Work Text:
Kaveh's latest job had taken him to Caravan Ribat.
Alhaitham's better judgment had brought him along too.
Kaveh had, surprisingly, spent the day actually working. So Alhaitham had too, from the comfort of the hotel room (that he was paying for, no less) and had actually, shockingly, made some good headway. Despite preferring the routine of the-same-scenery, Caravan Ribat was beautiful, and the weather was sunny and strong, and he was rather enjoying himself.
Until Kaveh came home.
"What a long day!" He announced to the room, despite it being relatively early. "I've never been so exhausted in my life."
Which was what he said just about every day.
Kaveh flopped dramatically over (Alhaitham's) bed, rolling onto his back and placing a delicate hand over his forehead, scarlet eyes shut and eyelashes fluttering just slightly. Alhaitham knew exactly where this was going.
"I need a drink. I'm going down to the Tavern."
"No, you're not." Alhaitham replied, flatly. "I don't need a tab at a bar I've never been to."
Kaveh sat up, gasping dramatically.
"You've never been? The tavern here is my favorite. Well-" he waved a hand vaguely, "-anyway, it won't matter. I just won't buy anything."
He stared at him.
"And how do you expect to have a drink without buying one?"
The look on Kaveh's face ought to have been illegal.
"Haitham, dearest," he hated when he called him that, "do you really think a man like me has to buy his own drinks in a place like this?"
Which was how they ended up, both of them, at the Tavern. Kaveh had vanished into the bathroom and returned… a little sweeter smelling, a little softer around the eyes, maybe just a touch shimmerier than usual. How he'd made his already long eyelashes just a little longer, his cheekbones a bit higher, his lips just a touch redder- Alhaitham would probably never know. But there he was, looking seven levels of tempting, and…. No one was buying him a drink.
Except Alhaitham, of course. Who had followed him in, sat down on the stool next to him, and slid enough mora across the counter to get one glass of water and one of Kaveh's favorite wine. When Kaveh startled and cooed over the wine, Alhaitham could almost understand how he played it, getting free drinks from strangers.
Almost.
But the night was going on, and Kaveh was twirling the stem of his glass with graceful fingers, and nobody was offering to fill it.
Finally, he spun around to Alhaitham and hissed, "you are ruining my evening."
Alhaitham blinked.
"What do you mean? After I bring you here, pay for your hotel, buy you wine-"
Kaveh cut off his offended rant.
"Nobody is approaching me. Because of you, sitting there, looking… menacing." Kaveh's eyes roved over Alhaitham's arms and chest, as if to prove his point.
"I'm menacing?" Alhaitham glanced around the bar full of Eremites, as if to prove his own.
"They must think we came here together, Haitham. Can't you, like, sit somewhere else?"
"Fine."
He settled down a few seats away just as another group of rowdy mercenaries entered, and watched from the corner of his eye as Kaveh batted his eyes and wiggled his fingers at one of them, a particularly well built man with a cloth covering one eye and impressive dreadlocks. The man approached, clearly getting the picture, and sat down next to him, leaning forward to speak to him over the loud music. Surreptitiously, he clicked the button on the side of his hearing aids, turning them up slightly to hear what the man was saying.
All the usual. What Kaveh was doing all alone, if he wanted a drink, or some company. Kaveh, for his part, answered just as a bad romance novel would. Waiting for you, only if you choose, your company seems perfect. They chatted, Kaveh touched the man's arm, and Alhaitham resisted the urge to drag him out by his scarf when he, in turn, put a hand on Kaveh's thigh.
But when, halfway through their second drink, the Eremite invited Kaveh to come back with him and Kaveh turned him down, the man laughed, a deep baritone, and swiped a thumb over his cheek lightly before patting his shoulder and heading back to sit with his friends, leaving Kaveh glowing a little at the bar.
Surprisingly respectful, Alhaitham thought to himself.
And rinse and repeat.
Another handsome Eremite man approached Kaveh, bought him a drink, chatted, and then left when dismissed. Alhaitham almost relaxed.
It wasn't for nearly another hour before something went wrong.
