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Mornings for Alhaitham have always been a quiet affair.
The first thing that comes to him as he rouses up from the oblivion of sleep is the noise—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the lack of it. Sure, there is the tune of birdcall and the faint chatter of people from the outside as the city itself begins to bustle with all of it's usual morning activity, but all of those are segregated from where he is, distant and mutable, easily ignored as soon as he puts his earpieces on, which he does as soon as he sits up in bed. It's not exactly something that he does every morning, mostly because it is a bit of a hassle to have them on only for a bit before he has to inevitably take them off so that he can wash up and get ready for the day, but the alternative would be to hear the way the silence pounds in his ears and that is far less preference to the faint pressure and quiet rumbling that his mind can now focus on instead.
He supposes he can put off washing up as the last thing in his morning routine for once, even if the thought of it is just ever so slightly discomforting. Still, it's not so bad that he can’t deviate from the usual, and considering how any of the alternatives would only serve to make things more uncomfortable this is just something he’s going to have to contend with.
With a sigh Alhaitham pushes himself to get out of bed, feeling the cool wooden flooring under his feet as he makes the walk from his bedroom over to the kitchen to make the same thing he does every morning for breakfast: a wrap with the usual roti with the filling based off whatever is left from last night’s takeaway that he saved. Today it is mutton and vegetables, and Alhaitham makes sure to use all of them up as it makes cleaning up a far less arduous task. He’d get some kind of outside help to clean, but that would involve getting strangers to come in here and he just really would rather not deal with that hassle. For one they wouldn’t know how to put everything in their right places at the bookshelf, and overall it would just be mora that he’d rather spend on better things (like rare books, should he come across them).
It never takes long for Alhaitham to have his meal fully assembled since he dislikes having to spend too much time on making said food—why should he, when it's going into his stomach in a matter of minutes once it's on the plate? He doesn’t even bother to bring his plate over to the dining table and simply eats right at the stove; most of the seasonings have already faded away overnight and the roti has soaked up the rest, so the food ends up mostly bland and uninspiring, but Alhaitham doesn’t exactly mind. Food has always just been food, and nothing more than that. As long as he can eat it that is all he needs. It’s all he’s ever needed.
Just as how it doesn’t take long for him to finish making his food, it likewise doesn’t take long for him to finish eating it either. In less than ten minutes he has the last bit of his breakfast inside his mouth, and he continues to chew on that as he proceeds to do the dishes, the sound of the water flowing out from the tap a welcome counterpoint to the noise of his own chewing and everything else that the house decides to echo back at him, every beat of silence that comes an unwanted reminder.
Said reminders are, at least, enough for him to head straight to the bathroom once he’s done with the dishes, eager for the reprieve that shower will give with its unintended acoustics. He makes sure not to linger for too long in the quiet as soon as he takes off his earpieces, quick to replace the comforting pressure and rumble that they give with the sound of water that comes rushing out from the showerhead, bearing down on him with just enough pressure for him to feel it. The warmth of said water also doesn’t hurt.
As much as Alhaitham would like to stay under the welcoming spray of the shower he can recognize how highly impractical that is—not to mention the fact that his mornings are limited anyway since he has to go to work, though he is always free to take a day off if he truly wants to. But if he does that then it means he’ll have to stay in the house, and while the idea in and of itself is not of any issue the few times that he has done so is…
He doesn’t see the appeal in it, he supposes would be the easiest way to put it—not that that descriptor in and of itself is in any way accurate, but it serves its purpose if somebody were to ever ask him. Which nobody has, because it's not as if anyone ever has any reason to do so. It is not something sad or terrible or tragic; it is simply the facts as they are, and Alhaitham has long accepted that.
Once Alhaitham is done with his shower it is simply a matter of dressing up in his usual daily wear for the outside world and then doing everything else he needs to for the day ahead. Gloves, arm guards, boots, belt pouch, house keys, Vision, his current reading material, cape—and last but certainly not the least, his earpieces, settled back snugly right where they’re meant to be.
He attaches the wire of his earpieces into his music player, but doesn’t bother to actually flick the device on; there’s no point anyway, since the walk to the Akademiya is but a few minutes at best. The battery for the player can only last for so long, and it is only the start of the day. He’s sure a proper opportunity for them will rear its head somewhere across the day itself.
Once everything is settled Alhaitham heads for the front door and goes straight out, seeing no point in lingering for any longer than he has to.
All in all, it's just another ordinary, mundane morning—the same as it’s always been, nothing more than another part of the same old day.
