Chapter Text
Despite what Alhaitham seemed to think, Kaveh did read. Often, even. Sure, he didn’t spend his days with his nose stuck in books about the history of maritime communication or studies in patient inactivity like his junior did, for that would probably bore his eyes out of his head, but of course he still read. He didn’t get through the Akademiya via luck, you know!
When he’d expressed this to his friends with the somewhat limited vocabulary created by Cyno’s generous offer of: “It’s on me tonight”, albeit with the same frustration and disdain, Tighnari had given him nothing more than a long and exasperated sigh. Him and the generous General had quickly moved the topic onwards, as if they’d done so a thousand times before.
But anyways, Kaveh reads, he reads all the time. Unfortunately, his interest lay in novellas, in fantastical tales and in sweet, romantic fiction. So according to Alhaitham, he ‘didn’t really read.’. Unfortunately, Kaveh had read enough stories about falling in love to know that he and Haitham were caught in the infamous ‘will they, won’t they’ stage of it, and they had been for some time.
When Alhaitham wakes every morning, an hour before Kaveh, he will make a small, plain breakfast for the two of them – as he knows a large one will make Kaveh feel sick, yet he’ll eat it out of gratitude – and coffee for the architect. He will try to tidy up whatever books and papers he’s inevitably strewn across the house the prior evening, and let Kaveh arise on his own. He knows that Kaveh isn’t good with mornings, if they’re too busy, too messy, too much, he’ll freak out. When Kaveh returns every evening, more than an hour before Alhaitham, he’ll make dinner for the two of them, flipping to a new page of the recipe book that Haitham had gifted him for his birthday last year. He won’t make soup – even if it’s a cold and dry day – as he knows that it will make Alhaitham frustrated, which will likely intensify the stress he’s under as the Acting Grand Sage, even if he refuses to show it.
When Alhaitham presses a gentle hand to Kaveh’s forehead to check his temperature after he’s walked home in the pouring rain, Kaveh will lean into it, and they will stay there for a moment that stretches out just a little longer than what Kaveh would deem as normal. When Kaveh weaves his hands through the soft grey strands of Alhaitham’s hair to try and ease the throbbing pain that has him curled up on the floor of his study, Haitham will lean into it, and they will stay there until they grow weary with the sunset.
When Kaveh says all this to Tighnari and Cyno, after the generous offer has loosened his inhibitions, they aren’t willing to ever let it go. It’s been around a week now, and when Kaveh meets Cyno’s eyes across the Akademiya’s halls, they glisten with a sly, all-knowing, frankly infuriating display of amusement. It takes another week for them to finally (somewhat) cease revelling in Kaveh’s despair at this stand-still he can’t seem to bypass, and attempt to help him.
“Sit him down and tell him directly, if you want to stop dancing around it then you have to stop dancing too.” says Tighnari, as honest as ever. This is an expected approach, even Kaveh’s wine-hazed mind could’ve predicted the forest ranger would say that.
“Nope.” he gasps, in between sips, and Tighnari rolls his eyes.
He expects Cyno to back up Tighnari’s idea, or to suggest something classic like buying him a gift or writing a letter. He’s never really taken Cyno as one who might understand attraction and romance (under no circumstances will he put the word ‘love’ on this situation just yet) beyond a cliché, fairytale level. Everything he hears from Tighnari is all: “Cyno travelled all the way to the desert just to pick me this flower”, and “Cyno ran through a rainstorm to tell me he loved me”. Which is sweet, Kaveh does think it’s sweet. He could also never imagine him or Alhaitham taking anything like that seriously.
And besides, Tighnari usually follows these with: “Does he know they sell them in the Sumeru City flower shop?” and “The idiot was bed-ridden for two days after that!”. (Though, Kaveh admits, with a fond and sparkling expression unlike anything he’s ever seen on Tighnari’s face).
So when Cyno speaks, Kaveh almost stains his white shirt with crimson, choked-up wine.