An Akademiya student, of all people, showed up and made a beeline for Kaveh. Not surprising, given his fame amongst the Kshahrewar students. But after ten or so minutes, the man was shoving another drink at Kaveh before he'd even finished the first one, and even from this far away, Alhaitham could tell something was wrong. Kaveh's body language closed, and he leaned just slightly away from the man instead of towards him. If he wasn't entirely mistaken, Kaveh had had enough.
But it wasn't his place to step in. Kaveh was strong, capable of standing up for and defending himself.
When the man gripped Kaveh's arm hard enough that Alhaitham saw him wince, it became his place. He stood, measured steps taking him over to Kaveh at the bar, and took advantage of the man's surprise to loosen his hand from his arm, sliding his own around Kaveh's waist.
He pretended he didn't feel the whole-body shiver that Kaveh couldn't suppress as his fingers glanced over the skin that the window the back of his shirt left. No need to embarrass Kaveh more, he was already drunk.
The man looked shocked for a moment, then angry, and Alhaitham looked up at him mildly.
"Oh, hello. Sorry to step in like this, I don't mean to interrupt."
"You are interrupting." The student slurred, glaring.
"Kaveh and I were… talking."
The way his eyes trailed over Kaveh's skin lacked all of the respect of the Eremites before him, and Alhaitham's blood boiled.
"Really? That's a shame. I was just thinking how Mister Kaveh and I should be heading out."
The student's eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something else, but Alhaitham felt Kaveh shrinking back away from him, closer into Alhaitham's arm, and did what any reasonable roommate would do.
He tilted Kaveh's chin up, leaning down, and kissed him softly.
It wasn't his fault that one of Kaveh's hands found his belt loops, dragging him closer, and the other buried in his hair, clutching his hair almost desperately as he opened his mouth and pressed into Alhaitham's.
Kaveh tasted like wine and mint and something Alhaitham couldn't place, and he kissed him like his life depended on it.
Which was a little dramatic, being that he was only doing this to get that Akademiya student to leave him alone, but that was to be expected from Kaveh. He never gave up an opportunity to put on a show.
So when he pulled back and looked down at Kaveh, who blinked up at him with hazy eyes, he wasn't surprised that his murmured, "ready to go?" was answered with a breathless "yeah," punctuated by Kaveh staring directly at his lips.
"So sorry. But we'll be leaving now." Alhaitham didn't let go of Kaveh's waist, staring flatly at the Akademiya student who was gawping at them as Kaveh slid off the stool and pressed himself into Alhaitham's chest.
To his credit, the man didn't even try to argue anymore.
The cool desert air washed over them as they stepped outside, and Kaveh shivered a little against his chest. He looked up at Alhaitham, through those damned eyelashes, and all but whimpered at him.
"Haitham?"
He tried to detach from his waist, politely, to give Kaveh his space. Now that they were outside, he was much safer, and he couldn't imagine any of the straggling Eremites scattered around the streets to misbehave, after how he'd seen them acting in the tavern. A respectable race, through and through, it seemed.
"My apologies, Kaveh. It seemed that man was unwilling to take no for an answer, and I was loath to get us kicked out, should you wish to return there tomorrow. I should have asked for your consent before I-"
"You kissed me."
Alhaitham winced.
"I did. Again, my apolo-"
Kaveh was strong. No question about it. So when he suddenly shoved Alhaitham to the wall, pinning his wrists with his hands and his chest with his own, he didn't even have the chance to fight back. In an instant, Kaveh was up on his toes, kissing Alhaitham again, with all the desperation and hurry of the first time. Until it faded, and his hands released his wrists and made their way to cup his face softly, and Alhaitham found his hands grasping at Kaveh, almost wrapping all the way around his unfairly small waist, pressing the kiss deeper to chase the heady taste that Kaveh left on his tongue.
It wasn't until Kaveh pulled back to gasp for air that Alhaitham realized- they were kissing in an alleyway in Caravan Ribat, putting on quite the show for… exactly no one.
"There." Kaveh smiled hazily, pressing his chest against Alhaitham's, and he swore he could feel his heart racing. "Now we're even."
"Kaveh-" he pushed him back, just a little, "-you're drunk. Let's get you to bed."
"Taking me to bed, Scribe Alhaitham?" Kaveh giggled softly, leaning back up towards him.