Mornings for Alhaitham are, these days, a rather noisy and frustrating affair.
For starters, Alhaitham finds himself unable to wake up at a consistent time these days, because if it's not some form of ruckus happening next door then it is probably something out in the living room, or even any of the other rooms of this house. No two mornings have ever been the same for Alhaitham ever since he made the decision to take in a roommate, and not for the first time Alhaitham finds himself regretting that decision just a little. Nowhere near enough to have him want to be alone again, though he certainly wouldn’t mind some form of peace and quiet.
Regardless, he has little choice but to accept his fate of not being able to return to sleep even though he still has about half an hour more before he actually needs to get out of bed, but he certainly isn’t going to be able to relax with whatever infernal racket that’s going on outside his room. Curiosity getting the better of him, Alhaitham rolls himself out of bed and reluctantly drags himself out of his room, squinting past the sunlight filtering through the windows as soon as he opens the door. It takes a moment before his vision settles enough for him see what exactly is happening, but the moment he does so—
“Kaveh. What, exactly, have you been doing in the living room?”
To his roommate’s credit it only takes him a moment to appear, though it comes in the form of the architect poking his head out from the now partially open bathroom door. “Putting together a prototype for—something,” he says without missing a beat. “Needed the extra space. I promise to tidy it up once I’m done.”
Alhaitham feels his left eyebrow twitch. “And how much longer will that take?”
“It’ll be done when it’ll be done!” The scowl that Kaveh sends over to him with those words don’t exactly inspire any sort of confidence, though Alhaitham supposes that had never been the intention. Still…
“If I still see this mess when I come back from work I’m going to add an extra charge to your rent this month.”
Kaveh stares at him as if he’d grown a second hand or something equally ridiculous. “What for?” he asks, incredulous. “It’s not like anyone is ever going to come in and see any of this!”
“The fact that nobody else sees it is not the problem here. Your mess is cluttering up the living room—” Alhaitham takes a moment to glance over the rest of the house, “—including the dining table. How do you expect me to eat my breakfast like this?”
A flinch runs through Kaveh’s face at the question, but he stands his ground. “W-Well, you can just… stand and eat, can’t you? Unless you’ve suddenly learned how to make prata.”
For a moment Alhaitham debates on the idea of doing exactly that just so he has a reason to actually say ‘yes’, but the hassle that it’d take is far too much for what he truly wants out of it. Besides, there’s already a perfectly good prata stall down in the Grand Bazaar that he’s been going to for years (or, well, Kaveh has; Alhaitham has only been going to it more frequently now because his roommate would not drop the topic otherwise). “So you expect me to not use the dining table for its intended purpose? And here I thought you were all about preaching how every object in a house should serve its purpose.”
“You are twisting my words around and I am not going to stand for it.” There’s a brief pause after that, but soon enough the bathroom door fully cracks open and Kaveh steps out, completely naked save for a towel haphazardly wrapped around his waist. Alhaitham blinks at the unexpected sight, though he is given no chance to make any sort of remark at all because Kaveh has apparently decided to march right up to his face in order to continue their argument. “Can a table not serve more than one purpose, even if it's a dining table? Especially because it's a dining table?”
Alhaitham opens his mouth there, ready to respond to that frankly ridiculous line of questioning, but just like before Kaveh refuses to give him a chance to speak and keeps on going with little regard for anything else. “I didn’t take you to be so pedantic about these things, Alhaitham, but I see that you can’t help yourself. Now, you listen here—”
“—as much as I’d like to hear you give your most illuminating speech, senior, I believe you have more… urgent matters at hand that you should attend to.” Alhaitham pauses after saying that, giving Kaveh a few seconds to see if he has clued on to what Alhaitham is trying to say here. Perhaps unsurprisingly Kaveh does not, in fact, get it, so Alhaitham huffs once the chance has passed and proceeds to direct his gaze downwards, straight towards what he intends for Kaveh to take note.
“What are you even—oh fuck—!”
Even with his eyes currently not fixed on Kaveh it's still easy enough for Alhaitham to picture the shocked and scandalized look that is most likely on his roommate’s face now that he realizes that the towel meant to protect his modesty had slipped down onto the floor while he’d been busy being all riled up over Alhaitham’s comment. Of course, with Alhaitham’s gaze fixated downwards that does also mean he ends up seeing all of Kaveh, something that the other also quickly comes to realize, judging by the subsequent screech and the fumbling hand that comes to try (and fail) to protect his (at this point, extremely non-existent) modesty.
