Work Text:
It’s 11PM on a Tuesday, and Alhaitham finds himself in Lambad’s Tavern, drinking beers with Dehya.
The eremite (to no one’s surprise) is a chatty drunk. He is on the other hand surprised to find out that she is a lightweight. He stores that in his mental folder of unimportant information that hold no significance other than having the basic knowledge of it, which he has on any person he encounters more than once.
Dehya’s folder is quite thick.
He knows she’s into makeup, this isn’t something she particularly hides from anyone. She rarely leaves anywhere without her compact mirror.
He knows she and Cyno play Genius Invocation TCG together on occasion, but he also remembered her telling Alhaitham that she doesn’t play it as seriously as Cyno does. He grumbles about this, though.
He knows she was the one who suggested to Candace to have a room saved for him in Aaru Village for when he takes his routine visits to the desert for his studies or out of his own boredom. He is highly amused by this.
There’s a lot more, but he’d rather not get into that now.
The scribe makes an internal note. New tidbit of information: Dehya is a lightweight. Gets to a point of slurring her words after four beers.
It’s at this moment, he also takes notice of the way her usually wide smile is more crooked when she’s drunk. He’s always seen her give her bright smile to other people, sees the wrinkle in her eyes filled with genuine mirth.
Perhaps one hopes to be on the receiving end of that smile.
He brushes the thought off. The most he gets is a playful scoff, especially after he’s said something she deems as ridiculous. He supposes it’ll do.
It’s at some point in the night when Dehya becomes loud, that Lambad has to ask him to escort her home. Which he does. It’s a fine little inn just outside of the city.
Dehya is not heavy, but she’s not light either. The walk home making sure she doesn’t hit anything or get hit by anything proved to be quite challenging, but he enjoys the sight of her waddling like a penguin.
A subfolder added to the Dehya is a lightweight file: she is cute when she’s drunk walking.
Cute.
He doesn’t think he’s ever thought of anyone cute before. She’ll never know anyway.
The aforementioned chattiness comes up too. He doesn’t think he’s had a more nonsensical conversation in his life than he is tonight, but he doesn’t mind it. Dehya, he realises is amusing both sober and drunk. Unlike his roommate who is an unexpected sleepy drunk and actually minds his own business. Don’t get him near drugs, though. It’s a different story.
They reach the inn. Alhaitham is pretty much known anywhere in the city, to his dismay of course, but to an observer’s eye, it hopefully did not look like some creep bringing a drunk woman to a cheap building.
Dehya babbles on and on on the way up to her room, something about having had too much to drink, wanting to go home already.
It’s 12AM Wednesday, they’ve finally arrived to Dehya’s room. Alhaitham probably isn’t the first to comment on the fact that it smells good, even though the lobby had a distinct odor he can’t quite pick up on. It’s a citrus-y scent which he likes.
It’s at some point in the night Alhaitham decides to leave until he feels a hand tug his wrist, urging him to stay.
He has a perfectly fine home, one he currently has by himself as his roommate is off on an expedition. It’s much closer to the Akademiya too.
But he thinks it’s the alcohol in his system that makes him lose all sense of logic and sit next to Dehya after she pats down her bed for him to lay on.
She hugs him.
He’s at a loss for words, when the seemingly guarded Eremite is hugging him in a tight embrace. He does nothing more than reciprocate, noticing the way her perfume is a different scent than the room. Flowers.
“Ngh-” she says, muffled from being embraced.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. You’re warm, it- it feels nice.”
Alhaitham finds himself smiling. “I think that’s coming from you.”
She smiles back, lazily but beautifully. “No, that’s all you.”
And Alhaitham is glad Dehya does not keep a mental folder on him. Otherwise it’ll say he might be falling in love with her.