"Yes. To your bed. So you can sleep this off." Kaveh was strong, but Alhaitham was stronger. Without the element of surprise to his favor, Kaveh couldn't really hope to fight back against Alhaitham pushing him away with both hands, until they were a respectful distance apart.
Kaveh's disappointed expression had to have been because of the cold. He shivered again, visibly, as they walked back to the hotel, and Alhaitham sighed, pulling off his cape and wrapping it around his shoulders. He was no stranger to Kaveh's pleased little hum. The man always got what he wanted.
Even, apparently, if what he wanted was to shove his way into Alhaitham's bed with him, trapping him under lithe arms and blonde hair, falling asleep with his face pressed into Alhaitham's neck.
Alhaitham could only hope that he wouldn't punch him in the morning.
Luckily, always the early riser, he awoke before Kaveh. Unluckily, he was trapped between him and the wall, and couldn't figure out how to move with most of Kaveh's body draped over his chest. Even more unluckily, upon trying to shuffle Kaveh into a less incriminating position, he woke up, mumbling something along the lines of "good morning, handsome," and doodling little circles into the bare skin above Alhaitham's pounding heart. With his hearing aids off, it was hard to tell what exactly he was saying, unless he was looking straight at him, but that was the idea Alhaitham got.
He didn't end up getting a chance to say anything, before Kaveh blinked those mesmerizing eyes open and sleepily caught sight of who exactly he was sleeping on.
"Haitham!" He scrambled back, only succeeding in not falling in a heap on the floor because of Alhaitham's arm around his shoulders, and sat up, pulling the sheets with him. "I didn't- we didn't-" he stammered frantically, looking down at himself, still wearing last night's clothing.
(While it wouldn't have been the first time Alhaitham had seen Kaveh in varying states of undress, they were roommates after all, he had been more concerned about getting him to sleep, and had just barely managed to get all of his ridiculous accessories off before Kaveh had started nodding off.)
"We didn't." Alhaitham confirmed, very seriously, pulling his hands away. Kaveh was very red, eyes darting around the room nervously.
"After coming home from the tavern, you were insistent upon sleeping in my bed with me. I apologize."
Kaveh laughed, high and anxious.
"Right. Right. And we kissed in an alleyway because…?"
Alhaitham wasn't sure if he was relieved or not that Kaveh remembered.
"Because I kissed you in the Tavern, and you wanted to… get even." He replied, as clinically as he could. The whole situation, remembering the way that student had looked at Kaveh, the heat of his mouth, the way his heart raced as Kaveh blinked up at him- it made his skin prickle.
"Right. Right."
Kaveh turned, swinging his legs out of the bed and standing up on wobbly legs. Alhaitham almost reached out to stabilize him, before realizing what he was doing.
"I'm going to take a shower." Kaveh said, to no one in particular, and vanished, leaving Alhaitham alone with his thoughts. Which was perhaps for the better.
The week passed awkwardly.
Not exceedingly so. They bickered and argued like they always did, Kaveh spreading his blueprints across the living room floor, Alhaitham stepping on them on purpose, just the usual petty nonsense they were used to.
Until the Gala.
Alhaitham had asked everyone to be his plus-one. Cyno, the Traveler, Dehya, even Tighnari, who he barely knew. No one had been available.
Which left him with…
"Kaveh?" He called quietly, to the house at large, almost hoping that he'd gone out for the day, thus forcing Alhaitham to attend alone.
Of course he hadn't.
He popped his head out of the bathroom, eyeliner only halfway done, and frowned.
"What do you want?" He huffed.
"Oh, never mind." Alhaitham grumbled, getting ready to stomp past him. "I'll go alone."
"Go where?" Kaveh perked up.
"The Akademiya is holding a Gala tonight. I'm afforded a plus-one, and the idea of schmoozing all night makes me sick, so I thought I'd ask you. But it seems you already have plans, so don't let me keep you."
He waved a vague hand and made his way to his bedroom, already dreading the formal wear that was expected at this kind of event.
"A gala?" Kaveh followed him, eyes lighting on the outfit hanging up in front of the mirror. His eyebrows lifted.
"And they want you?"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." He stripped out of his shirt, turning back to Kaveh.
"Do you mind?"