“Stop looking,” Kaveh hisses at him, somehow managing to sound even more scandalized than before. “Just let me take my morning shower in peace now that you’re done making a fool out of me, Archons—”
“You are the one who decided to come barging out of the bathroom without double checking,” Alhaitham points out without so much as batting an eyelash. Despite those words, however, Alhaitham does decide to be the magnanimous one between them today and pointedly steps away from Kaveh, ending this argument before it can escalate any further.
Kaveh shoots him another venomous glare as he does that, but is thankfully wise enough to pick up the hint. He backs off, though not before muttering a few choice words loud enough for Alhaitham to hear, followed by the louder than usual slam of the bathroom door as Kaveh shuts it with more force than he normally would exert. Alhaitham makes a face at the somewhat unpleasant noise, glad that his earpieces are on to muffle out the worst of it.
Still, as useful as they are, having them on all night isn’t exactly something they were built for, so while Kaveh is in the shower Alhaitham makes use of this momentary lull to remove them, fingers coming up to message along the curve in order to ease the ache that comes from wearing them for the entire night. They won’t fully fade away unless he stays away from his earpieces for most of the day later, a prospect that Alhaitham isn’t too fond of, but at this point it's also not the first time that this has happened so he will simply make do, just as he always has.
At the very least Kaveh did make breakfast, even if it's nothing more than a simple wrap. But it does save Alhaitham the trouble of making his own food, and he’s also quick to notice that it’d been made with his preferred choice of stuffing as well.
…he supposes he could look into buying dinner for the both of them when he comes back from work later.
With the sound of the shower still coming from the bathroom Alhaitham decides to eat his wrap while wandering around the chaotic mess that Kaveh has turned the living room into, snorting at all the piles of scrap and whatever else that his roommate has littered about the area and making a mental note to remind him to clear all of it up later. Despite the mess it really isn’t too bad as none of it has truly disturbed the more important parts of his organization, but it doesn’t make everything any less unsightly to deal with anyway.
Eventually he ends up coming to a stop at the dining table, where the worst of the mess is centralized upon. But in between all of the aforementioned mess is clearly the beginnings of something, though what that might be seems to be somewhat beyond his grasp.
Nevertheless, Alhaitham continues to try and puzzle it out even after Kaveh is done with his shower, engrossed enough in his own head that he doesn’t bother to turn at the sound of his roommate’s footsteps approaching him.
“Oh, so now you’re interested to see what I’m doing,” comes the dry remark from the architect as he comes to a stop right next to Alhaitham, and the only reason why Alhaitham doesn’t respond immediately is because his mouth had still been full of breakfast.
Alhaitham, of course, quickly corrects that, speaking as soon as he swallows down his food. “Considering how thoroughly you have ruined the entire living room—”
“—it is not ‘ruined’, it is just messy, and I already told you that I am going to clean it up later—”
“—I feel like I should at least know the nature of the project that has caused all this… ruckus.”
Kaveh gives him a look at that point and huffs, arms coming up to cross over his chest. “You know, you can just say that you’re interested without having to rely on all those fancy words you picked up in Haravatat.”
Alhaitham ignores the pointed jibe in favor of peering closer to what he best guesses to be the epicenter of this entire debacle, which turns out to be… “...a steel rectangle?”
“A rectangle—?” The sheer disbelief and audacity in Kaveh’s response is very much not what Alhaitham had been expecting at all, and he shows as much in the blink that he directs towards to his roommate as the man in question steps in to unceremoniously shoulder Alhaitham out of the way and pick up the aforementioned rectangle and proceeds to brandish it right at his face.
“This,” the architect starts, seemingly intent to stress his every word with great importance. “Is a body. A frame. A frame for a body. Skeleton. A skeleton that is also a frame to eventually serve as the body for my toolbox.”
It takes a second for Alhaitham to fully parse through those words and get to what Kaveh is actually saying here—not that doing so does anything to make things any clearer.
“...your toolbox,” he echoes then, both unimpressed and still questioning at the same time. While the answer itself does at least explain the rectangular shape, it also subsequently opens up the doors to virtually everything else. What’s so special about this toolbox that Kaveh has to make it himself? Why could he simply not purchase something from the market? And most importantly of all, what does it have to do with messing up virtually almost all of their shared living space in this house?
