Work Text:
Tighnari sits at the island bar of their kitchen, nursing a mug of tea and basking in the comfort of having all his partners around at the same time. It’s not often that all four of them have the free time to just hangout around the house like this. No mission carrying Cyno off to the desert, nothing in the forest the other Rangers can’t take care of without him, Kaveh present and riding the high of a recently completed project, and even Alhaitham freed from the clutches of his Akademiya offices for once.
Though that last one may be more enforced leave as strongly suggested to him by Lord Kusanali than by his own choice, if his current baking is anything to go by—the man only bakes like this when he’s pushed up against a problem or deadline he can do nothing about.
With all four of them home, it’s not peaceful, exactly, nor is it quiet. But peace and quiet have never been a foundation of their relationship anyway—Archons know that structure would have crumbled long ago if that’s what they needed, what with how half the time they show affection through arguing and bickering.
Case in point, the TCG duel currently commencing in the living room as Cyno and Kaveh, once again, battle it out over ‘who gets to be married to whom’ this week.
“When are we going to tell them that all of us are already legally married as a four, and that you’ve been filing our taxes and insurance as such for years now already?” Tighnari asks into his drink.
“If they haven’t figured it out on their own by now, they don’t deserve to be told.” Alhaitham does not pause in his careful measuring and mixing beside him. “Besides, do you really want to do that and lose out on our free entertainment? Here, taste this for me.”
“Fair enough.” Tighnari opens his mouth for the spoon of dough-batter Alhaitham holds out for him to try. “Could use a bit more brightness. Do we have any citrus?”
Alhaitham hums in consideration before heading to the pantry to look. Tighnari for his part turns back to the other two who are on round two or three of their game now by the looks of it.
He’s ninety percent sure his partners do in fact know their marital status—they’re not idiots after all, at least usually, hence only ninety percent and not a hundred—and this duel has become more a routine habit than an actual competition with the stated prize on the line. A routine habit, or perhaps just an excuse Cyno uses to wheedle Kaveh into playing cards.
Either way, Alhaitham is correct that it is entertaining.
Tighnari watches as Kaveh groans and flops over, arm thrown over his face. “Come on, why don’t we just flip a coin for it, like we did the first time? So much less complicated—and way quicker, you overthinking, over considerate you—than all this.” He waves his other hand over the sprawl of cards and dice spread out between them.
“Because someone excels at sleight of hand and cheated at that coin toss.” Cyno does not look up from his cards, ignoring Kaveh as he continues to carefully plan his next move. As always, he’s taking as much time as he has available to him as the timer ticks down to plan out his strategy, and it seems to have driven Kaveh to impatience yet again. Maybe that’s another layer to his strategy as well.
With a small huff of a laugh, Tighnari decides to lean into mischief today. “As if he’s not cheating at cards now too.”
Kaveh immediately sits up to look at him. He doesn’t even try to deny the accusation as he asks, “How the fuck did you know about that? You weren’t even watching us play.”
“I hear everything. Your magic tricks mostly rely on redirecting and fooling vision, but you can’t fool my ears that easily.” His ears flick, as if to emphasize the point. And to Cyno, “He’s been manipulating what cards he draws, and there was also a nudged dice or two.”
Cyno’s expression goes dark while Kaveh puts on his best look of hurt and betrayal. It doesn’t work to inspire any guilt at all, not with how nimbly he rolls out of the way as Cyno all but leaps at him. The energy must really be charged today if they’d been gearing up to get physical this entire time.
Battle escalated beyond cards and mischief thus successfully dealt, Tighnari contentedly returns his focus to Alhaitham in the kitchen, smile still dancing across his lips as he comments to the other, “Fifty-fifty they end up making out.”
“More like a hundred to zero. The fifty-fifty is probably who initiates it, this time,” comes the immediate response.
“True enough.” Tighnari watches as Alhaitham slides three loaf pans into the oven before straightening to consider the ingredients still laid out on the countertop once more. Looks like he’s still looking for something to do, maybe take his excess energy out on some poor lump of dough.
Tighnari should probably step in before they end up with enough baked goods to feed the entire street and then some.
He slides off his seat and steps up beside Alhaitham, deliberately turning away from the sounds of roughhousing coming from the other two. “We only have the one oven, and those mushroom loaves are going to need at least an hour, probably more since you’ve got three in there at the same time. Why don’t we do something else?”
Alhaitham’s gaze meets his before sliding past to the living room, undoubtedly cataloging potential alternatives now that baking has been blocked off. Tighnari can practically see his mental calculations as activities are identified and discarded—his books, TCG, Cyno and Kaveh, the other stack of books Tighnari’s been working through.
It can’t be more than a few seconds before Alhaitham’s eyes snap back to meet his. “Spar?”
And maybe there really is something with the energy around the house today, or maybe some poor Bimarstan researcher should look into the infectiousness of the jitters, because now that the suggestion has been made, Tighnari feels the anticipation building within himself. He wants to move. “Sure. Weapons or hand to hand?”
In lieu of a verbal response, Alhaitham simply takes off his flour-dusted apron and heads towards the door to the yard. He briefly skims over their weapons rack before he decides to forgo them, rolling his shoulders and warming up his muscles as he makes his way outside.
Tighnari follows, starting some stretches of his own. Hand to hand it is. Passing by the living room reveals that the other two have indeed moved on from fighting and are now tangled together in a knot of limbs as they make out. He has no idea who would have first made that shift, and Cyno and Kaveh honestly probably don’t know either.
He momentarily debates interrupting and letting them know where they’re going, but ultimately decides to just leave them be. They can figure it out on their own, once they manage to separate themselves from each other. Then they’ll likely join him and Alhaitham outside for their spar, expanding or creating a new tangle that ecompasses all the four of them, though with less kissing and more just holding—they’re considerate like that.
No, their household is not quiet, and it is not calm, not even on days that aren’t supercharged with excess energy. But it is theirs, a place for all of them, together in any combination. Not calm or peaceful, but relaxing and wonderfully indulgent nonetheless.
Tighnari wouldn’t have it any other way.