Work Text:
Dark. So, so dark.
Kaveh couldn't move. He couldn't move a single inch of his body from his comfortable yet uncomfortable bed. He'd stare into the darkness of his room, wondering what exactly happened for him to become this... lifeless. Was it the way he would overexert himself for his work? Was it the way he couldn't take breaks to do the simplest things such as eat or shower? Was it the way he'd get so frustrated to the point of ripping up his ideas? Was it the way he...
Kaveh stops thinking. He can't even do that anymore. He's too exhausted, too tired of everything. Why wouldn't his clients just accept his work? Why couldn't they understand the amount of pain he goes through to get one single piece of work done?
Maybe Kaveh didn't stop thinking. Maybe he was just so angry at himself that it overpowered his useless thoughts. Get a grip, he'd tell himself. No one cares about your problems, his thoughts told him. No one cares about you, the universe tells him. Kaveh's eyes are blurry with tears. He couldn't even keep himself from crying. What a wimp. The tears fall down onto his pillow, leaving proof of the fact that Kaveh clearly wasn't okay. He'd never been okay. The multiple times he'd cried like this in the same way are making themselves evident in his mind.
When would it stop? When would this stop happening? When would he be okay? When would he get better? He wants to get better, he really does, but how is he supposed to know where and how to start?
"Stop..." Kaveh mutters to himself, almost whimpering. "Stop thinking..." The tears are coming even faster now.
"Shut up..." he sobs quietly. His useless cries of help are heard by no one, or so he thinks.
A certain someone slowly opens the door and makes his way over to the bed, sitting down next to Kaveh's trembling body. He places a hand on Kaveh's shoulder, the sudden contact making the poor boy flinch. He opens his eyes wide and stares at the figure next to him.
"Alhaitham...?" he speaks quietly, weakly. "You're not supposed to..."
"I heard you crying." Alhaitham completely ignores Kaveh's confusion and moves on to the problem at hand. Kaveh didn't realize he was being so loud with his sobs, loud enough for Alhaitham to hear. He thought he was being quiet. Then again, he'd been blocking out all sounds with his own thoughts, so he wasn't able to hear anything else.
Kaveh was becoming sligtly frustrated now, not wanting any sort of communication with anyone. "Go away..." He doesn't have time (or the energy) to argue with Alhaitham if all he's here for is to complain about the ugly noise.
Alhaitham moves his hand away from Kaveh's shoulder, and Kaveh thinks he's about to leave until he walks over to Kaveh's desk and looks at the mess on it.
"You were working?" he asks, examining everything on the desk.
Kaveh doesn't answer, disappointed in himself for leaving a mess like that for Alhaitham to accidentally see. He brings the blankets up to his shoulders to hide more from Alhaitham's sight. He doesn't want him to see him in such a state, not like this. He also doesn't want Alhaitham to see the multiple failed attempts of designs on his desk, but it's too late for that now.
"You shouldn't overexert yourself, Kaveh. Take proper breaks and care for yourself every once in a while," Alhaitham says, picking up a piece of paper with an exceptionally beautiful design drabbled on it that Kaveh had originally hated. "This one looks nice," he comments.
Kaveh becomes confused by how caring Alhaitham's tone and actions were in that moment. He sniffles, peeking his head out a little from under the covers that he'd now raised above his head. "...What?"
"I said, this one looks nice. You should continue working on it," Alhaitham repeats, placing the drawing back onto Kaveh's desk carefully and looking towards him. "...After you shower and eat a proper meal." He sits back down onto Kaveh's bed to look at him with an eerily caring expression.
Kaveh, with the strength he has, sits up in his bed and looks back at Alhaitham. His thoughts overpower him once more as he blurts out, "Why are you being like this?"
The question seems to catch Alhaitham off guard by quite a lot since he raises an eyebrow and asks, "What do you mean, 'like this'?"
Kaveh couldn't believe it. Did Alhaitham really not realize how different he was being?
"Well- You know! You're acting all caring, and... weird." Kaveh's tears are gone by now, his once sad expression turned into one of concern.
"I'm not acting," Alhaitham says back with his usual tone and blank expression. Kaveh furrows his brows further in confusion. Alhaitham really does not realize the way he's acting.
"Either way, you should take a shower. I'll make us something to eat." Alhaitham gets up from the bed and leaves the room, leaving Kaveh dumbfounded. Alhaitham was going to make something to eat? He was going to cook? Since when did Alhaitham cook?!
Kaveh directs his gaze toward his desk at the drawing that Alhaitham had mentioned liking, reluctantly getting out of his bed to look closer at it. Maybe Alhaitham was right. The design was alright in Kaveh's eyes. Not the best he's ever done, of course not, but... Maybe it had potential.
What was he crying about in the first place, anyway?