Unfortunately, it seems that none of those questions seem to have crossed Kaveh’s mind. “Well, yes, you see, the last time I was out in the desert I came across this caravan that was selling the most interesting stuff—and one thing in particular caught my eye. It was this, uh—” And here is the point where Kaveh falters, eyes darting away from Alhaitham to look at the mess on the dining table. “—wait, where did I put it again…?”
Kaveh slowly puts the rectangle (or frame, or body, or whatever it is that he wants to call it) back down and then starts rummaging through the array of items scattered across the dining table in order to find whatever it is that he wants to show him. And while Alhaitham could continue standing here to wait and see exactly what it is what has caused Kaveh to wrought all this chaos down into their living space, he is chewing through the last part of his breakfast and the bathroom is now free for him to use.
“Just give me a second here Alhaitham, once I find where I left it then I can—hey, Alhaitham, where did you—don’t just walk away!”
The sound of stomping feet comes his way then, and Alhaitham pauses at the threshold of the bathroom so that he can look at Kaveh and give his roommate his most unimpressed look.
“Unlike you, I have a schedule to follow and a reporting time to adhere to,” he says, voice coming out as flat as the expression that’s currently on his face. “And now I have even less time to get ready despite having woken up earlier because of you making a racket and then hogging the bathroom, in that order. So, if you wouldn’t mind, I really need to get ready for work.”
He takes the last step he needs to be fully in the bathroom after those words and proceeds to close the door right in Kaveh’s face without even bothering to wait for a response. Yes, he knows that is more than a little rude, but frankly he does not have the time for this right now, and his patience has already worn itself thin from the very things he’d just told to Kaveh earlier.
If Kaveh says anything in response then Alhaitham does not hear, for he has the shower running almost as soon as he closes the bathroom door and it does a very good job of drowning out everything else. It is unfortunate that he cannot let himself linger here for long given the limited time he has left before he has to head out for work, but Alhaitham makes do with what he has and quickly does everything that he needs to do in the bathroom.
When he steps out of the bathroom Kaveh is nowhere to be seen, but as he passes by the living room on his way out of the house he sees signs of the mess starting to get cleared up, and on the dining table he sees that the metal rectangular frame from earlier is now accompanied by what he can only assume to be the shell of this toolbox which Kaveh is in the midst of creating.
Despite being somewhat pressed for time—he wasn’t lying when he said that his time in the morning is limited—Alhaitham can’t help but let his curiosity get the better of him, and he gives himself a few minutes to head over to the dining table so that he can pick up one half of the metal shell and examine it more closely. He’s familiar enough with Kaveh’s handiwork through the years to see the signs of his genius—to see the little bits and ways he has welded certain things together to make them work and the clever ways he made the structure work in others. In the intervening years since their time at the Akademiya it's clear that Kaveh has made great strides in improving his craft, though Alhaitham did not expect any less from him. For all of his faults, Kaveh has never once faltered in the quality of his work.
A series of kerfuffles sounds out from where Kaveh’s room is, and when Alhaitham hears the door clicking open he puts the shell back down onto the table and returns to the front door to finish putting on his footwear as well as the rest of his accessories. Kaveh appears from around the corner just as he’s about done, arms laden with a variety of objects that Alhaitham hopes is meant for the scrap pile and not somewhere in the living room. But besides that, the one thing that’s more important than what his roommate is holding right now is what he is saying as the architect grumbles unrepentantly while trudging himself into the room.
“‘Unlike you, I have a schedule to follow and a reporting time to adhere to’—god, it's not as if I don’t have any work of my own—” Kaveh cuts himself off then because he has chosen that moment to turn, which brings them in direct eye contact with each other, and the moment that happens Kaveh’s entire demeanor immediately changes; his eyes go wide as a flush comes up onto his cheeks as he splutters, “Al-Alhaitham? I thought you already left?!”
Alhaitham just barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. “I was just about to,” he returns plainly as he stands up, now fully dressed up and ready to head out. “Just as I was also about to ask what you wanted for dinner, but I see now there is no point to that.”
“No point to—hey, wait, don’t be like this now—Alhaitham!”
Whatever flustering and shouting that Kaveh starts on now promptly goes ignored as Alhaitham flicks on his music player and relishes in the familiar tunes of his usual morning tracks instead. He takes a second to fix his earpieces properly to ensure that they’re sitting properly, then grabs his keys from the dish and promptly makes his way out of the house.
Once again Alhaitham has to walk faster than his usual pace due to having lingered around instead of leaving on time, and in spite of what he has told Kaveh Alhaitham doesn’t mind it that much. Being five minutes late has never hurt anyone, and he’d take an entertaining conversation over the mundanity of work any day.
