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“What a shame,” Alhaitham deadpanned, his figure looming over the fallen Eremites surrounding him.
Drops of blood, crimson red and warm against his bare skin, trickled onto the stone walkway of the city. The scent of copper filled the air, yet he paid it no mind. Various deep cuts and wounds covered his body, his face; the blood dampened his clothes and matted his hair.
Pitter, patter. Pitter, patter.
His blood dripped just a little faster down his arm.
“Whoever thought it was a good idea to send assassins after me clearly underestimated my skill.” He narrowed his eyes dangerously, ignoring the way his body progressively grew weaker the longer he refused to cover his wounds. “Care to tell me who it was? Or shall I force it out of you?”
He couldn’t feel the way his body screamed in pain through the adrenaline of a fight. The surprise of an ambush kept his heart beating rapidly, his shoulders refusing to relax. Despite the threat being quelled, he still maintained a sense of alertness. Alhaitham clenched his fists, having noted how his hands trembled. He couldn’t maintain the hold for longer than a few seconds.
“It was that researcher…” One of them groaned, shifting as far away from Alhaitham as he could get with his battered body.
“Very specific.” Alhaitham crossed his arms against his chest, thinking to himself. Having dug through his memories, only a few candidates matched the description of a scholar arrogant enough to try and assassinate him over a project.
One in particular, a recent rejection and a lack of funding, struck a chord in him. That was his suspect.
“He said you’d get in the way of his project. Didn’t want to risk… Getting caught.” Another Eremite spoke, later covering his eyes with an arm and looking away.
Seems he was right on the target. Not that it was much of a surprise to him in the slightest.
Alhaitham turned on his heel, his covered back facing the former opponents, “That’s all I needed. Goodbye.”
He reached back to a small pocket in his sash and flicked on the soundproof qualities of his headphones, right before the Eremite mercenaries could shout in protest at his sudden departure. He was quick to walk away from the scene, keeping himself hidden by taking the alleyways home.
Under more dire circumstances, he’d rather go to the Bimarstan to receive proper treatment for his wounds. But the deep cuts and bruises on his body were by no means serious, and did not warrant the attention of intern Amurta scholars. He could handle them himself.
A sudden wave of dizziness washed over him, his shoulder bumping into the wall of a nearby building in the alley. He winced, the adrenaline of earlier wearing off, the stinging pain of untreated wounds settling in its place. He pushed himself away, staggering forward as he struggled to regain his foothold.
He was fine. He’d just have to make it home and quickly patch up. If Alhaitham was lucky enough, Kaveh would already be asleep and thus he wouldn’t have to deal with his annoying bickering.
…Unfortunately, luck was not on his side.
Having fumbled with his keys trying to unlock the door, he was blessed with the sight of Kaveh pacing around the center of their living room. Alhaitham closed the door behind him, leaning against the dark wood as Kaveh immediately took notice of his presence, an offended look on his face.
Lucky him.
He kept his turquoise eyes trained to the floor covered in decorative carpet, ignoring the way Kaveh’s mouth moved fast and without a hint of remorse. Had Alhaitham not had his soundproof headphones turned on, he most likely would’ve had to deal with another scolding.
He really… Did feel quite lightheaded.
Alhaitham looked up, squinting his eyes at Kaveh, with his neatly brushed back blond hair and unnecessarily bright style. He seemed to be looking at him with anger… Or was that concern? Alhaitham couldn’t tell through the way his vision swam, darkening around the edges.
One Kaveh, two Kavehs. Three Kavehs.
Since when were there three Kavehs? One was enough trouble as it was.
He stumbled forward, his legs giving out from underneath him. The floor seemed to grow ever so closer, before he was held up by another pair of arms. Kaveh. Kaveh had stopped his fall, his mind supplied.
He allowed his eyes to close, his body slumped in Kaveh’s hold. His headphones fell off of his ears, clattering to the floor below.
“Haitham… You!” Kaveh shouted, struggling to keep him off of the ground.
He slipped into complete unconsciousness, ignoring Kaveh’s panicked rambling.
“He just walks in here, bleeding all over the floor, and he doesn’t even say anything!” Kaveh’s frustrated voice echoed through his head, causing him to wince.
It felt like a hammer was hitting against his skull, pounding with every word that escaped Kaveh’s lips. He groaned, turning his head away from the noise. He kept his eyes closed, if only to enjoy rest for just a little while longer.
“Kaveh, keep it down. You’re going to wake him up,” A softer voice, Tighnari’s, scolded him.
He listened as the man paced around, the floorboards creaking underneath his weight, “Too bad! He has a lot of explaining to do.” Kaveh stopped moving, presumably to cross his arms and pout.
Alhaitham decided that was enough, and opened his eyes.
The light was harsh, prompting him to narrow his eyes while he tried to figure out his surroundings. He was still at home, laying down on the couch in front of their living room coffee table. Tighnari was kneeling down next to him, a roll of bandages in hand. Kaveh was a few paces away, staring at the wall instead of the scene behind him.
The painting Kaveh put up, an original he made himself, was crooked. It was tilted just a little too far to the left.
“Oh, great, see?” Tighnari turned to look away, scowling at Kaveh, “He’s awake now. That just makes bandaging him up that much harder.”
