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Ever since he was a little child, Alhaitham hated loud noises.
Especially the sudden loud noises that come out of nowhere.
It leaves him jolting, instinct to bring his hands to his ears to protect them from another grating noise.
Even if someone is doing something as little as clapping along, he blinks, flinching at the popping that feels almost deafening.
People often ask him,
“Alhaitham, why do you cover your ears so often, it’s not even that loud!”
Alhaitham often responds with a glare, even if they are acquainted, or friendly.
He really didn’t like it when people came to try to scare the ‘Prestigious Scribe’ of Haravatat. It often leads to them popping out from around a corner with a yell.
Which is why he walks the halls with his headphones on.
He wouldn’t trade those headphones for almost anything. Little to nothing gets through. He can play his own music, not someone else’s music that they play too loud or it’s just a style of music grating to his ears.
His own tempo.
..
It also goes without saying, Alhaitham hates loud, cramped spaces.
Festivals, parties, shopping centers.
Sometimes people do unpredictable things when you’re walking, they don’t know what they do has that kind of effect on you.
Like if a stranger shouts next to you, trying to get a buddy’s attention, or someone could blast music for everyone to hear (one of Alhaitham’s true discomforts, often leaving him nauseous).
Alhaitham really didn’t want to go to this party. He especially wasn’t feeling it today…
Kaveh tried to persuade him, and it unfortunately worked.
“It’s our friends and a few other students, we don’t have to stay long.”
How he regretted his decision.
Within an hour, Alhaitham was in a sour mood.
The music was too loud, it wasn’t even good music, his friends were off with others while he hung back towards a table with chairs.
And the people.
Archons the people.
Alhaitham has been around enough drunkenness in his lifetime to know when to stop. These people didn’t know.
They were shouting, yelling, it just made him uncomfortable.
He didn’t love when people were loud in the first place, but when they started to migrate over towards him, offering him a drink, he very quickly declined.
Someone he wasn’t familiar with at all slung an arm over his shoulder, immediately leading Alhaitham to shrug it off and leave the party.
He was incredibly overwhelmed, he swallowed hard as he stepped out into the nights air, his stomach roiling and twisting in itself.
Kaveh didn’t get back home until late.
They had a long conversation about the matter.
..
Maybe his hearing made him so visibly irritated because even he doesn’t know why his body reacts in such a way.
He tries to get in control, tells himself a loud noise is coming, but he still flinches anyways.
He hates not knowing the answer.
It’s like a book with an open ending, with so many possibilities, Alhaitham hates those too.
..
Alhaitham also hates Fireworks.
“Hayi! Fireworks tonight!” Kaveh grinned,
They’re too loud, horrible for the environment, and just a little bit too much of a scare for those people involved in warfare.
It’s just another convoluted example of nationalism, truly confusing.
But they’re pretty, so he can stand them for a little bit.
As the first set went off, he blinked and twitched at each explosion.
It would be rude to put his headphones over his ears on a date…
He stuck it out, but it was hard to hear afterwards, and his head was killing him.
..
He hates admitting it too.
“Too loud.” He muttered while reading on the couch, Kaveh was on another tangent, some client again.
He remembered how Kaveh was going to immediately shout something back, Alhaitham flinching before even hearing the shout, and Kaveh very quickly shutting up.
He didn’t like interrupting Kaveh’s little debrief, Kaveh is just one of those people who are different from him and don’t keep entirely to themselves. That’s okay, he likes hearing his stories… just not so loud.
..
He remembers one time he actually did vomit.
..
He’s acted out when someone shouted in his ear once when he was a boy, immediately shoving the kid away.
The boy fell backwards and broke his wrist.
Alhaitham got a stern talking to.
..
He really doesn’t know why.
He doesn’t like being different like that, people look at him funny sometimes when he covers his ears.
He knows people care about his weird tendency, but it feels like every time it happens they repeatedly forget. He can’t imagine being able to live your life without having to flinch or cover your ears or feel like you have to claw your eardrums out.