…still, Kaveh does need to learn the consequences of messing up the entire living room for the sake of his work. There are only so many times where Alhaitham is willing to let that slide before it ends up becoming the norm.
Mornings for Alhaitham are now the very first thing that he looks forward to upon waking up.
For as long as he can remember the process of waking up has always been a thing that was just there; not exactly terrible or dreadful or anything else along those lines but it has certainly never been pleasant by any means either. It’d simply been part and parcel of daily life, a natural function of the human body that he simply has to deal with by virtue of existing. He’d never really thought much of it at all, beyond the slight disappointment of having to get out of bed to face the day each morning.
Now, however, waking up feels like chancing upon a gift each and every morning, the contents of which he does not know until he opens his eyes (and sometimes even before that, if he’s lucky enough). On most days he wakes up to the lingering warmth of another body that’d been next to him all night and the sound of Kaveh cooking their breakfast from the kitchen, while on others he rouses to the warm press of lips on various parts of his body depending on what Kaveh feels like. There are days where Alhaitham wakes up to kisses being peppered across his neck and jaw before they indulge in sleepy kisses tempered by morning breath, or other times when Kaveh decides to be frisky which means that Alhaitham wakes up to Kaveh having already settled himself between his legs or his lover having draped himself right over and on him, their hips pressed together in the most delicious ways as Kaveh sucks and bites out a trail of marks that Alhaitham wears with pride.
His favorite, however, has to be what he gets on this particular morning: when he wakes up and sees Kaveh still curled up in his arms, sound asleep. The sun has long since risen past the time when Kaveh would usually already be up, which either means last night’s activities must have really worn him out or that he has nothing on his plate that would require him to be up early. More often than not it's usually the former, and Alhaitham knows full well how huffy and annoyed Kaveh is going to get once he wakes up and finds out that he’d overslept.
All the more reason, then, for Alhaitham to smile and tighten his arms around Kaveh, pulling him close to nuzzle into those soft golden locks, relishing this (rare enough) moment for all that it’s worth.
Given how he’s shuffling about in their bed without much care or caution, it's not much of a surprise when Alhaitham eventually feels Kaveh stirring in his arms, a sleepy, unintelligible murmur tumbling out of his lips that Alhaitham is only able to interpret because of all the time they’ve already spent in each other’s company.
“It’s past eight,” he answers the otherwise incomprehensible question, shifting after that in order to press a kiss to the top of his head. “I’ll be getting out of bed in a minute. Are you going to sleep in?”
Kaveh doesn’t respond immediately, which is not too surprising seeing as how the architect is still half-asleep, so Alhaitham contents himself with stroking through Kaveh’s hair as he waits, wanting to see if the other is on the way to waking up properly or has fallen back asleep.
For better or worse Alhaitham does not have to wait very long to get his answer. “Five more minutes,” comes the slurred but still much clearer mumble from Kaveh as he turns and presses himself closer to Alhaitham, face practically mashed against his chest.
Alhaitham lets out a quiet snort at the clear display of reluctance. “You’re going to make me late,” he remarks, though any exasperation is quickly balanced out by the fondness that seeps into both his face as well as his voice. After all, it is not everyday when Kaveh is the one who is unwilling to get out of bed—Alhaitham tends to be the one that expresses that particular trait. But in the same token it is because of how uncommon this is that Alhaitham is willing to indulge, especially when it is a specific request from Kaveh himself. Getting the other man to become comfortable enough to ask for such things is, in many ways, a perpetual work in progress, and Alhaitham would be remiss to not reward his partner on the times when he actually does ask so long as it is not anything too ridiculous. Not that Alhaitham would have truly refused even if that had been the case, but showing his hand in such a manner would only be giving the game away.
Kaveh makes a sound of acknowledgement but attempts to burrow himself closer to Alhaitham, who sighs as if he’d been put upon the most arduous of tasks even as his arms wind themselves snugly around Kaveh and pull him in so that they’re pressed together as close as physically possible.
“Five more minutes,” Alhaitham states, doing his best to come off as stern only to more or less have it fade and become completely ineffective in the face of just how endearing it is to see Kaveh like this. If he had the choice Alhaitham would simply stay like this for the rest of the day—or at least for as long as Kaveh wants it—but unfortunately he does have obligations to attend to which he cannot ignore, lest he wants to risk losing the job that allows him to live his life so comfortably.
