring a bit too long than was socially acceptable — Alhaitham looked so much younger and peaceful and beautiful when his brows aren’t constantly furrowed. Kaveh wanted to snap a picture to immortalise the cute drool issuing from Alhaitham’s opened mouth, but contented himself with settling directly on top of the man’s torso.

It was a funny sensation, being light enough to feel the upward and downward motions of Alhaitham’s breathing, but he stretched and buried his face into the blessed cleavage, drifting off to sleep once more.

*

Kaveh has been rudely awoken multiple times before, but this one seriously took the cake.

He’d found himself sailing through the air, floundering like a fish out of water, before he very unceremoniously flopped onto the carpeted surface. Thankfully, his body righted itself right before the fall such that Kaveh landed on his four feet, but it was still a scary experience.

What’s the big idea?! He glared at his unusually haggard junior, rushing around for this and that. It was actually quite a funny and unusual sight, such that Kaveh found his madness ebbing away, replaced by amusement as he watched the show.

Oh right, I turned off his alarm. Whoops.

Still, he felt rather bad when Alhaitham apologised to him — until that bastard did the very unapologetic thing of shoving him back into the hated cage.

*

Look, in Kaveh’s defence, he was bored.

He wasn’t used to sitting around all day — even on his off days, he’d be out on the streets showcasing his wonderful (note: actually disastrous) street magic to his Kusharewar juniors.  He’d thus taken to exploring their entire house in his rabbit version after breaking out of the cage, full of wonderment at how much larger the furniture seemed, as well as abusing his jumping ability to reach places he couldn’t reach before (note: the top shelves of Alhaitham’s bookshelf containing his most important papers and no doubt any juicy secrets) but unfortunately finding nothing of note (note: Alhaitham is actually a rabid workaholic and isn’t in fact a fanfiction writer hiding freaky drafts in his important work papers; Kaveh’s disappointment is immeasurable and his day is quite frankly ruined). To vent his dissatisfaction at the lack of discovery of any dirty secrets that he could’ve held over his dastardly gorgeous roommate, he hopped down onto the desk and began to mess with the book Alhaitham had been reading the night before.

Kaveh may have gotten a little bit carried away, but it was too late to save the book now.

Alhaitham returned hours later, looking uncharacteristically tired, but he still came over and gave him a pat, which had no reason to feel this good. He took the opportunity to rub his chin hard on Alhaitham’s finger, though he wasn’t sure why; his animal-turned instincts just told him to do so. It made him very satisfied, though.

Kaveh had forgotten all about the book fiasco until after dinner. Alhaitham was carrying him into his room to spend the night when he suddenly recalled his crimes and went oh, shit internally.

“…You—!”

Kaveh did not wait for Alhaitham to finish his exclamation; he sprang off the bed, making a beeline straight for the safe refuge of the cage.

*

The next morning was awful. Other than having to sleep in that uncomfortable, smelly cage, Kaveh was cruelly scolded by Alhaitham despite his cute appearance. All right, maybe he shouldn’t have ruined his book like that, but rabbits like to scratch and bite things up, and he was just appealing to his form’s base instincts! Still, he felt just a little bit guilty when he saw Alhaitham sitting on the floor of the living area, trying his hardest to repair the book.

It felt like an eternity before Alhaitham held the repaired book up, a victorious smirk plastered on his face. Kaveh, peeking from his hide box, felt his heart jump at the sight. Curse this man for being pretty to a fault.

Said pretty man had stood up and was approaching his cage. Kaveh braced himself for more scoldings.

He heard the click of the cage door and suddenly, Alhaitham’s scent engulfed his nostrils, which meant he had stuck his hand into the cage. Kaveh sniffed at his hand but stayed still, wondering if this was a trap, but Alhaitham’s fingers merely started stroking his fur. Soon, he felt himself rubbing his body against the man’s palm, chasing the pleasant sensation of being petted.

“If you don’t want to get scolded again, don’t touch my books. I don’t like scolding you either.”