“Make Alhaitham jealous.” He says, as if it’s the simplest and most obvious thing in the world, and as if he’s done anything even remotely like it before. Tighnari’s own slightly shocked expression confirms that he definitely hasn’t.
“Did you try to make me jealous?” The forest ranger asks, eyes looking upwards as he tries to remember an instance of this happening. Cyno shrugs.
“You’d have seen right through me.”
This brings Kaveh back to the table, and he scoffs.
“You think he wouldn’t see through me? It’s Alhaitham we’re talking about, you know?” He says, a little too loudly, causing Tighnari to frantically scan the tavern for any of the Akademiya’s most prone gossips. He thinks they’re in the clear, but honestly, who’s to say? The wine’s starting to cloud his mind too.
“Just make sure he doesn’t.” Says Cyno, and Kaveh brings a palm to his forehead, pushing back fine blonde strands. What a ridiculous, impossible, maybe even ludicrous idea.
He doesn’t stop thinking about it for a week.
—
Making Alhaitham jealous would probably result in him becoming angry in that stupid, silent way that he does. He would rather perish in the wastelands of the desert than admit to it, and it would end up driving Kaveh more insane than it drove Alhaitham. This is the most likely, most logical outcome. Locked up in a dark ravine of Kaveh’s mind, however, is the thought of Alhaitham becoming jealous and realising what it is he’s about to lose. Realising he has taken something for granted and he can’t live without it as he rushes to the tavern to stop Kaveh’s date even though it’s pouring with rain and–
Cyno had really done a number on him, huh? Either him, or the wine that swirled their conversation into shades of green and grey, of orange and teal. Somewhere within it, Kaveh thinks he might’ve agreed to let Cyno set him up on a ‘blind date’ to kickstart their plan.
It’s this that has awoken him an hour earlier than usual every day this week, obsessing over the inevitable moment in which Cyno will chase him down in the Akademiya and introduce him to someone to feign interest in. Obsessing over the way Alhaitham will react, the possibilities. As he lays in bed, he listens to the sounds of Alhaitham living in the house. The shower turns on briefly, and then off again. The kettle boils, but Alhaitham waits to pour his tea until Kaveh has awoken. Toast pops out of the toaster, and Kaveh figures that next, he’ll hear Alhaitham flick through the pages of a book or start up the coffee machine.
Instead, he hears footsteps grow nearer and nearer. He hears the door, ever so quietly, open across the room, and Kaveh snaps his eyes shut. He doesn’t really know why. From what he can gather, Alhaitham lingers in the doorway for a few moments, before moving closer. Before he knows it, Kaveh feels a gentle weight fall over him and ah– it’s the blanket that had fallen off his bed in the night. Alhaitham leaves.
Kaveh keeps thinking about it as he sips his coffee, had Alhaitham come into his room while he was asleep before? He cherishes that thought, tucked away safely in the warm expanse of his heart. Gods.
Today is, after all that, the day that Cyno greets him with a mischievous smile. There is no new face beside him, but a slip of paper in his hand instead. It lists a time, a location, a date. Saturday.
“What should I expect?”
“His name is Farid. I’m not acquainted, but Nilou is a friend of his. He will not think of it as a date. Remember your true quest.”
“You don’t think I’d actually fall for him, do you?” Kaveh groans, both at the sentiment and Cyno’s strange word choices. The two of them had been friends for a long time, including throughout Kaveh’s early twenties. He might’ve been a bit of a heartthrob, a little in love with love and all its spectacles. He was surprised it hadn’t taken more convincing to prove to Cyno that he was actually, legitimately interested in Alhaitham.
“Of course not.” Says Cyno, and Kaveh just knows he doesn’t mean it. He could kick him, he might. Cyno turns to leave, but Kaveh grabs his arm awkwardly, almost yelling: “Wait!”, before becoming uncomfortably aware of how many students shared this hallway with them.
