Chapter Text
Someone tapped his shoulder and Kaveh startled awake. He wasn’t a light sleeper, not at all, but it was difficult to sleep deeply while slumped over the hardwood of the university library tables, with only his rolled-up jacket shoved under his cheek as a pillow. Normally he would have stayed behind in the architecture studio under the guise of working late, only to crawl under his desk and curl up there. But as exams were fast approaching more of his classmates started coming into the studio earlier than usual, and Kaveh didn’t want to be found in such a vulnerable state.
Besides, this was the prestigious Sumeru University where facilities were open all day to encourage all to stay engrossed in their studies until the early hours of the morning. What was Kaveh but just another burnt-out student who happened to fall asleep in the library while working hard?
That’s what he had told himself, but clearly, someone had not gotten the memo. Kaveh groaned and rubbed his sleep-filled eyes, blinking in the dim light that filled the grand room. His blurry vision adjusted to the sight of a large figure standing over him, arms folded.
“Oh, so you are awake,” came the voice of the man in front of him. “Good. You were barely moving so I worried that you may have been dead, or worse, hungover.”
Kaveh blinked a few times. He didn’t feel dead, although the emptiness in his stomach made him feel pretty close. As for hungover… God, when was the last time he’d had a drink? Alcohol was hard for him to come by outside of special occasions, but he could try crashing a house party just for the booze. And maybe to raid the host’s fridge if everyone else was too drunk to notice.
He shelved that thought for later. Now that he was awake and coherent enough, he took a moment to observe the man who had disturbed his slumber in the first place. He was tall and well-built, with light hair that was brushed out of his face under a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Kaveh wondered for a brief moment if he was some athlete here on a sports scholarship or something. He looked like the kind of guy who would play water polo. Broad shoulders, strong arms. Small waist.
Not bad looking. Not at all.
Too bad that such an attractive face was set in a stony glare. Kaveh could sense this man’s disdain for him, and the knowledge clouded his brain with defensive annoyance. He’s only just met me and he already clearly thinks so little of me!
Kaveh huffed. “Watch what you say. You’re in the presence of the esteemed Light of Kesharewar.”
The man’s expression didn’t change. “Okay.”
Kaveh stifled a gasp. The nerve! Does he have no respect for academic achievers?
Trying to regain his composure, Kaveh stood up and smoothed his clothes. He hoped he didn’t look too dishevelled, but he wasn’t used to anyone catching him so off guard like this. Usually, he managed to wake up before the cleaners arrived at dawn, and he’d find an empty bathroom to freshen up and apply his makeup. Now all he could do was pray that the clips in his hair hadn’t come out before he had a chance to wash it.
“My mistake.” Kaveh’s voice was strained. “Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Kaveh. I’m majoring in architecture over at the Kesharewar campus. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He held out his hand. The man’s eyes flicked down to look at it before returning to make intense eye contact with Kaveh.
“I didn’t come over here to learn your name,” he said with a bored expression. “I was just doing my duty of making sure that there wasn’t a dead body in a public space.”
Kaveh’s hand flinched backwards. He hugged his arms, suddenly aware of how cold he felt in his thin white shirt. “Jesus Christ, okay, I was trying to be friendly.”
Now that Kaveh had dropped the niceties, the man in front of him actually gave out a faint smile. Odd, Kaveh observed. Was he just trying to rile me up?
He didn’t get to ask about it, because just like that the man turned on his heel and strode off, disappearing behind endless bookshelves. Kaveh vaguely wondered what section of the library he was headed towards. What do athletes study? Aerodynamics? And that’s assuming he was actually an athlete, and not just some insanely hunky biochemistry student.
Now finally alone, Kaveh sank back into his chair, let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. He hadn’t slept nearly as well or as long as he probably needed to get through the day, and the intrusion from that guy hadn’t helped. He wanted nothing more than to lay down in bed - a real bed - and have a full night’s rest. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had that.
