Work Text:
“ALHAITHAM, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! LET ME IN, IT’S FREEZING OUTSIDE!!”
Although Kaveh was knocking furiously and yelling his lungs out, he didn’t actually expect his roommate to answer the door. He was so used to this song and dance-Alhaitham locking him outside and ignoring his pleas to enter-that he was genuinely surprised when the Scribe did unlock the door for him.
“Oh, thank heavens!” Kaveh exclaimed, quickly getting inside the house while rubbing his own arms. “It’s so cold today! I know it’s winter now, but it hasn’t been this cold for months!”
Alhaitham looks at the blonde architect with his usual stoic face, but what he says is anything but usual: “Do you want me to grab you a jacket?”
Kaveh pauses.
“Excuse me?”
The grey-haired Scribe keeps his painfully serious face, crossing his arms and tilting his head.
“I asked if you want me to grab you a jacket.”
Kaveh’s eyes widen. He places his hand against his roommate’s forehead.
“Are you ok? Do you have a fever?”
Alhaitham gets slightly uncomfortable with the invasion of his personal space and removes the other’s hand from his forehead. “I am perfectly healthy. Why?”
“Because it’s not like you to act so generous!” The blonde stresses, pouting, while putting his hands on his hips.
The Scribe’s expression remains unfazed but, deep down, he felt offended. “It’s not like me to enjoy watching you suffer either. I’m no sadist.”
“Maybe. But it is definitely not like you to actually offer me help! Usually you would say something like ‘If you know it’s winter you should have taken a jacket with you’ with that holier than thou atti-” Kaveh lets out a big cough and places his hand on his neck. “Ouch. My throat hurts from screaming earlier...”
“Do you need a cup of water?”
“I can grab it myself, thank you.” He coughs again, walking towards the fridge. He looks back at Alhaitham and continues: “But you are acting uncharacteristically nice today. What happened? Did all that paperwork finally make you lose your sanity?”
The Scribe can’t help but chuckle at the comment. “Perhaps. I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had lunch yet.”
The architect opens the fridge to grab water and notices there’s barely anything in it. Alhaitham is a terrible cook, so when Kaveh doesn’t buy groceries the fridge is kept almost empty. He closes it back and gulps down a water bottle, feeling his throat immediately get cured. He wipes the corner of his mouth and looks back at the grey-haired man across from him.
“Wanna go grab something to eat?”
The man smiles; another incredibly uncommon gesture for him. “Sure. I could use a break from work.”
Kaveh tosses the bottle away, retrieves his keys and the two head to the door. But before leaving, he remembers: “Oh yeah, it’s cold outside. Ugh, but my only jacket still needs to be washed...”
Alhaitham smirks. “Would you like me to lend you my cape? Perhaps I should also hold your hand to keep it warm?”
Kaveh cringes. “Ew, no! Let’s just go!”
The blonde angrily steps outside as his roommate chuckles, following behind.
The two go to their restaurant of choice and pick a table. While choosing what to order, Kaveh brings up the topic from earlier again:
“So, you’re really not gonna tell me why you were acting so awfully kind today? Anything good happened?”
Alhaitham flips through the pages of the menu. “Like I said, I’ve been working nonstop. So no, nothing particularly good has happened to me recently.”
“C’mon, there’s gotta be something! People don’t change in the blink of an eye like that, especially not someone as stubborn as you.”
The Scribe takes his eyes off the menu and stares at the architect sitting across from him, his gaze mixed with annoyance, offense and a hint of…sadness? “Perhaps I’m just not as stubborn as you think I am.”
“I know for a fact that you are.” Kaveh nonchalantly drops his menu onto the table. “What is it, you fell in love or something?”
Touché. Alhaitham blushes and stares at Kaveh with surprise. The blonde’s jaw drops in response.
“No fucking way! Really?!” Kaveh exclaims with a huge smile on his face; Mostly because he finds the concept of Alhaitham being in love very amusing, but also, deep down, he’s genuinely happy for him. Just a little.
The Scribe recomposes himself by clearing his throat and goes back to his usual stoic face. “I…don’t know for sure just yet...Romance isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”
The blonde laughs. “Ha! Figured. But that info put me in a good mood, so I’m gonna help you figure it out!”
“I didn’t ask for your help.”
“You can’t stop me.” Kaveh grins smugly.
The Scribe rolls his eyes. “And how would you help me anyway?”
“Easy! I just have to ask you some simple questions.”
Alhaitham raises an eyebrow. “Such as..?”
Kaveh puts on his snarky attitude and starts speaking fast: “Do you think of this person often? Do you feel happy when you do? Would you like to get to know them better? Spend time with them? Hold their haand?~” His tone gets increasingly more teasing as he speaks, to really grind on his roommate’s gears.
“Those are not simple questions at all!” He stresses.
“Just think about them and answer.” Kaveh pouts.
“Hmph.” Alhaitham crosses his arms and thinks for a moment before answering. “Ok, thank you. I’ve got my answer now.”
