Chapter Text
It only just hit Alhaitham, how terribly tired he is.
His feet dragged along the concrete ground, making a cringing noise to his ears as the sound echoed through the dark starry night in Sumeru.
Though, the commotion outside is quiet for him as barely anyone was out, only a couple of people talking outside their houses, walking, or closing out their shops for the night.
Alhaitham doesn’t even know what time it is, he just wants to get home and lay in bed. But would he even make it home in this state?
His whole body feels sore and exhausted. Sitting at a desk for hours on end, constantly talking to others, or going through several documents can be draining, especially doing it non-stop without breaks. Along with endless headaches that simply won’t end no matter how hard he rubs his temples or takes small breaks.
Alhaitham realized that there were times he has forgotten to eat and would have a hungry stomach by the end of the day or a dry throat from not drinking enough water throughout the day.
Alhaitham is overworked, and he wishes he could figure out how to fix it. But really, how could he fix it?
He is put in a high and vulnerable position in front of everyone’s eyes, meaning he can’t let his guard down or show weakness. That’s just what he thinks though, he doesn’t know what it takes to be in the position he is in.
He doesn’t even realize he arrived outside his shared home's door after being so deep in his thoughts. He fumbles through his pockets for his keys before finding them and taking them out, struggling on trying to unlock his door. After many failed attempts, he finally opens the door. Slowly opening it, he tries to be careful with the creaks that escape from it, not wanting to awaken his roommate.
But instead, he is hit with a comforting warmth, covering his body like a blanket as he only realized how cold it was outside. Then he’s hit with a delicious smell of butter chicken, his favorite meal to be exact, along with curry shrimp with a side of rice, and a small fragrance of mint.
He slowly shuts the door behind him, seeing the only source of light is the flower-shaped lamp hanging off the wall with a candle lit inside. He turns his head to see his roommate placing food at their shared table.
Kaveh is already dressed for the night — his soft golden hair flowing behind his back, an oversized t-shirt that is definitely Alhaitham’s, and black pants.
It only took a couple of seconds until Kaveh realized Alhaitham arrived back he raises his head and his eyes soften to see his tired roommate.
“You know you made me stay awake just for you right? I am practically exhausted!” Is the first thing that leaves the man’s mouth as a small smile creeps up onto Alhaitham’s face, having him roll his eyes.
“Don’t you usually eat before I come back and just leave leftovers? Why are you awake this time?” The younger asked as he takes his seat across from Kaveh, eyeing the delicious food in front of him as he realized yet again, he is very hungry.
Kaveh scoffs as he goes back to the kitchen, having his back facing Alhaitham as he gets water for both of them. “Well I’m just concerned for you, that’s all.”
Alhaitham raises an eyebrow, looking at Kaveh as he walks back with two glasses of water, placing one in front of Alhaitham as he sits down across from the silver-haired man. “Concerned? Where’s my mean ruthless roommate at? I thought you didn’t care for me.” He says in a monotone voice, sipping his water as Kaveh seemingly takes that as an insult, glaring at him.
“Well excuse me! I just made this entire meal for you at archons knows how late and this is the thanks I get?!” He shrieked, only quietly though as he didn’t want to wake up their neighbors.
Alhaitham lets out a laugh, there is his usual roommate again, the one he fell for all those years ago. He then listens to Kaveh go on a ramble about his day as the two eat. Suddenly all the stress Alhaitham felt all day fell off his shoulders, chuckling at Kaveh or teasing the older, causing Kaveh to bicker with him again.
Eventually, the dinner finishes between the two. Alhaitham offers to help Kaveh wash the dishes after the blonde said he has it under control, but this is Alhaitham’s thanks for what Kaveh has done for him for the past hour they were eating.
Well, Alhaitham was supposed to help until he gets up from his seat, wincing from his knees to his back cracking, still being sore from earlier work and feeling dizzy from his earlier headaches as his hands goes back up to rub his temples once again. He sees the worry in Kaveh’s eyes as the older walks over to him in a small speed walk to see if he’s okay.
“I’ll handle the dishes, please, go take a bath and get ready for the night, and don’t be stubborn with me.” He scolds but still holds a soft tone as he didn’t want to worsen Alhaitham’s headache any further.
Alhaitham wanted to argue back, of course, he wanted to show Kaveh appreciation for what he has done for Alhaitham, he wanted to show Kaveh how strong he is, but instead, he is hit with another headache as he lets out just a small groan in response before heading off in the direction to take a bath.
He arrives at the bathroom, turning on the light before shutting the door. He heads over to the bath before turning on the water. The gushing waters flowing into the tub relaxes his headache just a bit as he strips off his clothes bit by bit. Relaxing in the tight clothes that cover his body for almost twenty-four hours before being taken off. He turns off the water and slowly enters the tub, wincing again to his knees being sore before relaxing once again to the warm water engulfing his body. He finally settles down, sitting comfortably against the edge of the tub, leaning his head back, and closing his eyes.
His body feels unbothered, his headache gone, and just left with his own consciousness. Opening his eyes again, he starts working on cleaning himself like covering his body with soap, along with washing his hair.
Archons, when was the last time he felt this relaxed before? The only thing Alhaitham remembers from coming home every day late at night is taking the quickest baths ever before heading to bed with an already sleeping Kaveh, only to wake up, go to work, and repeat the same cycle.