“How do I… uh. Do this?” He asks sheepishly, lowering his hand. Cyno, almost comically, brings a hand to his chin. He’s enjoying this game they’re setting up.
“Act as if you’re hiding the fact that you’re seeing Alhaitham from Alhaitham himself.” He says, and then walks away before Kaveh can catch him once more. As if you’re hiding the fact that you’re seeing Alhaitham from Alhaitham himself.
Right… Alhaitham had to believe him, he probably wouldn’t become jealous unless he actually believed Kaveh was falling for another person. Who else could Kaveh ever act as if he’d fallen for?
—
He decides to play it slowly, because Alhaitham might become suspicious if he throws himself into things.
(this is not true, Kaveh constantly throws himself into things. He takes it slowly because he’s unbelievably, paralyzingly terrified of screwing this all up.)
On Friday night, he spends extra time on his hair. Washing, curling, blow-drying, braiding. Alhaitham doesn’t take much notice, but he doesn’t need to yet. It will come back to him when things seem more clear, haunting him. On Saturday morning, Kaveh wakes up earlier than usual. Usually, he’d be able to wake up at his typical hour and still make it to the lunch outing, but he wanted to take the time to go through a long-since abandoned skincare routine. To pick out an outfit.
He eats breakfast with Alhaitham, because it would break his heart not to. The other glances him up and down, but doesn’t deem anything out of the ordinary enough to comment on. At 11:30, Kaveh grabs his keys and heads towards the door. He doesn’t tend to go out much on Saturdays, and his heart seems to leap into his throat when Alhaitham recognises this and asks where he’s going.
“Just out.” He says, and closes the door before Haitham can question that further. He wavers on the doorstep for a moment, heart hammering in his chest. Kaveh places a hand over his heart.
This plan… It made it all feel so much more real . He hadn’t felt so electric before, and he knew he’d liked Alhaitham for such a long, long time, but this . It was different, he couldn’t explain it.
—
The lunch ‘date’ goes nicely, and Kaveh finds he actually does enjoy Farid’s company. He’s a young, attractive man in the Corps of Thirty. Kaveh has never really known anyone in that affiliation very well, just as Farid hasn’t known many people of the Kshrarewar Darshan, so it’s easy and smooth conversation. He doesn’t intend for it to be a date, doesn’t act as if it’s a date, but around Alhaitham, he’ll try.
Farid, as it turns out, is a rare citizen of Sumeru that actually has genuine interest in architecture, which fills Kaveh with delight. So rarely does he get the chance to talk with someone about the art and beauty of it, even if Farid doesn’t quite know all of the technicalities and terms for things. The most important thing is his passion. No wonder Nilou recommended him to Cyno, he guesses that Cyno mustn’t have told her about their plan. At the end of the lunch, they make a resolution to see each other again, but don’t set a specific date. Kaveh returns home around two or so hours after he left. He spends the rest of the day working on a commission, and doesn’t see Haitham until he taps him on the shoulder around sunset and Kaveh almost jumps out of his skin.
“I made dinner. Come eat.” He says, and Kaveh takes him in. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered by Kaveh’s absence today, but that isn’t too surprising. Kaveh often goes out just to walk about and such, enjoy the sunshine, something he often told Alhaitham he needed to do more.
"You made dinner? I’ll pass!” Kaveh professes dramatically, his hands jumping up to create a gesture of horror.
“Suit yourself.” Alhaitham rolls his eyes loudly, somehow, and goes to leave. However, he lingers in the doorway and it brings a rush of deja vu from the morning.
“What if I told you I made you soup?”
Kaveh pauses in the sketching he’s resumed, soup?
“You hate soup.” Alhaitham hates soup, it’s difficult to eat while he reads.
“Hate is a bit of an exaggeration. I simply dislike soup because it doesn’t allow me to read at the same time. That isn’t an issue if all I’ll be doing is talking to you, no?”
Oh.
“Alright, alright! Wait up.”