Chapter Text
When did this all start?
Alhaitham has never felt sick ever since he was young. But now, he was hunched over the sink, the pain bearable but so agonising. As if it was made to torture him. He stared at the puked mess below him. It was… blood? That's impossible. He took care of his body and checked himself all the time. There's no way he'd be this sick.
He turned on the tap and washed the sink, leaving no evidence that this ever happened.
And of course, the scribe took all of this lightly and went on with his day.
The second time was when he was working.
The tightening pain in his chest had visited him once again. Giving no time to react, the scribe spat out the blood mess again. Bit thicker than the first time, and much more painful. But this time, mixed in with little petals.
The mess had gotten all over his desk, all over the papers and books he had been working on.
As he wiped the side of his mouth, he picked up one petal on the desk and recognised it as a padisarah, a flower growing around Sumeru city. The other petals were unfamiliar to him.
However, his only concern was cleaning his desk.
As much as he wanted to ignore it, he couldn't help but feel a bit concerned about the pukings that were happening.
It had been occurring more frequently, and the petals had increased in both flowers and numbers. The logical thing to do was to seek out someone who could help him, but work was piling up due to the mess that had recently occurred and he couldn't spare any time for himself.
So he wrote a simple letter to an Amurta graduate whom he thought could help him.
Dear Tighnari,
I hope this letter finds you well.
I've been throwing up blood and petals lately, which I find impossible. Some of which belong to the Padisarah flowers.
I would like to ask if you have any knowledge about this. If you might, please write back to me.
I await your reply.
From, Al-haitham
It wasn't long until he got a reply, but it was… rather unexpected.
Dear Al-haitham,
I have received your letter.
This is something that I would rather discuss with you. Rest assured, I will explain everything.
Please go to Gandharva Ville tomorrow.
I look forward to your appearance.
From, Tighnari
What is something so important that would need him to meet with Tighnari?
Arriving on the dot, he saw Tighnari at the entrance of Gandharva Ville who was only a few miles away. While the other only gave him a quick wave of his hand, ushering him to follow with him towards the village.
With quick strides, he managed to catch up to him and queried, "What is so important that I would have to discuss with you? Is it that concerning?"
"Yes. But I don't think people should overhear this. Follow me so we can discuss it privately."
Soon, they reached Tighnari's house. "Please, sit." With a hand gesture.
"Now, explain why I have been puking blood." He said while settling down on the couch and folding his arms.
"First I'd like to ask, how long have you been puking blood?"
"Around 4 weeks."
Tighnari signed and said, "My guess is that you have the hanahaki disease. The disease is where someone begins coughing up flower petals because they have unrequited feelings for someone. The flowers of the petals grow in the stomach, lungs, or heart, though it is traditionally in the lungs. If not treated, the disease is… fatal."
What kind of bullshit was this? Unrequited love? Al-haitham has never fallen in love with someone. Well, maybe.
Al-haitham lowered his head slightly. "I see."
Some moments of silence before Al-haitham spoke again.
"Well then, how do I treat it?"
"There are two treatments. One, the person that you love will have to return the feelings to you. Two, you will have surgery to remove the flower inside you."
"Is the surgery possible?"
"Well, yes. But it is dangerous to operate, meaning you might die during the operation."
Just as Al-haitham was going to open his mouth and speak, Tighnari added.
"However, if you remove the flower, your romantic feelings for the person will disappear."
Disappear?
"Al-haitham, the safest way to treat yourself is to have the person return the feelings to you. Do you know who you love?"
"I do."
He pondered hard on his walk home. For now he had asked Tighnari to keep it a secret, to which he obliged. The only problem was how he was going to treat himself. The person he loved- No. The person in mind was… irritating.
The sun had started to set so his beloved roommate should've reached their home by now. At that fact, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
When he reached home, walking through the doorway he was immediately greeted with a sprawled-out Kaveh on the couch with some papers, books and blueprints spread out on the floor and the table.
"Where've you been?" The blond asked while lying on the couch looking at some papers. Al-haitham guessed he was looking at a commission project he took up on for mora, seeing how he was heavily in debt.
"I went to Gandharva Ville to visit Tighnari on… Something." Settling on the dining table to read a book since the stupid architect took up the whole couch.
"Something huh?" As much as Kaveh wanted to ask what something was, he refrained from it knowing if he pestered the scribe further his bed would be on the streets today. "Well, whatever. Dinner's in the fridge. It's take-out from your favourite place."