Yeah, yeah, Kaveh replied in his mind, too lost in the pleasure. Damn this feels good. Just keep petting me.

To his chagrin, Alhaitham stopped petting him and carried him up towards his torso. Then, he felt Alhaitham’s lips press down upon his furry forehead.

Kaveh felt like his brain had just short circuited.

“You drive me up the wall, but I can’t seem to stay mad at you for long. Heh, it’s just the same with a certain someone.”

His heart still beating erratically over the kiss, Kaveh perked his ears up, suddenly full of hope. That ‘someone’ had gotta mean him, right? That meant Alhaitham liked him, right? Could his feelings actually be recognised, could they possibly make this work despite their clash in personalities? Kaveh couldn’t help his bubbling hopefulness and excitement as he stared earnestly into Alhaitham’s eyes, trying to send a hidden message.

YES yes initiate that conversation you coward. I can’t believe I actually fell for you this hard, but it’s too much for my pride if I confessed first so you have to take the fall, you insufferable, pretty bastard!

Unfortunately, because Alhaitham was cursed with a dense perspective despite his smarts, he did not get the meaningful look Kaveh was shooting him, and instead settled into an armchair to read. Kaveh wanted to both cry and roll his eyes at the anticlimactic scene.

Well, he had all the time in the world to nudge Alhaitham into realising his feelings for him using this form. For now, he sat comfortably on Alhaitham’s lap, enjoying the latter’s gentle pats. Finding a cure to reverse his current form can definitely wait.

Chapter Text

Why is it suddenly so difficult to breathe?

Alhaitham furrowed his eyebrows, eyes still closed, unwilling to wake up from his nap, but the matter of suffocation was becoming an increasing concern. Shaking off remnants of sleepiness, Alhaitham blinked open his eyes.

Kaveh was right on top of him, sitting on his lap, the architect’s head buried in his neck, snoozing away. The weight of Kaveh’s body was what caused the constricted breathing.

“Oi, get off,” Alhaitham grunted, absolutely bewildered as to why his senior would choose to sleep right on him. His neck ached at having fallen asleep in the armchair while reading. He stared around for signs of Newton’s Third Law of Motion — where did that bunny go? Did Kaveh return it to its cage?

The cage was empty — Alhaitham frowned in mild concern. Did the rabbit escape outside?

“Kaveh, wake up,” Alhaitham stressed, recovering enough to lift Kaveh’s sleeping body up in order to free himself from his seat. “When did you get back? You’re done with your project already?”

“Nnh, five more minutes…”

“If you want to develop bad posture from sleeping on top of a chair’s back, by all means.”

“Archons, you’re so annoying first thing in the morning,” Kaveh grumbled, stretching before he abruptly paused —  and then turned as pale as a sheet.

This hadn’t escaped Alhaitham’s notice. He raised an eyebrow at Kaveh’s unusual reaction. “What’s wrong?”

Kaveh was grabbing at his hair, running hands through his body, as if he’d realised something groundbreaking the moment he woke up.

Alhaitham’s frown deepened, and he cocked his head questioningly. “What’s gotten into you?”

Finally, Kaveh looked up, still in that bewildered look, before he screamed something incoherent that sounded vaguely like “Gotta go!”

Alhaitham watched in bemusement as his senior lunged for the door and disappeared into the streets. Well, that was probably his latest unique way of reacting to stress, Alhaitham reasoned as he let out a chortle he’d been suppressing at Kaveh’s funny reactions. His senior can be so amusing at times. 

However, his amusement soon turned into unease as he began hunting around for his pet.

*

Kaveh probably could’ve signed up for a marathon and won that morning; he put a sizeable distance between him and the house before his body wheezed at him to stop. Skidding to a stop in front of Puspa Cafe, Kaveh slammed his back against the wall and slid down into a crouch, his head reeling at the sequences of events.