He allowed himself to keep his eyes closed for a few more breaths. After the last breath, he fished out the phone in his pocket and powered it on. The battery was halfway drained, so he’d have to find a charging port to use sometime during the day. He navigated through various apps, checking his class timetable and his emails, before finally checking his text messages. The notifications that he had gotten from texts had dwindled over the past few months, but there were a few reliable contacts always reaching out to him. One of them was Tighnari, who had sent him several hiking photos from the rainforest expedition he’d been on for the past few weeks. Most of the pictures were just of weird plants that Tighnari thought were cool, but he’d slipped in some group selfies with his classmates. Kaveh smiled at the sight of his friend’s face, though his chest constricted at the reminder of the distance between them.
And speaking of distance…
The only other message awaiting Kaveh was from his mom. Like Tighnari, she had sent him photos of her new discoveries, namely the streets and cafes of Fontaine. Kaveh swiped through the pictures slowly, taking in all the information that he could. Some photos were ones that his mom had clearly taken to show off the buildings, and while Kaveh appreciated being able to marvel at the foreign architecture, he was most interested in the photos that simply depicted his mother’s daily life. He saw cappuccinos, dainty little cakes, several sketchbooks and a few novels. His mom never took selfies, so while he didn’t get to see any photos of her, he was happy to see her world from her perspective. He could imagine her waking up early to grab breakfast and coffee at a cafe close to her apartment, where she would stay and draw everything she saw until the afternoon sun lured her to the local parks. She would take a leisurely stroll, snapping a few pictures for herself and her son, before heading home to make herself dinner. After unwinding for a while she would text him a good night message before settling into a warm bed, oblivious to the fact that her only son didn’t have the same luxury.
Kaveh’s daydream ended with the final photo, and he could no longer ignore the final text from his mom. It was a simple, innocent message, but seeing it made his heart sink once more.
Love you, شیر نر. Hope that your studies are going well and that you are happy. Remember to take care of yourself <3
Were his studies going well? Uh… He still received high scores on all his assignments, but he could feel himself slipping both in quality of work and stability. And he couldn’t say that he was taking care of himself when he was lucky if he could steal a moment to shower on campus without anyone noticing.
So… Was he at least happy?
Kaveh pressed his lips into a thin line as he typed out his reply.
Final project is coming along nicely, I’m so excited!! I love you too mom. Eat a lot of Fontaine snacks for me!
He powered his phone off and slipped it into his briefcase. He had about two hours before his first class, which should be enough time to find a bathroom to clean up in and to run down to his favourite convenience store for an energy drink or two. Or three. Fuck, he wished he had something stronger to drink.
*
Four energy drink cans and a decent chunk out of his bank account later, Kaveh sat shrimped at his workspace with his face buried in his sketchbook. He kept his drawings as small thumbnails, blatantly aware of how few blank pages he had left. Architecture students were required to all use the same, insanely expensive sketchbook for all their projects and Kaveh had already blown through all his college stationery savings (as well as his regular savings) and there was no way he could afford to buy a new one any time soon. If he had to, he would sew in extra pages until his project was complete.
While he sketched, Kaveh did a few calculations in his head. He’d been spending quite a bit of Mora on energy drinks lately. It was a good appetite suppressant and a much better option than the bitter, watery coffee always available in the architecture studio. Despite his situation, Kaveh couldn’t deny himself simple pleasures with sugar and caffeine. He was already deprived of so much as it were, so why should he not buy himself a little treat to get through the day?
The problem was that his meagre savings were quickly dwindling and he had no source of income. As a full-time student, there was no way he could pick up a part-time job, even if he did have the time for it between all his classes and assignments. Besides, most legitimate workplaces required proof of residence from employees, which was something that Kaveh couldn’t provide. As for less legitimate establishments… Well, Kaveh was desperate but he wasn’t that desperate.
Kaveh didn’t realize how forcefully he was scribbling until the nib of his 2H pencil snapped off. He cursed under his breath and fumbled around for a sharpener. With the way things were going, he would soon have to brave the taste of the communal coffee pot, and he was not looking forward to that.
He took a moment to lean back and stretch, feeling the satisfying cracks run through his spine. Even if he couldn’t stay sleeping in the studio for much longer, he couldn’t keep sleeping in the same hunched-over position that he spent all day sketching in. He’d heard horror stories of artists who had messed up their backs and couldn’t sit up to draw anymore. And if he couldn’t produce art, where would that leave him and his future plans? Perhaps he could find a part of the library abandoned enough for him to sleep on the floor without anyone noticing. That wouldn’t be too conspicuous, right?