So the best Alhaitham can do is to let time pass for as long as he can allow it to do so, even going beyond the five minutes that Kaveh had asked for, though it does mean that Kaveh has more than likely slipped back into a doze when Alhaitham is forced to bring an end to their morning cuddles.
He sighs to voice out his own reluctance before he nuzzles into Kaveh’s hair once more, arms briefly giving a squeeze as he presses a kiss to the back of his ear before murmuring into it, “It’s been fifteen minutes, Kaveh. I’m going to have to leave you in bed if you’re not going to wake up anytime soon.”
For a moment it seems like Kaveh has drifted off far enough to have not heard him at all, given the lack of a response or reaction, but just as Alhaitham starts to make a move to get out of bed he feels more than hears Kaveh’s protesting whine as the man smashes his face into his chest with even more force than before.
“Five more minutes,” the architect tries to bargain once more, and though Alhaitham continues to find it all incredibly endearing he really can’t afford to spend any more time lounging around in bed.
“You are free to stay for as long as you want, but I have to go and get ready.” Alhaitham plants a kiss upon one of his temples this time, to show his affection just as much as it is to express his apology, only letting himself linger on that for a moment more before he finally forces himself to pull away from Kaveh entirely and actually get out of bed like he’d intended to twenty minutes ago. Kaveh voices out his discontent with a grumble but doesn’t try to say or do anything to get Alhaitham back into bed, something that the man does appreciate because frankly Alhaitham can’t be sure how much longer he’s willing to resist the allure of cuddling up with Kaveh and simply letting the day pass them by with little regard for anything else.
That ends up being the same reason why he doesn’t let himself give into the urge to lean over and give Kaveh another kiss, knowing how close he is to wavering already, so Alhaitham forces himself to pull away completely and instead turn his attention to doing all the things that he needs to do to get ready for the day—the first of which is washing up and changing into the appropriate clothes.
Alhaitham only needs a moment to gather up whatever he requires from the wardrobe before heading over to the bathroom to settle everything else. Since he’d already used up most of his free time by lounging in bed Alhaitham has to be quick and thorough with everything else now, which means he doesn’t quite get the chance to enjoy the spray of warm water from the shower like he otherwise would do every other day. Certainly unfortunate, but needs must and all that—and besides, if he had to choose between cuddling with Kaveh or a warm shower, then the decision is fairly obvious.
Given how quickly Alhaitham had to go through his morning bathroom routine it's hard to imagine that anything could happen in those few minutes, but he’s quickly proven wrong as soon as he steps out of the bathroom all showered and cleaned up for the day ahead. The first thing he hears is the telltale sizzle of the frying pan coming from the kitchen which is soon accompanied by the scent of what seems to be a fairly delicious breakfast as well as the warm roast of coffee beans. Just the smell of those two things is enough to make his stomach growl in anticipation.
Despite the fact that it is incredibly clear that there can only be one reason for him to hear the stove being used, Alhaitham still finds himself mildly surprised when he returns to the bedroom and sees that the bed is now devoid of anyone in there, though the sheets have been left unmade. Alhaitham snorts lightly at the sight of that and goes to deal with it after settling everything else that he has to do, all of which also does not take too long even if the reason for him hurrying up is now a little different than before he went into the bathroom.
The sizzling from the kitchen continues to carry itself across the rest of the house as Alhaitham steps out of the bedroom after having settled everything in there. The noise provides an excellent cover to hide the sound of his footsteps as he walks down the familiar path from bedroom to kitchen, making an immediate beeline once he’s there straight towards the figure who currently has his back to him because he’s still in the middle of making breakfast.
Still, even knowing that does not stop Alhaitham from pressing himself up against the other’s back, ignoring the small jerk of surprise that he feels in favor of kissing that lovely spot right next to his partner’s ear. “I thought you wanted to stay in bed,” he remarks, not doing anything to hide how much he is liking this unexpected development.
“I will later,” comes the reply from Kaveh, who leans back after that to be better held in Alhaitham’s embrace—something that the man has no qualms with doing. He watches as Kaveh pushes the naan in the frying pan around for a bit before flipping it over. “You okay with just egg naan?”
“Mmm. It’s fine.” In truth just about anything that Kaveh makes is close to perfect, even if Alhaitham will never quite stop making fun over how much effort his ridiculous senior puts into making his special brand of fatteh each time. Just as with earlier, it would be no fun to just give the entire game away. But with that having been said, it is not hard to notice the fact that Kaveh did more or less get out of bed just to do this, and while Alhaitham does appreciate it he certainly hopes that Kaveh is sticking to his guns of not sacrificing his own well-being for the sake of others, especially Alhaitham himself.