Was he overreacting even more than when he turned into a rabbit? Kaveh couldn’t tell. But he was painfully aware of the fact that he’d have to come up with a lie to justify Newton’s— Kaveh was not going to refer to himself, no matter how indirectly, by that entire damn line — sudden disappearance, as well as his sudden appearance. Surely Alhaitham would put two and two together, even if the connection seemed a bit too wild to be true?

“Ugh, that’s not the most important thing right now!” Kaveh muttered out loud distractedly, starting to pace about the spot. He had to somehow get a replacement gold-coloured bunny that’s similar to his personality and also responds to a stupid name. Kaveh groaned out loud. Well, technically it was Kaveh’s own fault that he didn’t try to inform Alhaitham earlier, but how was he to know that he would turn back so quickly?! Just what kind of magic did that senile witch cast on him?!

Wait, the witch!

Kaveh could go look for the witch and demand for answers as well as make her explain everything to Alhaitham while Kaveh hides at a safe distance behind. Kaveh patted himself mentally on the back for coming up with such a genius plan.

*

“Huh, just where did you go to?”

Alhaitham had been calling for the bunny for about half an hour now. He couldn’t help the dismay and panic bubbling within him as he hunted everywhere for signs of the bunny, but there was not even a single strand of fur around — not even in the cage or on his bed, which struck Alhaitham as strange, because he was sure that rabbits shedded daily. He’d also remembered how much fur there was on his bed that he hadn’t bothered to clean up that day when he ran late — and now, they were all simply gone. Disappeared.

Did Kaveh help him clean it all up when he got back? That was surprisingly nice of him, if he did. But even so — Alhaitham had done the very desperate move of checking the dustbin, and there were absolutely no evidence of any patches of fur deposited within. It was truly as if everything related to the rabbit had just vanished into thin air.

Alhaitham didn’t believe Kaveh would do something as heartless as to get rid of an animal, so that unpleasant possibility was definitely out of the window. He couldn’t have dreamed of the rabbit, had he? —No, the feed bag was half empty, and the plastic covering on the cage door had several markings of a rabbit’s bite marks. So the rabbit definitely existed for a certain period of time. But why did it suddenly disappear this morning, and on top of that, Kaveh suddenly returning home after presumably completing a big project in just a week…?

Wait.

Alhaitham’s brow furrowed as he pondered at the impossible connection.

Could it be…?

It sounded nigh impossible in practice, but knowing the kind of stunts Kaveh likes to pull to mess specifically with him, Alhaitham wouldn’t rule it out until he’d found more evidence to contradict it.

Him waking up to Kaveh’s human body laying at where he’d last put Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation (he’d finally progressed to the next chapter of the physics book, albeit it being a deeply unpleasant read due to Alhaitham’s ire over its imperfect condition); Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation seeming to understand his words like a human mind would; refusing to be in the cage and being unusually intelligent enough to break out; and choosing to tear up the particular book he was reading instead of the more common areas like the cage’s padding, door or furniture—

The more he thought about it, the more everything seemed to fall into place. Alhaitham couldn’t help but flush deeply when he recalled the times he’d given in and cuddled with the animal.

Kaveh would never let him live it down.

Well, there was only one thing for him to do to ensure that particular teasing doesn’t happen. 

Alhaitham summoned his sword, eyes glowing with murderous intent as he stormed out of the house, ready for a confrontation.

*

Kaveh wished he’d eaten more for dinner yesterday, because his body was performing way below standards for someone used to wielding claymores and hefting heavy building materials around.

He’d just reached Caravan Ribet. The fresh afternoon sun was beating down upon him mercilessly, because Kaveh just had to take the entire morning to freak out, make up his mind and then head for the desert. He prayed that the witch hasn’t completed whatever she needed to in the desert and left already— 

As he turned wildly around, no doubt looking the very appearance of a madman, his eyes caught sight of the familiar, crimson witch’s hat and blonde hair casually chatting with a merchant—

“HEY!”

The witch turned to look at the sound of his cry, her expression already morphed into amusement upon recognising his voice.

“Why, how do you do, Kaveh?”