It only has been so long since Alhaitham had more freedom, from bickering with his roommate to walking around Sumeru in his thoughts, reading countless books to pass time, and relaxing. But this relaxing feeling isn’t going to last forever, as tomorrow is just going to be the same day as any other, except today is just a little different.
After cleaning himself up and relaxing a little longer before the water grew cold. He finally gets up, his body feeling less sore than before, and his headache is less annoying. Reaching for a towel, he notices his pajamas folded and on the counter, realizing he didn’t notice them earlier.
He lets out a content sigh, realizing Kaveh left it for him as if he knew that Alhaitham was definitely going to be too tired to retrieve his clothes and forget about them when getting out of the bath.
Drying his body and hair, and throwing the towel into a basket to be washed later. He slips on a black t-shirt with loose pajama pants. After fixing his hair just a bit, draining the bath, and cleaning the bathroom so none of them would slip if they were to walk in later. He is finally ready for bed.
All Alhaitham wants is to lay in his warm bed with Kaveh beside him. He wants to be in the older’s comforting embrace. He never wanted comfort so badly after everything that has happened and changed.
Sometimes he wonders if the work he is given and the high expectations he has to reach are really too much for him at times, but who knows? Alhaitham always agreed or disagreed with everything in the end, and he at the same time doesn’t know if he will regret them or not.
Right now he doesn’t want to think about work, the only thing that is roaming around his head is finally getting to rest.
Stepping out of the bathroom into complete darkness, realizing Kaveh has already headed to their bedroom. He then heads to their shared room, already having the house memorized in his head from the countless times he has navigated through it during the night or early morning to not bother Kaveh who was still asleep.
Reaching the door, he see it cracked open. Pressing his hand lightly against the door to open it slowly, just in case Kaveh is already asleep, he is met with a small amount of light emitting from a candle, Kaveh already in bed, sitting up against the headrest and looking over a couple of pieces of paper.
The older’s ears perk up to Alhaitham’s footsteps and look up, smiling a little bit as he patted the free space beside him, “Come here, I’m cold and I demand your warmth.”
Alhaitham lets out a laugh as he closes the door and walks over, watching Kaveh put away his papers onto their nightstand. The silver-haired is immediately confronted with a soft comfortable bed, along with his lover's arms wrapping around him when he slips under the covers.
Alhaitham doesn’t realize how vulnerable he’s being in the moment, that he’s the one getting comforted by Kaveh — his body resting in between the blonde’s legs, his head resting upon Kaveh’s stomach with his eyes closed and even breaths, relaxing to Kaveh’s humming as he runs his hand through the younger’s hair.
“I received a mail today.” Kaveh starts by, having Alhaitham hum in response, too comforted and tired to say something. “It was from Lord Kusanali, can’t you believe that? An archon sending us mail!” Kaveh exclaims, having Alhaitham intrigued a bit into the conversation as he opens his eyes and lays the back of his head against Kaveh’s lap, looking up at Kaveh. “I read it and she told me that you aren’t going to be coming to work tomorrow.”
Alhaitham's eyes widen, scrambling up as every worse possibility appears in his head of why Lord Kusanali doesn’t want him to come to work tomorrow, did he mess up, did he do something wrong, was he slacking off too much?
Kaveh seemed to notice his stress as he puts his hand on the younger’s shoulder, snapping him back into reality as he stares into Kaveh’s ruby-colored eyes. “It’s okay, she realized all the hard work you have put into Sumeru. The reason is that she noticed how hard you’ve been overworking yourself and that you just need a break.” Kaveh explains, continuing, “That is why I was being nice to you earlier today than my ruthless insults being thrown at you.” He chuckles. He raised his hand back up to play with Alhaitham’s hair again, having the younger lean into the touch as Kaveh smiled a bit. “I care about you a lot Haitham, sometimes I feel like you put too much onto yourself without realizing it. I need to realize that you have to take care of yourself, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Alhaitham whispers, laying his head against Kaveh’s chest as the sleepiness hits him once again after losing a bit of it when sitting up immediately to what Kaveh explained earlier.
Kaveh sighed, “And I know how stubborn you can be too. I know you would’ve argued with me about taking a day off if it wasn’t for Lord Kusanali telling you herself. But please, take a breather. Sumeru is safe right now and that is all that matters, you’ve done enough Haitham.”
A comforting silence enters as Kaveh continues to play with Alhaitham’s hair, having it falling deeper and deeper into sleep every second until the younger spoke up.
“Kaveh?”
“Yes, Haitham?”
“Thank you.”
Kaveh smiled hearing those words, his heart fluttering a little bit when these are the little moments they barely get due to the two bickering with each other, also with Alhaitham never admitting certain things due to embarrassment at times.
“Of course.”
Those are the last things Alhaitham heard as his eyes slowly closed, having the younger drift in and out of consciousness as he tries to stay up a little longer with Kaveh. But he needs sleep, he and Kaveh know this.
When Kaveh realizes his lover has drifted off to sleep, he chuckles. Slowing down brushing his hand through Alhaitham’s hair, he drops his hand slowly and scoots down the bed before his head is against the pillow. His movements luckily don’t wake up Alhaitham as he props Alhaitham’s body up against his chest, having the younger’s back against his chest and his arms wrapped around his waist.
The soft snoring emitting from Alhaitham makes Kaveh happy knowing Alhaitham accepted his break without any problem. He kisses the back of Alhaitham’s head as his eyes also start closing.
“Good night, my love.”