Kaveh whipped around at that, his crimson eyes glaring at Alhaitham, “You…! Do you have any idea how worried you made me?”
“Keep it down,” Alhaitham warned, wincing again as the headache continued to pound against his skull.
He attempted to raise a hand to his hair, only to find it pulled back down by Tighnari. He shook his head, a light frown on his face, “You shouldn’t move. I still haven’t finished patching up all of the cuts.”
“What the hell happened to you?” Kaveh’s voice was quieter now, the man far closer to them than Alhaitham remembered him being, “You don’t normally come home later than usual, much less covered in injuries and deathly pale.”
“I was ambushed on the way home,” Alhaitham hissed, a sudden spike of pain nearly blinding him as Tighnari dabbed ointment on his wounds. “Eremite mercenaries, they were hired by an Akademiya scholar.”
“What would an Akademiya scholar want you dead for? Sure, you’re irritating, but you’ve kept Sumeru together after you overthrew the Sages..” Kaveh pondered, looking down at the coffee table between them.
Alhaitham felt the linen fabric of the bandages Tighnari used wrap around his arm, effectively covering the open wound securely. He tightened them, making sure the bandages were secure before moving on to the wounds that were scattered around his chest. Alhaitham averted his gaze, keeping a close eye on Kaveh.
“I rejected his request for funding. Based on the Eremites’ description of their employer, I…” He paused, clenching his teeth as another spike of pain from the ointment washed over him, “Figured out who it was.”
Archons, he felt so exhausted.
Tighnari pulled him up, resting Alhaitham’s back against the arm of the couch as he meticulously wrapped bandages around his chest, tightening them as he went. Alhaitham allowed his head to tilt, resting against his shoulder as he slowly blinked, an attempt at ridding himself of drowsiness.
“Well? Who is it? Tighnari can contact Cyno and have him take care of it-” Kaveh was cut off mid-rant.
“I can handle it myself. There’s no need to get other people involved,” Alhaitham disagreed, shaking his head slightly.
Tighnari let out a disapproving huff, “Ah, ah, don’t even think about pulling that tough guy act. You aren’t leaving bedrest for at least a week. Your body needs time to recover from the amount of blood you’ve lost.”
Alhaitham fell silent. He glared at himself, at his chest that was now covered in linen bandages. Tighnari was working on his leg now, peeling away the fabric of his pants to reveal the cuts that had slowly stopped bleeding.
Another hiss escaped him as the ointment made contact. To think he could overestimate himself like this.
It would have benefited more to just stop by the Bimarstan.
“I should have patched up everything,” Tighnari spoke after a long moment of silence, standing up from where he kneeled on the floor. “As long as you don’t do anything strenuous, you should be fine to work again in a week or two.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t try anything,” Kaveh’s annoying voice reassured Tighnari.
Alhaitham could only sit and watch helplessly as Tighnari walked away, towards the door leading away from his home. Kaveh waved him goodbye, waiting for that familiar click of the door shutting before turning to face him with such gentle concern. It was almost out of character for him.
“...You really had me worried, you know.” Kaveh averted his gaze, whispering to himself. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. I can’t imagine resting on the couch is all that comfortable.”
“I don’t need your help,” He spoke nonchalantly, forcing his aching body up from where he was laid across the cushions.
He attempted to stand up, watching as Teyvat tilted on its axis and sent him stumbling into Kaveh, who quickly grabbed onto him. He raised a hand to his head, groaning as he struggled to figure out what just happened amidst his ever persistent headache.
“See, look at you. You can hardly stand up straight,” Kaveh complained, wrapping one of Alhaitham’s arms across his shoulders to better support his weight. “Why don’t you let others help you, for once? Really, you’re going to worry me to death one of these days.”
“I’m surprised you care,” He muttered, allowing his head to droop as Kaveh handled most of the hard work for him.
Kaveh’s hold on his hand tightened ever so slightly, not that Alhaitham didn’t notice. “Of course I care. I thought you knew this by now.”
Alhaitham fell silent again, keeping his eyes fixated on the ground beneath them. He didn’t have an answer to Kaveh.
One foot in front of the other, slowly but surely making their way towards his bedroom. He could hear his door open, the familiar sight of a stack of books on the floor near the frame reassuring him of his location. He never did get to finish all of those books, the ones on the top left untouched and collecting dust.
He merely lost interest in the topic at the time. Perhaps he’ll pick them up again later.
Kaveh mumbled something under his breath, an irritated look on his face, “You really should organize this room more. It’s a mess.”
Kaveh placed him down gently on his mattress, watching Alhaitham immediately relax his shoulders at the familiarity. He immediately laid back, his head falling onto the pillow that smelled like home . His eyelids have never felt heavier, threatening to close against his will as Kaveh moved to pull a blanket over him.
“Get some rest. We can worry about dinner later, alright?” Kaveh tilted his head, making sure Alhaitham understood.
“Right.” Was all he said in return. Short, but enough of a confirmation for Kaveh.
“Rest well… Haitham.” Kaveh slipped away, the door clicking shut behind him.
In the familiar darkness of his room, Alhaitham mumbled to himself in a sleepy haze.
“Thanks… Kaveh.”