“You—!” Kaveh half-screeched, grabbing her hand and dragging her into a small alleyway some distance away, fairly conscious of the looks he were drawing from the merchant, as well as the passing mercenaries and villagers. “You owe me a lot of explanations!”

The pyro witch huffed a laugh into her hand. “Well, I’d admit I lost a bit of my control back then, but you turned out fine, didn’t you?”

“What kind of spell even is that?? How did you turn a literal human being into a— Anyway, that’s not important! You should know why I suddenly turned back without your help, right?!”

The witch looked at him thoughtfully, the ghost of a smile still lingering around her lips. “Hm. That particular spell of mine was deeply related to the human emotion, particularly affection. Are you aware of the popular children’s story ‘The Princess and the Frog’? It was inspired from it— Oh, silly me. You probably wouldn’t know.”

Kaveh raised his eyebrow at that, wondering what kind of dumb name for a story that was. He didn’t comment on it, though, because he was still busy catching his breath. It probably wasn’t smart to exert his body like that after living the lazy house pet’s life for a few weeks. The witch saw that he was still awaiting for an understandable explanation, so she sighed lightly and thought for a while. 

“Let’s put it this way. You were stuck in the bunny form, which I thought would be cuter as compared to a frog, because you have some unresolved emotional attachment lingering within your heart. And now that you’re suddenly back to normal, I assume you must have come to a conclusion over your feelings?”

There was a sly grin on the witch’s face as she watched Kaveh’s face slowly heat up. His eyes darted away, face blushing hard. “…N-None of your business.”

He flushed even deeper when he heard the witch chuckle heartily. “On other occasions I’d find a way to weasel an answer out of you, but I suppose I have to get going — I’d rather not be a witness to whatever intimidations your charming roommate is planning to do with his sword.”

Kaveh whipped around, face paling instantly as he spotted — or rather, felt the murderous aura of a currently armed Alhaitham storming into the entrance of Caravan Ribet, causing visitors and even mercenaries to scatter.

“Shit— No, help me explain—”

Kaveh was left blinking stupidly at the spot where the witch had already vacated.

“WAIT, COME BACK—”

“Why hello there, my dear senior Kaveh.”

Alhaitham had already covered the distance between them and pressed his forearm against Kaveh’s chest, pushing him against an alley’s sandstone wall, his sword blade glinting menacingly. “Why the trepidation? I am merely just about to ask if you’ve seen a particular rabbit around. Incidentally, the rabbit seems to share the same character as my dear senior, so I thought you’d be the best at predicting its actions.”

Kaveh cursed at his unfairly intellectual roommate. Of course he’d have connected the dots in such a brief time period.

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about, my dear junior. Perhaps the stress of your work has caught up to your brain and caused you to hallucinate—”

“Oh really? My torn up book and marks on the cage suggest the presence of a rabbit. Should I bring them to an Amurta scholar for investigation?”

Fuckity fuck fuck.

There was no escaping it now. 

Raising his hands in mock surrender, Kaveh sighed and shook his head, inwardly praying to the Archons and Celestia that Alhaitham will let him off easily. “Fine, fine, you got me. That rabbit was me after a happy experiment gone wrong.”

Kaveh thought that would be the end of it and he’d be set free from his crush’s clutches, but he’d severely underestimated Alhaitham’s inquisitiveness. 

“Why did you not immediately seek out a method to reverse the curse?”

Kaveh averted his eyes pointedly. He may have been a bit distracted from that since his ‘owner’ was Alhaitham, after all. “I mean—I don’t even know where to begin to break out the curse. It was raining and I just wanted shelter. I was — planning to leave a message or something to explain eventually…”

Alhaitham had an unimpressed look on his face. Kaveh could tell his half-hearted lies weren’t fooling his junior.

“Listen, it was just me making the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime experience, y’know? I can get to try things I never did before! Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation either if it were you!”

“…Like tearing up my books?”

“It was only one book! And I couldn’t control myself, rabbits like to scratch things up!”

