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Alhaitham heard the door slam shut from his room. Despite the late hour (3:26am on a Friday), this was nothing out of the ordinary. Kaveh had probably just gotten home from the bar, and by the sounds of it, was not in a good mood. He could feel the way the Kaveh stomped and the wine pantry opening with concerning force, considering its contents. Pop. An open wine bottle. Alhaitham listened for the opening of a cabinet, but it never came. No glass? That's odd. It wasn't uncommon for Kaveh to drink after coming home from the bar, but he always did so from a glass—a fancy one that had carved flowers and leaves. Alhaitham came to the obvious conclusion: Something's wrong.
He stood and quietly walked from his desk, careful not to make too much noise. He doesn't know what kind of burglar opened a wine bottle in the middle of a robbery, but you can never be too sure. Maybe Alhaitham misheard? No, he doubted it, he knows all too well what opening a wine bottle sounds like. But there's always a possibility, so then what could it've been? Alhaitham's brain was filled with possibilities of what the noise was. Highlighting the likeliest answers and crossing out the impossible. "Santa Claus," one part of his brain said. "No, that's stupid," said another. "Stop it, we're going on a tangent again."
Oh. When did Alhaitham get to the bottom of the stairs? Maybe he's a little more tired than he thought. Clank. The wine was set on the floor, Alhaitham looked in the direction the noise came from. So it was Kaveh. He stared at the man. Tangled blond hair, dirty clothes, unusually dull eyes with bags to match.
"Rough night I presume?" He heard himself saying.
"Go the hell away, I am not dealing with your bullshit right now," Kaveh slurred. He looked and sounded so... resigned. Is he OK? What happened? Did somebody hurt him? Who? Questions rang through Alhaitham's head. Instead of saying something like his mind begged him to do, he walked to the kitchen and bent down to sit next to Kaveh.
"What the fuck are you doing."
"Sitting down."
"Well, yeah obviously, but why?"
"Because I want to see what's so comfortable about the kitchen floor that you decided to sit here instead of the couch." Kaveh didn't answer, opting to tuck his legs to his chest and bury his head in them. Nearly silent cries came from him, this is not good. Alhaitham wanted to hold him, which was odd. He hates touching others, so much so that any tap on his shoulder or brush against his arm would result in him rubbing his skin raw to rid himself of the sensation.
Kaveh flinched when Alhaitham's fingers made contact with blond hair. Slowly, he began to thread through it, untangling knots and brushing out dirt, which was all over him. Kaveh let out a shaky breath, relaxing his muscles. Did he think I was going to hurt him? Moving over, he draped his arms around Kaveh, who released his legs and grabbed onto Alhaitham's shirt. They stayed like that for a while, the freshly opened wine going untouched.
..........
Warm. Why is it warm. Kaveh would open his eyes, but he doesn't want to. He likes this warmth. Gentle thumps beneath his head, the soft rise and fall of breath, arms wrapped around him, it was perfect. Wait. Heartbeat? Breath? Arms?! Who is this? Memories from before he got home hit him. Does it matter who he's with? Not anymore, he's just a traitor, and traitors don't matter for anything. As long as it's not Alhaitham. Shit. Knowing his luck, it probably is. Begrudgingly, Kaveh opened his eyes and flung his head up. Archons, smite me right now. Why the hell is Alhaitham in his bed? Oh, this isn't his bed. Why the hell is he in Alhaitham's bed? What happened after he got home? Home; not a common word for Kaveh to use. Maybe I'm still a little drunk. He buried his head into the fabric below him before reminding himself that this fabric is Alhaitham's shirt. The arms around him were so tight he couldn't roll-over without waking his roommate. So he did the only thing he could: fall back asleep.
Well, he tried, but something felt off. Doesn't Alhaitham hate being touched? Somehow, this made it worse. Why is he hugging me? Did he feel obligated to do so? I said something about it didn’t I. Oh archons he hates me now doesn't he. Kaveh? Why do I fuck everything up? He's going to kick me out. I don't want to be alone again. Kaveh. I don't want to leave him.
"Kaveh!"
"What!" His tone came out a little harsher than he intended, but it’s not like Alhaitham cared.
"Are you ok? You came home last night crying. Did something happen," Alhaitham said with his usual apathetic tone. Although, Kaveh knew him too well to mistake this for not caring.
"No? Nothing happened. I'm fine." Alhaitham sighed and pulled Kaveh closer so his head was on the former's shoulder. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the f-
"If it was something I did," he hesitated, "I apologize." What? Why was he sorry? He didn’t do anything wrong! In fact, it was quite the opposite. Alhaitham was perfect, so perfect it made Kaveh sick.
"No you didn't do anything wrong! It's on me. I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“Why would you be sorry?”
“Well, I barged in last night, probably sat on the floor sobbing and drinking, said saying stupid shit, and forced you to take care of a drunk person. Is there anything I missed?”
“For one: you didn’t force me to do anything, if I didn’t want to, I would’ve left you there. You know that Kaveh.”
“So why didn’t you,” Kaveh cut in, raising his head up. Alhaitham blinked and furrowed his brows, as if he didn’t know either. He looks incredibly adorable when he’s confused, Kaveh thought. No you can’t think like that when he’s right there, dumbass! You shouldn’t be thinking like that at all. It’s disgusting.
Alhaitham spoke, distracting Kaveh from his misery, “I don’t know, but you certainly didn’t force me to.”
“Oh so the great Alhaitham doesn’t know something? I thought I’d never see the day.”
“I don’t know plenty of things, such as: why you were crying last night. I’m hoping to get the answer to that soon, though.”
Kaveh dropped his head back on Alhaitham’s shoulder, “Not right now. I’m tired.” He felt arms wrap around him tighter and a hand on the back of his head.
“Ok.”
Maybe this won’t last forever, but that’s ok. It’s ok right now.