“Which is?”
“None of your business.” The Scribe opens his menu again.
“Aw, come on! I help you out and you don’t even give me the satisfaction of knowing?”
“I didn’t ask for your help in the first place.”
“Aw, and now you’re back to being the not cool Alhaitham!”
The waiter stops by their table and the Scribe orders his meal, ignoring the architect’s complaints, who in turn sulks and places his order as well. Once the waiter leaves they’re left with an awkward silence.
The blonde breaks the silence with a sigh. “Can you at least tell me who it is?”
The grey-haired man is looking away, attempting to hide his embarrassment behind the bangs that cover his eye. “…It’s not that hard to figure out...”
“So it’s someone I know?!” The architect’s eyes widen.
“Hmph...” The Scribe smirks in amusement. ”You could say that.”
“Who is it?! That dancer girl? Someone from the Akademiya? Don’t tell me it’s-”
“It’s you, Kaveh.” Alhaitham speaks impatiently and with pinkish cheeks. “It’s you.”
Kaveh is speechless. For a moment, he just stares at his roommate in total disbelief.
“M-Me? Huh?? H-how??? Since when?!”
But Alhaitham only replies with a grunt, hiding behind his hair again. He’s never dealt with a situation like this before, so he’s trying to analyze it on his head before speaking. But before he can finish his thought process he’s interrupted by the sound of a hiccup, and when the Scribe turns to look over at his roommate again he sees tears rolling down his eyes while he clenches his fists and his body quakes.
“Kaveh?” Alhaitham’s eyes widen when he notices the blonde’s tears and his tone shows genuine worry, which he doesn’t usually express.
Kaveh grips his own clothes, tears falling uncontrollably. He suddenly gets up from his seat and starts running away from the restaurant.
“Kaveh!” Alhaitham shouts and gives chase.
The architect bumps into a few of the other clients on his way out and is apologetic to them, trying to hide his tears; meanwhile the Scribe doesn’t care if he makes a commotion and continues to run and shout.
“Kaveh!!”
Outside, Alhaitham finally manages to catch up to him; The cold breeze was even stronger than before, and Kaveh was shivering behind the restaurant where nobody would see him.
“Kaveh...” The Scribe recovered his breath from running. “What’s wrong? Why did you run away like that?”
The blonde continued to cry, tucked in his corner, not looking back at his concerned roommate. He tried wiping his tears with his sleeves but, not only was it in vain since the tears wouldn’t stop, the wet sleeves only allowed the cold to spread faster on his body, making him shiver even more.
Noticing his partner’s struggle and lack of answer, Alhaitham sighed and removed his cape, gently covering Kaveh with it.
“You’re gonna catch a cold if you keep crying here like this...”
Kaveh’s tears stop from the shock of Alhaitham’s kind gesture and he finally looks back at the Scribe. He sees that his teal eyes show genuine worry for him, which makes him feel ashamed of his previous actions.
“I’m sorry for running away like that...I just…didn’t want to make a scene at the restaurant...”
The Scribe’s eyebrows curve. “...Are you upset over my confession?”
The question takes Kaveh by surprise. Its heartbroken tone makes his heart sink in guilt.
“N-Not exactly...I-I’m overwhelmed, is all...”
Alhaitham crosses his arms, starting to feel the cold hit his bare skin. “I apologize for confessing so nonchalantly...It was not my intention to overwhelm you.”
“It’s not exactly the way you confessed that I take issue with...” Kaveh grips on the cape that is now covering him, trying to huddle for warmth. “I’m mostly in disbelief...Like, how come after all this time treating me like garbage you suddenly come up to me and say that you think you’ve developed feelings for me? It feels...cruel...Like you’re mocking me...”
Kaveh’s words tug on Alhaitham’s heartstrings, as if ripping it apart.
“You...have my utmost apologies for that as well...I am well aware that I often sound harsh, and I don’t usually care about it, but...Seeing you upset by something I said doesn’t please me in the slightest...”
A flashback crosses their minds; A memory from a few days ago when they had a particularly nasty disagreement. The architect lost the argument, but the Scribe didn’t feel any triumphant about it. He was forced to wear his headphones to sleep to muffle down the sound of sobbing coming from his roommate’s room, which left his ears and heart aching with guilt.
“...Is that why you’ve been trying to be nicer to me?” Kaveh smiles weakly, managing to wipe his last tear.
Alhaitham blushes, but doesn’t hide it this time. “I’m in no position to expect your forgiveness, but it’s the least I could do to make up for my mistakes...” He extends his hands to the blonde. “Shall we return home?”
Kaveh is surprised with the gesture; He sniffs and shyly holds the extended hand, looking up at Alhaitham’s eyes. “But what about lunch?”
The grey-haired man smiles softly as his roommate holds his hand, blushing again. “I’ll think of something. I don’t want to be out here in this cold.”