“There are literally newspaper pieces for you to scratch up in the cage, which you keep escaping out of by some miracle.” Alhaitham pinched the bridge of his nose. “I went out of my way to purchase genuine supplies from an Amurta scholar.”

“Well, I’m still not completely in the rabbit mindset yet!”

“…What is that supposed to mean?”

Crap. Abort mission, change topics.

“Plus, it gave me the opportunity to hear you confess your wholehearted feelings for me!”

Hah, take that, you stoic, emotionally constipated brat! 

“What confession?”

Damn you Alhaitham and your unromantic personality!

“The time where you said something about — not staying mad at me for long!”

“How is that a confession?”

Kaveh may’ve been desperately biased for any signs, but he swore he saw Alhaitham’s cheeks dust with light pink, and heard his monotonous voice wavering slightly. 

“It sounded like one, okay?! Are you really gonna say it’s not?”

No doubt he was reaping the consequences over his very hasty decision of approaching this delicate issue with boldness, but Kaveh couldn’t hide his crestfallen tone. He bit his bottom lip, braced for the man’s answer, watching Alhaitham anxiously. Other than looking like a fool aside, Kaveh wasn’t sure if he could stand the heartbreak if he were to near the decisive negative.

Alhaitham didn’t answer immediately, but his eyes had widened, as if in contemptuous disbelief. Like the hotheaded thinker Kaveh was, he took it immediately as a sign of rejection.

After all, what else could it be? Actual reciprocation? Pft, in Kaveh’s wildest dreams, maybe.

He was always a fool when it came to Alhaitham.

“Archons, just — just shut the fuck up. I bet you wanna laugh at my stupid feelings for you, don’t you? Archons, of all people to fall in love with — just what did I do to be cursed with such a failure of a love life,” Kaveh groaned, slumping onto Alhaitham’s unfairly comfortable and broad chest, and burying his face in it for good measure.

“Kaveh—”

“Just let me go already, I’m gonna drink myself dumb tonight.”

“Kaveh, can you just listen—”

“It couldn’t have been a charming and cute junior… my heart just have to go for quite possibly the worst option in the market… curse you Alhaitham and your unfairly attractive—”

“Hmph, for someone who keeps on bragging about knowing a lot about romance, you sure are not living up to your reputation.”

“—body… eh?”

Kaveh looked up blearily, and was greeted with a very uncharacteristically red Alhaitham. His eyebrows was furrowed, whether in annoyance or humiliation Kaveh could not tell, but the very sight of it amazed him enough to snap him out of his self-pitying rant.

“What?”

“Do it properly,” Alhaitham snapped, his face actively burning and a dissatisfied frown wrinkling his features. Kaveh had to blink multiple times to process the glorious scene before him: his junior was actually blushing heavily after hearing about his senior’s feelings for him. Not even Alhaitham’s trait-like demand for a perfect confession could ruin the sudden picturesque image dotted with sparkly cherry blossoms that Kaveh’s imagination was currently running wild with. 

When Kaveh didn’t speak, Alhaitham finally deigned look at him straight in the eyes, recovering some of his usual snark. “Just what kind of a confession is that supposed to be? And you gloat about your supposed mastery of romance. This is a frustratingly poor performance.” 

Just like that, the cherry blossoms wilted; Kaveh felt the familiar annoyance surge within him whenever Alhaitham started pushing his buttons.

“Oh yeah? Well, how about this—!”

Caught by surprise, Kaveh managed to push against Alhaitham and lock his junior’s arms above his head against the opposite wall in the alley with one sturdy, well-trained hand. Alhaitham’s eyes were blown wide in mute surprise, but Kaveh had a clear goal in mind. He brought his other hand to grip possessively at the other’s chin, engulfing his lips onto his, his tongue easily achieving dominance within. His senses were filed sharp by the intensity of emotion rushing through him, such that he could hear Alhaitham’s muffled gasps against his mouth, desire shot straight down to his pants and he moved to start pressing Alhaitham closer against the wall.