He decides to say as much too after a moment’s consideration. “You should sleep in if you’re tired. I can always get something on the way to the Akademiya.”
“I know,” Kaveh returns with a soft hum of agreement. “But I want to do it, especially since I’ll have to be out late tonight for a job.” He pauses briefly here to crack open an egg onto the naan, then continues on while said egg cooks. “Wouldn’t want to leave my dear junior all grumpy first thing in the morning.”
Even with the gentle tease in those words Alhaitham still feels the warm flutter in his chest when he gets to hear how Kaveh is doing his best to make sure that they get to spend time together even with their busy schedules. Alhaitham wouldn’t have minded going to where Kaveh had to work and he knows that Kaveh is aware of this too, but Alhaitham supposes it must be something that requires most of the other’s attention since he isn’t making that particular suggestion, so he will respect that.
“Trying to save your other juniors from being terrorized, hm?” Alhaitham muses out loud, arms sliding to wrap around Kaveh’s waist and giving him a gentle squeeze. “Aren’t you meant to be on my side, senior?”
“I am on your side, which is precisely why I am doing this.” Kaveh shakes his head then, though from his voice Alhaitham can tell that the gesture is meant to be fond in spite of the exasperation, and the brief kiss that he manages to place on the corner of Alhaitham’s lips on further cements that. “Honestly. You get jealous over the most ridiculous things.”
Alhaitham lets out a huff at that (blatantly false and completely untrue) accusation. “I’m simply stating a fact,” he says before shifting himself so that he can take a much better kiss from Kaveh, making sure to linger even after having pulled away. “You’re the one who specifically said you wanted to not leave me grumpy for work. What other conclusion am I supposed to draw from that?”
“Maybe the conclusion is that I just want to make sure that I get to spend some time with you today, since I’m not sure how the rest of my day is going to go.” Kaveh says those words with a huff of his own, and Alhaitham doesn’t need to try and look at the architect’s face to know that he must be rolling his eyes right now. “Do I really have to spell it out, or are you deliberately being obtuse?”
Alhaitham makes a show of thinking about it. “I do like it when you say how much you actually enjoy my company.”
“Being obtuse it was, then,” Kaveh snorts and gives another shake of his head. “Glad we have that cleared up.” He nudges for Alhaitham to step back after that, a request which Alhaitham complies with no argument, mostly because he sees that the egg naan is done and his stomach is all too happy to give him a reminder of exactly how hungry he is for a good breakfast.
Kaveh takes only a moment to scoop up the naan from the pan and place it onto a plate which he then unceremoniously shoves onto Alhaitham’s hands with the necessary cutlery. “Go and get yourself started with the food, I’ll be out in a bit with the coffee.”
Alhaitham takes the food without complaint and does as asked, mostly because he is short on time but also because he doesn’t want to give Kaveh any more reason to ruin his much needed cup of coffee. He heads on over to the dining table and sets both the plate as well as himself down at their respective places and starts eating his lovely home cooked breakfast that has come to taste sweeter than ever. In fact, it's delicious enough that in the time that it takes for Kaveh to finally come around with their coffees Alhaitham is already almost done with the naan.
Rather than being annoyed, Kaveh only huffs out a faint sound of amusement as he sets their mugs down onto the table. “You really must have been starving, huh?” the architect asks while settling down onto the seat right next to him.
“Mm, not really,” Alhaitham replies as he forks up the very last bit of his breakfast. “I just like a good egg naan.”
Kaveh snorts and shakes his head once more. “It’s not as if it's the first time I’ve made that,” he mutters with a good-natured roll of his eyes. “And I’ve made far better things than that.”
“You mean like that thing you keep trying to pass off as fatteh?”
“Archons, you’re never gonna drop that, aren’t you.”
Alhaitham elects to take a sip from his coffee in lieu of answering that question. Kaveh shoots over a distinctly unimpressed look and mutters something along the lines of ‘you’re lucky that I don’t want you to be late for work’, though the leg that comes to press right up against Alhaitham’s own tells a different story.
With a gesture like that it's hard to not smile into his cup, and with no reason to not do otherwise Alhaitham does exactly that as he moves his own leg to hook their ankles together instead. Kaveh doesn’t say anything to that, but after a moment shifts himself so as to lean comfortably against Alhaitham, and the two of them remain just like this for the rest of the time that they spend drinking the rest of their coffee, basking in the easy and comfortable silence that comes to settle between them.
