Chapter Text
What?
Was the first thing that came to Alhaitham’s mind once he heard quiet whimpering near his home. Before the tall man could approach his door, his head turned to the left where he heard the noises, towards the crates and vase nearby. Alhaitham’s head then tilts in inquiry before he starts to walk towards it. He was about to reach for the crates to move them aside until a loud, high pitched chirp rips through the air along with a yellow ball of fungus. It startles the man, causing him to take a few steps backwards.
The fungus runs around in circles squealing before returning back behind the boxes for refuge. Alhaitham can see its cap peeking behind the objects quivering. After observing it for a second, he quickly concludes that the poor fungus must be frightened. Alhaitham sighs and slowly makes his way towards it.
It’s smaller than most of the fungal lifeforms he had run into so far, similar to a Hydro Fungus in appearance. There’s a feather tucked into its cap, shaking as the fungus cowers and hides its face in its pair of long hyphae. Quiet squeaks and chirps emanate from its tiny body, sounding almost as if it's sobbing. The man’s hand looms over the fungus before gently petting its cap, it gets a surprised chirp before quickly turning around. The fungus looks up at Alhaitham with wide ruby eyes.
Both of them stare at each other in silence
“...?”
“?” it hops forward.
Alhaitham huffs, it seems ok now. He turns away from the fungus, going to open the door to his home until something bumps into his legs. It’s chirping loudly for his attention. Alhaitham grumbles and turns around
“What is it that you want?”
It chirps back in response, nudging itself between Alhaitham’s legs to enter his house.”hey-!” Before it could go any further, the man picks up the mushroom by the cap and brings it up to his face. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asks.
The fungus kicks its small little legs up in the air and chirps loudly, displaying a sad look on its face. Wide red eyes gloss over with tears that threaten to spill while its hyphae droop loosely towards the ground. Alhaitham seems unamused until the creature starts to whine softly. He glances away “...Fine,” he sighs. “I’ll allow you to stay…”
“!!!!”
He sets the mushroom down, watching it go as it jumps up and down excitedly. He pinches the bridge of his nose and groans. “I suppose I’ll take care of you for now, at least until Kaveh comes back,” The fungus squeaks in curiosity at the name, ceasing its movements to look up at the Scribe. Said scribe stares back. “He’d love to take care of a fungus like you,” He chuckles. “heh, considering the fact he said that he would devolve into a fungus with empathy himself”
“?”
“...I’m talking to a fungus” He mutters aloud to himself before he goes back to the divan to sit, taking out a book and reading where he left off. The fungus watched him sit before toddling after him, pausing just next to his feet. It chirps softly, causing Alhaitham to look from his book and down at the yellow creature. It raises its long hyphae towards him. It chirps again “?”
Alhaitham looks bemused “you want me to… pick you up?” The fungus chirps happily in response, hopping up and down to signal that he’s right. Alhaitham uses his free hand to scoop him off the ground and places him on his lap where it lays back and makes itself cozy. The tall man puts the book in front of them both so he can continue to read comfortably.
A long moment of silence follows after, Alhaitham appreciating the calm atmosphere while the creature chirps up at him every now and then. The fungus blinks and stretches its tiny little legs after a while before plopping them back down on Alhaitham’s leg. Its cap earns a gentle pat from the Scribe. “Ah, you must be getting sleepy,” he muses. He stares down at it, wondering what to do with the drowsy mushroom until they’re both startled by the door suddenly slamming open. The poor fungus screeches loudly in shock and hides its face in its hyphae again.
Alhaitham stands up and puts the little creature aside. As he’s about to berate Kaveh for barging in all of a sudden and creating a ruckus, Kaveh screams and shouts panicked while running around in circles, there seems to be something attached to his head too.
“HAITHAM! HAITHAM HELP ME!” He cries while trying to pull something off of his head. Kaveh stumbles and falls face flat in front of his roommate as he fails to get the thing off of him.
Alahitham shakes his head as he approaches the knocked-out blond, kneeling down to see what was the root for his sudden hysteria. He was met with another fungal creature, a miscolored anemo fungus this time, that had attached itself to Kaveh’s head. He tries to pry it off, but it seems to be stuck there.
It stubbornly stays attached to the back of his head, growling at Alhaitham’s hand as it draws closer once more. “Please get him off…” Kaveh sobs. “I petted him because he looked like you and he won’t leave me…”
“Grr…”
Alhaitham squints at the other male in disbelief before his attention returns to the mushroom at hand. He must admit that it does bear some resemblance to him: Its top shares similar colors to the man’s hair, as well as its eyes. Ah, but now isn’t the time to ponder these coincidences, he needs to get the creature off of Kaveh before it causes even more of a ruckus than Kaveh commits himself on the daily.
The yellow fungus chirps curiously before hopping off the divan, climbing on Alhaitham’s back to take a peek at what’s going on. It watches ALhaitham trying to separate the other fungus from the other human before the appearance of the mushroom catches his eye. He chirps
“Miiii!” it jumps up and down “Mimiii!!!”
“?” The anemo mushroom drops its aggressive face as it looks up at the golden fungus. It does a double take on the blonde and all of its anger simmers away. It detaches its hold on the man and floats up to the other fungus, chirping something before both of them settle down to the floor. Kaveh sighs in relief as he sits back up, rubbing the spot on the back of his head where the mushroom once stayed. “Aaaaah thank goodness it's off,” he huffs. “He was so adamant on staying with me I thought I’d have to live with it forever!”
“Hmm…” The Scribe observes the two fungi interact with each other while he ignores his roommate’s bugging. Both are softly chirping to one another before they nuzzle up against each other. He looks back at the yellow fungus, noting its features before looking back at Kaveh.
“What?” He asks “Why are you looking at me like that for?” Alhaitham rolls his eyes and gestures towards the fungus pair. “Look at the yellow hydro fungus, you look exactly like that one that the anemo one mistook you for it,”
“Are you calling me a mushroom?!”
“Kaveh look,” The fungi chirp at the both of them. The Kaveh-looking fungus nudges the anemo Alhaitham-looking one forward. It waddles towards Kaveh, hiding its face in its cap and murmurs something to the architect quietly.
“An apology?” His eyes soften while the mushroom looks up at him. “…oh I can’t stay mad at such an adorable mushroom like you! I forgive you tiny creature,” he rubs the brim of the fungus’s cap gently. The Haishroom chirps before quickly returning back to the other mushroom’s side.
Before Alhaitham can say anything, Kaveh runs for the fungi and holds them tight in his arms. “Haitham we should keep them!” He beams while the Scribe just stares back.
“...”
“Well?”
“No,”
“Ehhhhh!?” Kaveh pouts. “But what if they get cold!? Or hungry? or-”
“They’re wild fungi Kaveh, they’ll live,”
“But-”
A chirp interrupts them, causing the two men to look back at the fungi. The one with Kaveh’s likeness coos softly as it steps forward. It presses the tips of its mycelium tendrils together, fiddling with them as it struggles to chirp something. “M…mmmi…”
“Come on Alhaitham have a heart,” Kaveh picks them back up and holds them again. “They need a home!” His scarlet eyes shine with the pleas of allowing two mushrooms under their roof, and Alhaitham tries to resist but…
The fungi chirp at him while he decides what to do, the combined power of their wide eyes makes his heart softer. He groans “Fine, if you want to take care of them, be my guest” He says “But they’ll be your responsibility, alright?”
“Yeah!” Kaveh replies immediately. He wasn’t paying attention to what his roomate had said as he’s too busy cuddling them in joy.
Alhaitham shakes his head as he leaves them be for now.