Alhaitham strained against his senior, the overt assault of new sensations goading his body into instinctual resistance, but Kaveh’s sudden strength was unsettling his attempts —  he felt the press of something warm and hard against his nether region and he let out a loose whine, but his attention was ultimately stolen back to the ravaging kiss where his tongue fought to find purchase and control. 

His breaths were getting short — Alhaitham could feel his head swimming, and everything felt so hot, from their breaths to the skin contact to his head— 

Kaveh finally released him, allowing him to take in gasps of air. Alhaitham was panting and trembling like a newborn fawn, while Kaveh gazed at his state almost predatorily, still holding him against the wall. It was a while before Alhaitham regained enough sense to hear whisperings from the passers-by beyond the alley, but for the first time in his life, public decency can be damned; he wanted more.

They both shared one fleeting glance of mutual understanding, before Kaveh’s hand gripped the back of his hair and pushed him into another hungry kiss.

It was some time before the Sumeru nation saw the prominent pair of disputants emerge from the small alleyway, flushed from exertion, but with their hands in agreeable union as they headed back to their home.

*

“If we’re not getting married now, you can’t sleep on my bed,” came the muffled, but in a totally serious tone, voice of Alhaitham under his blanket-swathed figure. “That’s what your romance novels say.” 

Kaveh stared at his now-boyfriend incredulously, full of wonderment at how this painfully rational genius of a brain worked sometimes. While he was a sucker of those cliche romance troupes, he hadn’t expected Alhaitham to be so clueless about these things and actually take it seriously.

“The— the author is probably just really old-fashioned,” Kaveh was trying to stifle his laughter as he patted the blanketed lump on his side. “So move over.”

“No.”

“Haitham, stop being ridiculous. All I’m doing is sleeping next to you.”

“Not until we get married.”

Kaveh sighed and shook his head in disbelief. Their first argument as an official couple, and it was about this. Sometimes Kaveh felt like he needed a reward for always putting up with Alhaitham’s impressively unpredictable whims.

Kaveh reached over to Alhaitham’s desk, the jangling noises disrupting the silence as Kaveh grabbed their keys. As usual, the two metal keys were entangled together, and Kaveh picked at them carefully as Alhaitham peeked over the covers of his duvet to watch his lover’s mysterious actions.

Kaveh finally separated their house keys, holding his ostentatiously-decorated one in his hand. Reaching under the duvet to grab one of Alhaitham’s hand, he slid the ring of his cute keychain onto Alhaitham’s forefinger. 

Alhaitham blinked at it, then stared blankly at Kaveh for explanation.

“There, now we have a temporary object of union to symbolise our marriage. You can see it as a makeshift ring until I make us actual ones; you always have it on you anyway,” Kaveh grumbled, scratching his head awkwardly; it had been an ingenious idea at the moment, but now he felt like a fool. Hey, at least he scored points on the boyfriend meter for being funny and entertaining, right?

Alhaitham looked at the keychain hanging off his finger once again, then back up at Kaveh. “This is lame,” he finally decided.

“Thanks, I love you too,” Kaveh deadpanned as he rolled his eyes. However, his face soon brightened as he saw Alhaitham’s body shuffle more to the wall, allowing him just enough space to squeeze in and spoon the other.

“I was thinking, I want a pet rabbit.” Kaveh wasn’t expecting Alhaitham to speak after they’d made themselves comfortable and turned off the lamp, but his boyfriend, like him, clearly could not sleep after the fateful events of that day. “I never thought I’d enjoy a pet, but having one as a companion isn’t so bad.”

Kaveh quietly chuckled into his back — his junior can have his cute moments sometimes. “Sure, we can go choose one tomorrow. I know someone who rears a family of rabbits.”

“Speaking of which, all those times when you climbed over my body, without permission, while you were in your rabbit form…”

“I-I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“Why don’t you take a guess, darling.”

“…No?”

“Take another guess.”