One problem at a time, he reminded himself. Now that he had consumed enough caffeine to give a small animal a heart attack and he had spent the entire day grinding through his assignments, there was one more need that he couldn’t ignore for much longer - and the deep growls from his gut were getting so loud and frequent that he was sure that no one sitting near him could ignore the sounds either.
Food first, he promised. Then a comfortable place to sleep.
*
The food in question came in the form of mostly abandoned, half-eaten snacks in plastic bowls that littered the tiny kitchen. He had overheard one of his classmates mention a house party not too far from campus, and he had promptly invited himself to the event. After being sure to show his face on the dance floor for long enough that the partygoers accepted his presence there, Kaveh drifted off to the kitchen to scrounge for any leftovers.
The party’s host had done an excellent job of keeping the place stocked up with alcohol and mixers, but food had clearly not been prioritized in the same way. Kaveh rummaged through cupboards, finding only dry cereal that he couldn’t reliably wolf down before anyone caught him in the act. The state of the fridge wasn’t any better, featuring only a few chilled beers, an empty carton of milk, and half a block of cheese. As tempting as it was to devour the entirety of the cheese, Kaveh rationed a quarter for himself before grabbing a beer and slamming the fridge door shut. He fumbled through the kitchen drawers in search of a bottle opener, mumbling curses to himself as he struggled.
“It’s a twist,” came a familiar voice. An annoyingly familiar one.
Kaveh glanced up to see the same guy from the library once again standing in front of him. He dressed casually, in sweatpants and a hoodie, and despite being at a social gathering he still had his headphones on. He nursed his own beer bottle in one hand as he stared at Kaveh with the same intensity from that morning.
“What?” Kaveh checked the cap of the bottle, and sure enough, it bore an arrow curved into an arc to indicate that he only needed to twist the cap for it to open. He felt his cheeks flush and he hastily popped the cap off, avoiding eye contact. “I knew that.”
The library guy looked amused. “First the library, and now here. Do you make a habit of loitering in empty places like this?”
Kaveh took a sip of his beer. “What do you mean ‘loitering?’ The library is open at all hours and I just came to the kitchen for a drink. Besides, I could ask you the same question!”
Library guy looked unbothered. “I came here to get away from all the noise. You look like you’re trying to get away from something else.”
Who does this guy think he is? Doesn’t he know how rude it is to psychoanalyse a person you’ve just met?
Kaveh rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to take life advice from some jock. I’m perfectly capable of handling my own problems just fine.”
At that, the guy smirked. “You think I’m a jock? I didn’t know that students of the arts were so shallow as to judge people by their appearance. You should consider switching to linguistics where you can learn something about the power of words and their meanings, instead of just saying the first thing that comes to your mind without any further thought.”
Kaveh felt his face grow hotter, but he couldn’t tell how much of it was from embarrassment at being wrong and how much was frustration with this smartass. “Oh, so you’re a linguistics major? That explains why you’re so stuck up, but it doesn’t explain your limited vocabulary or lack of manners.”
“I never said I was a linguistics major.”
“You didn’t say anything. Not even your name.”
He paused for a beat as if considering his next words. “Alhaitham,” he said finally.
Kaveh rolled the name around in his mind. Alhaitham. It was a pretty name and it suited him well. Not that Kaveh thought this nuisance of a man was pretty. Just… Objectively attractive.
A thought tugged on the corners of Kaveh’s brain. He needed a place to stay, even just for one night of proper rest, and here was a perfectly good-looking man who probably had his own apartment and bed. Kaveh didn’t consider himself someone who would resort to seduction to fulfil his own needs, but it couldn’t hurt to try. If Alhaitham wasn’t up for it he could probably find some other partygoer to hook up with for the night.
But Kaveh secretly wished he wouldn’t have to find someone else.
He took a long, slow sip of his drink and dragged his eyes up and down Alhaitham’s body. Alhaitham watched him with a casual interest. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.
Kaveh drained his drink down to the last drop. Here goes nothing.