He guides Kaveh back to their house, holding his hand throughout the entire course. The warmth of the Scribe’s hand, and the way he was holding his so gently, made the architect blush as well. He was finally starting to acknowledge Alhaitham’s humble efforts to try to treat him better, which were now warming his heart the same way as his hand.
“Here.” Alhaitham handed Kaveh a bowl of soup he prepared with leftovers from the fridge.
Kaveh picked up the bowl, took a sip of the soup and immediately spat it all out.
“HOW DO YOU FUCK UP A SOUP?! IT’S FUCKING SOUP!!”
Normally a complaint like that would come across as playful banter, but for the first time Alhaitham seemed hurt by the architect’s words. Upon seeing his expression, Kaveh felt like he had just kicked a puppy; His roommate was genuinely trying his best to be nice to him and he just yelled at his face.
“I-I’m sorry…Thank you for making this soup…Even if it doesn’t taste good it should keep me warm…” The blonde sulks in his pride and takes another sip of the soup, swallowing it this time.
“You don’t have to force yourself to eat it if you don’t like it.” The Scribe speaks softly, worried about his roommate’s well-being.
Kaveh holds the bowl close to his face to feel its warmth and hide his pink cheeks behind the steam. “If you’re making an effort to try to be nicer to me, it’s only fair I do the same.”
Alhaitham chuckles. “You never change, do you?”
“Well, I’m trying to!” The architect pouts, making the Scribe chuckle again.
They feast on the nasty soup, in a comfortable silence this time. But as they’re about to finish it, Kaveh shyly brings up a subject:
“So…You like me?”
Alhaitham glares at his roommate with a spoon on his mouth, as if to say “You’re really bringing that up again?” with his eyes.
The architect recoils. “Y-You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, but…Since this is about me, I’m curious…”
The Scribe sighs and crosses his arms. “Yes…I believe I have developed romantic feelings for you…However, given your reaction at the restaurant, I take it you don’t feel the same.” He averts his look, noticeably saddened by the memory.
“I-I never said that!” Kaveh slams the table, his face suddenly red. “I told you, I was just…overwhelmed!”
Alhaitham’s eyes widen and stays silent as his roommate continues.
“Look, my feelings about you are…complicated.”
He stares at Kaveh’s eyes.
“…Care to elaborate?”
With his face still red, Kaveh sighs and sits down again, looking down at his feet to avoid Alhaitham’s eyes.
“Back when we first met at the Akademiya…I-I think I kind of…liked you…But then you started telling me those harsh words and it gave me a cold shower…So, at the back of my head, I…I always wondered if…”
“…If you would have fallen in love with me if I wasn’t so stern?”
Kaveh is surprised by Alhaitham completing the sentence he was struggling to form and embarrassingly nods.
“Y-yes…But now that you are being nicer to me…I’m not so sure anymore…”
Alhaitham smiles softly and bends on his knee, looking directly into Kaveh’s face at eye-level.
“Do you think of me often? Do you feel happy when you do? Would you like to get to know me better? Spend time with me? Hold my hand?” He asks, gently sticking out his hand for his roommate to hold.
The architect can’t help but chuckle at the irony of his previous advice being used against him. “I guess these questions aren’t so simple after all...”
“You’re overcomplicating them in your head.” The Scribe says, not taking his eyes off of Kaveh’s. “I realized that at the restaurant…They may seem difficult to answer because you’re repressing your feelings inside a wall of logic and pride. But when it comes to matters of the heart, these factors are almost irrelevant. Your feelings do not care for facts; All they know are your desires. And my desire…is to be with you, Kaveh.” Alhaitham blushes and cups his roommate’s cheek with his extended hand. “…Do you feel the same?”
Kaveh is speechless. He feels the warmth on his face, not just from Alhaitham’s hand but also from the red spreading across his cheeks. His heart beats fast as the Scribe looks so lovingly at him, patiently waiting for the answer to his confession. He closes his eyes and searches for it deep within his heart; Then, once he finds it, he takes a deep breath and kisses the man in front of him.
Alhaitham’s eyes widen with the sudden kiss. His brain takes a second to process that it was really happening, but once it does he closes his eyes and wraps his arms tightly around Kaveh, returning the kiss with the passion he had been holding deep inside for ages.
Their lips part and they open their eyes again, gazing at each other lovingly. Kaveh cups Alhaitham’s cheek and smiles softly, now knowing for sure what his feelings for the Scribe really are.
“…I love you, Alhaitham.”
The Scribe feels his heart flutter with joy in response to his roommate’s confession. So much so that instead of answering it with words he initiates another kiss, letting the action speak for itself.
Neither of them had ever felt so happy. It was like time had stopped and the world was just the two of them, with no room for worries or second thoughts.
They both made a silent promise to each other: From that day forward, they would do their best to treat each other better. To protect this new-found love they cherished so much.
A promise that was put to the test immediately the next day when the restaurant owner angrily charged them for their abandoned orders.