"Thanks."
The next few days were beginning to be unbearable. Al-haitham couldn't spend more than a day without puking once. It was beginning to affect his work as he kept feeling dizzy all day.
Even the roommate that doesn't give a damn about him couldn't help but feel worried for the scribe.
The sun was bright, welcoming the new morning. Kaveh awoke from his deep slumber due to the open curtains and sunlight shining straight into his eyes.
He needed to get up before his dear roommate would scold him for not doing anything. So, he decided the first on his agenda was to get ready.
As he walked to their shared bathroom, he noticed the sink was painted in red. Strange, when did Al-haitham ever paint their sink?
As his vision got clearer, he realised it was blood. Blood with petals in the sink. It was everywhere, a large pool gathering on the bottom, some smudged on the tap, the handprints on the mirror, and even some drops on the floor.
The sight was nauseous to see, adding the blood Kaveh needed answers on how this happened. Wasting no time, he washed the sink and got ready.
"Would you mind explaining why there's blood on the sink?" He shouted as he smashed the door open to the Scribe office.
The loud bang by the door caught Al-haitham off guard. Blood? No way. He definitely remembered to clean the sink, or was he too faint to even remember?
Whatever the situation was, he had to make up an excuse for it. So that Kaveh wont find out his stupid disease.
"Kave-"
"Don't Kaveh me," Slamming his palms on the table, rattling the spread out cups and books placed on it. "I want answers! Can you tell me why you've been so pale every day? Can you explain why you look like you haven't slept in years? Do you think I didn't hear you puking and gagging all these nights?"
At those outbursts of words, Al-haitham went silent. He didn't know how to respond without telling him the truth.
"Please Haitham, I'm your roommate, your senior, you can tell me anything." Kaveh said. The little hint of concern in his words seemed so real to Al-haitham, and yet he didn't want to believe it.
He always didn't want to believe it. He was always in denial. He didn't believe that Kaveh, the Great Light of Kshahrewar, the brilliant architect of Sumeru would really ever like a feeble scholar like him. A reality that he could believe this, is out of his grasp.
Even with all that, there's still a little tug in his heart wanting to tell him the truth. The truth that he has always loved him ever since his academic days, that he never took his eyes off him. That he has gone through such lone days thinking about him. That he had been suffering through all this just for him.
With little strength in his voice, he mustered the words he could.
I love you, Kaveh.
"Get out, Kaveh."
"Haitham tell me anything, I beg of yo-"
"GET OUT!"
He stood up from his chair and slammed the table again, as if mimicking Kaveh's action.
"Seriously? Fine! Be the stupid, selfish, neglective Scribe you are then!" Retracting his hands, the blonde turned around to walk out the doorway. He really couldn't believe him.
There was a bitter taste left in the Scribes mouth, as if he made a wrong decision yet too late to change.
After that incident, Al-haitham didn't come home for the first night. Kaveh thought he was just sulking in the office and refusing to come home like whenever they had a fight. But soon, he really began to worry. Normally, he would camp in the academia for two days but it had been close to a four day streak.
But still, he believed Al-haitham would stop his sulking and come home eventually.
It had been a week and yet there wasn't any sign of Al-haitham. The academia had been alerted and a search party was sent out, and yet there weren't any clues on the first or the second day. Maybe… maybe Kaveh just had to wait for him.
Days passed, and there was no sign of Al-haitham anywhere in Sumeru. It was soon approaching two months, Kaveh basically begged the gods to return Al-haitham to him. Even if he was severely beaten and bruised, there would still be a body to bring back.
Long shadows were cast on the ground by the setting sun. The day had been long for Kaveh and all he ever needed was to get back to Al-haitham's house. Well, his house ever since his disappearance.
When he unlocked the door, he had a wish in his heart that he'd see Al-haitham on the couch reading whatever smart book he picked from the library, or him cooking one of his favourite meals on a special night. But of course, it was all only a dream and it will never happen again.
Kaveh removed his cape and hung it on the rack near the entrance. He strode to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for himself, seeing how he'll pull an all nighter to finish another commission.
As he turned the machine on, there was a knock at the door. Weird, who'd ever visit this late?
As he unlocked the door he peaked out to see a tall, buff man standing outside.
"Kaveh."
Was the only thing the man said.
"Al-haitham..?"