Work Text:
—
Kaveh closed the door behind him, taking in the sight of his messy bedroom trying to calm himself.
Arguing with Alhaitham is a routine but it never failed to get on his nerves.
And so he fell into this infuriating habit, grabbing a piece of thick paper, a couple of paintbrushes and of course, the paints.
It was bad enough that he already had little containers with perfectly color matched pigments.
Angrily he started to roughly paint the base of the face and upper body.
He was ashamed to say, he had more than ten paintings carefully hidden in the darker corners of his room, every single one of them portraying a face he’d learnt to appreciate.
He just sat there staring at the painting, putting a lot of effort in making the right strokes, to manage the perfect painting.
It really had just started out of the blue, repeating the same scenario, except that time he had forgotten to put his materials away and just saw them sitting in his table.
He found himself scribbling Alhaitham’s face without noticing. Even though he was calmer now, and just threw away the piece of paper.
He never actually realized how he had fallen into this pattern.
Get angry at his roommate, lock himself in the room and paint his anger away.
Sometimes even the little trinkets he had been working on would lay forgotten. Full focus on painting.
It was getting dark, and he was only missing the last small details in the eyes. He was so close to finishing until he heard a knock on the door.
“Are you done locking yourself in your room or are you actually going to make dinner?”
The nerve to disturb him for dinner.
“Did you suddenly get your hands cut off or why are you unable to make yourself dinner”
He guesses Alhaitham is the only one who can make him lose focus.
Standing up he stomped to the door and opened it harshly.
“Move, do you want dinner or not!?”
Not bothering to stay for an answer, he just flew by and grabbed his apron.
Big mistake, though.
He had forgotten to close his door, and even worse, forgotten that Alhaitham was quite literally standing in front of it.
You didn’t necessarily need to be snooping to see what was inside of the room, it was inevitable of course since a simple look could reveal everything within.
And a certain piece of paper caught his attention.
Deciding to take a closer look, he stepped inside and grabbed it.
There he was, a painting of no one else but himself.
Was this the reason Kaveh was cooped up in his room?
He must’ve took too long staring at the portrait that he didn’t notice the smell of dinner.
Or the figure approaching.
Or the way Kaveh stood frozen in his doorframe.
He could only see the apron thrown to the floor, the way the door made his keys rattle.
The absence of a noisy roommate.
——
It was his fault, of course.
He should’ve known better than to sprint off when facing an awkward situation.
It was to be expected, he couldn’t possibly keep hiding the growing pile of Alhaitham’s portrait.
He couldn’t help but scold himself, how could he be so foolish? He would do anything to go back in time and close that dammed door.
What he was most afraid of, happened.
He didn’t want Alhaitham finding out about feelings he had yet to come to terms with himself.
He didn’t want to go back home or be found by his roommate.
Thinking it would be too obvious if he went for a drink, he walked off to a nearby river, wanting to freshen up.
And maybe think of a plan to sneak out his belongings out of the house.
Moving out because of a painting was really childish though, atleast the rational part of his brain claimed, but was it really?
He should let oxygen flow in his body so he could brainstorm ideas for absolutely valid reasons on why he would be painting his roommates face.
Closing his eyes, letting inspiration arise to get him out of a disastrous situation.
“Breathe in breath out”
He couldn’t feel any ideas come to mind though, something was nagging him out of his zone.
Snapping his eyes open, he looked for the culprit of the constant talking.
“We’ll I didn’t take you as the kind of person who’d meditate”
What?
“You know, if you meditated more you’d be less annoying”
Huh?
“I’m guessing you’re shocked to see the face you have been painting all this time come to life, right?”
Of course he came to make fun of him! Wait, that’s not the point.
“You knew about the other ones?”
“They weren’t exactly.. hidden”
“Why didn’t you say anything Wouldn’t it make you uncomfortable to see you being painted without your permission?”
“Well, normally I wouldn’t let anyone into my house”
“You completely avoided my question”
“I’m saying I don’t mind, Kaveh”
“.. what?”
“I like you”
“But wait!”
“Enough questions, let’s go home and there you can ask me anything your heart desires”
“…”
“Maybe paint us a portrait with both of us next time”
“..fine.. you asked for it!”
It wasn’t that bad. He wouldn’t admit it but he was grateful he did all those paintings.
~~~
“Seriously? My eyes aren’t that orange!”
“Not all of us have pre-matched colors of people”
“Hey! You just had to bring it up didn’t you?”
…