That same quiet comfort continues even after the both of them are done with their respective coffees; they stand up but remain close to each other as they bring their now empty mugs over to the sink. Kaveh washes them while Alhaitham lingers next to him, simply staying close for company and little else, wanting to soak in as much of Kaveh’s presence as he can until they have to part for the rest of the day. Kaveh returns the favor by accompanying Alhaitham to the door once he’s done, watching as the man puts on the last of his accessories and picks up his keys from the dish.
“Make you actually get something with vegetables for dinner,” is what Kaveh says to break the silence as Alhaitham tucks the keys into his belt pouch. “I’m going to complain if all you get is another serving of Sabz Meat Stew.”
Alhaitham raises an eyebrow at that. “And how would you know that’s what I’ll get?”
“You’re lazy and keep going back to the same few things everytime, of course you’re going to go for the stew.” Kaveh snorts after those words, shaking his head in a clearly fond gesture. “Go get Lambad’s fish rolls or something.”
“I don’t like fish. They’re too fishy.”
“That’s just an example. Just get something, as long as it's not Sabz Meat Stew.”
Alhaitham gives Kaveh a look then that is very much not in the realm of pouting. Kaveh huffs and rolls his eyes, but steps forward and presses a kiss to the corner of his lips. When he leans back after that he gives Alhaitham a brief, considering look before saying, “If you can promise that then I promise in turn to take some time off after this job is done, alright?”
To say that Alhaitham had not been expecting those words is a bit of an understatement, and it's surprising enough that he blinks at it. “Are you actually promising sex in exchange for me not eating Sabz Meat Ste—”
“Alright, you’re already running late, so you’d better head off now!” Kaveh all but shoves Alhaitham towards the front door now, and even in the midst of that Alhaitham can see how red his senior’s face has become, presumably out of embarrassment.
Just for that alone Alhaitham lets himself be pushed all the way to the front door before he actually brings this to a stop—namely by turning around to face Kaveh and then swiftly leaning in for a kiss that his senior has no chance to avoid. Kaveh puts up a token protest for all of three seconds before he melts and leans into the kiss as well, and Alhaitham doesn’t hesitate to slide one arm around Kaveh’s waist to keep him upright as he deepens the kiss further, wanting to give Kaveh something that will last and linger for the rest of the day.
Alhaitham knows that he’s going to be running late for work now but it doesn’t matter because nothing will ever be as important as Kaveh, and he only pulls back when he feels Kaveh attempting to nudge him back with his hands braced against his chest. But even after he does that Alhaitham finds himself struck speechless by the sight of Kaveh in his arms like this, the architect’s face flushed and his hair still in mild disarray from having headed straight to the kitchen after rolling out of bed. Even like this, Kaveh remains as the loveliest sight that Alhaitham has ever been lucky enough to witness with his own two eyes.
“I love you,” he says instead of the countless other compliments and other equally endearing things that he can say right there and then. Alhaitham would be happy to list them all out if he truly needed to, even in the end it would all still lead to those same three words which Alhaitham would never get tired of repeating over and over again for the rest of his life. How could he ever be tired of something that will always be true?
Kaveh blinks once at those words, looking just a little taken aback for a second before it morphs into an incredulous look, and then finally settles into a fond smile as he responds with, “I love you too, you oaf. Now go, you’re already late.”
He gives Alhaitham one more playful shove after which the man takes without complaint, allowing himself to step past the threshold of the front door to the outside. The hustle and bustle of the city becomes a lot more evident as soon as that happens, though before it has a chance to become completely overwhelming Kaveh reaches over to set Alhaitham’s earpieces properly on each side of his head.
See you later, Kaveh mouths at him as soon as he’s done. Alhaitham nods and mouths the same back in turn, and it brings out a smile that goes all the way to light up Kaveh’s eyes in the best way possible, making his face gleam even brighter than the sun that shines down on them.
It’s nearly a disappointment when Kaveh has to step back and close the door, finally allow Alhaitham to take his leave, and as reluctant as he is to do so Alhaitham knows that he must, if he actually wants to keep his job. So he pulls away and gives his house one last lingering stare before he turns and begins to make his way to the Akademiya, the hint of a rare smile tugging at his lips. He is absolutely going to be late now, yet Alhaitham knows that he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mornings now, he thinks to himself, are definitely the best parts of every single day.