"Not at all," he quipped, eyes raking over Alhaitham's chest in a way that made him shiver slightly, but turned to make his way out of the room anyway.
"I'll be ready in ten minutes. Don't leave without me."
It was easily twenty minutes, but for some unknown reason, Alhaitham did not, in fact, leave without him.
There was nothing worse than a good Gala, Alhaitham thought privately. He'd love to be at home, reading a book, drinking tea, alone.
But there he was, surrounded by other Akademiya students just desperate for connections, trying to resist the urge to slap the very nice woman who'd been rambling on about her thesis and getting much, much too close for comfort. It wasn't even like she had the excuse of being drunk, lesser lord Kusanali had forbidden the Akademiya from serving alcohol at their functions. This woman was just a little too close, and a little too friendly, and Alhaitham was a little too polite to tell her to step back. Kaveh had wandered off to Archons know where, and he was trapped in a loop of niceties with some researcher he hoped he'd never see again.
And then suddenly, Kaveh was there.
Well, more accurately, Kaveh was kissing him. Soft hand pulling Alhaitham's gaze down and away from the woman, the other sliding across his shoulders to rest between them, pressing little circles at the base of his neck.
And Alhaitham was kissing him back, again, like some kind of fool. Letting his arms wind around his waist, eyes sliding shut, lips parting just slightly. Before he realized where they were, and what they were doing.
He pulled away just as Kaveh did.
"My apologies, miss!" Kaveh said, brightly. "You wouldn't mind if I borrowed the Scribe, would you?"
She shook her head, a little more than shell shocked, and let Kaveh pull Alhaitham away, leading him outside to the gardens.
"Kaveh, what was that?" Alhaitham hissed under his breath as they walked.
"You looked uncomfortable, Haitham. I could see it from across the room. So I was giving you an excuse to leave." He explained innocently, as if it was obvious.
"Kaveh, this is not a tavern in the desert. This is my workplace." He turned to him, hands on his hips sternly. He didn't let his eyes trace down Kaveh's form, didn't let himself appreciate the way his body looked in his outfit. Didn't let himself think about the way it had felt to kiss him.
"We could have been seen by anyone."
"We won't be seen out here." Kaveh breathed, stepping closer, and Alhaitham didn't even have alcohol as an excuse for the pretty flush on his cheeks, the way his eyelashes fluttered as he looked up at him in the glowing lights.
"What?" He asked, hoping for a clarification that he knew he wouldn't get.
"Come on, Haitham." Kaveh was close, too close, surely he could hear Alhaitham's heart beating itself out of his chest. Kaveh pressed into him, mumbling against his lips.
"Don't you want to get even?"
Alhaitham didn't think there was a force in the world that could have stopped him then, from grasping Kaveh's hip with one large hand and burying the other in his perfect hair, holding the back of his head steady as he kissed him, truly and honestly this time. Kaveh melted into him, sighing happily and letting Alhaitham press into the kiss, nipping a little at his lower lip, reveling in the little noises he made as they embraced, there in the dark.
"Haitham-" Kaveh gasped quietly as he kissed just below his ear, working his way down his neck with light brushes of his lips, "-harder, please, come on."
"You'll have a hard time getting people to buy you drinks if you let me have my way with you." He was all but growling, breath hot against Kaveh's neck.
"I don't want them to buy me drinks. I don't want to go home with them. What I want-" Kaveh tilted his head back even farther, hands fisted in Alhaitham's nice clothing, "-is for you to have your way with me."
Alhaitham was a strong man.
Not strong enough for this, though.
"You don't want to go home with those other guys." He wasn't really asking, sucking cruel bruises into Kaveh's delicate skin.
"No, no." He was gasping, little soft whimpers falling beautifully from his lips.
"You flirt with them. And then you come home to me." He bit down, hard, just to hear another pretty cry come from Kaveh.
"Yes, Haitham. Yes. I-"
Alhaitham wrenched himself away from Kaveh, narrowly avoiding pulling him back by the hair, by some herculean feat of self control.
"Kaveh." He said, voice low and even, not even able to be annoyed at the triumphant little smile across Kaveh's face as they stared at each other, breathing heavily in the soft light.
"Let's go home."