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Wisps of soft grass tickled the architect’s skin, every gentle brush of wind rustling the world around him, relaxing his tired muscles and aching bones. He sighed with bliss, content and he was feeling undoubtedly happy. He had everything he could ever want here in this world.
Here with the one he loves.
A hand carded gently through his hair, and Kaveh faintly registered a warm weight beneath his head, propping him up so his hair would be safe from the horrendously unpleasant feeling of dirt and grime being stuck in it. Kaveh hummed, a content feeling swirling within his heart. He tipped his head into the warm hand, chasing the feeling and savoring every second of contact.
“Senior Kaveh,” whispered a sweet and oh, so familiar voice, “It’s time to wake up.”
Reluctance pulled Kaveh’s body down, anchoring him to where he laid against the warm body. He did not want to wake up just yet, not when he was so comfortable right where he was: in the vast field of grass just outside Sumeru City that he often visited alongside his beloved junior. His beloved junior who, as infuriating as he could sometimes be, was the sole person who could ever manage to steal Kaveh’s heart and see him for him, not as the Light of Kshahrewar, nor as the perfect Senior half of the Akademiya had come to know him as, just… Kaveh.
His junior who spoke his name so beautifully, always with a certain softness that he did not extend to other people.
“Kaveh,” his junior once again breathed, closer to his ear now.
Yes, my love?
“Kaveh. Wake up, it’s your turn to make breakfast today.”
What?
A heavy hand, once a source of blissful comfort just five or so minutes ago, had now become the source of his rude awakening as the scribe jostled his shoulder. It was rough, but he was always careful not to hurt him. Kaveh groaned in annoyance and bunched the duvet up towards his face, his eyes tightening as he tried to hold onto that sweet dream for just a bit longer.
“Go away, Haitham. Let me sleep,” the blonde grumbled, disgruntled and very annoyed at his abrupt rousing.
Alhaitham’s amused huff could have easily been missed if Kaveh hadn’t been listening for any signs of movement– specifically the sounds of Alhaitham either leaving him alone or crawling back into bed with him. Alhaitham was moving, but neither ever came.
A warm breath suddenly puffed against his ear.
“My love,” Alhaitham’s voice purred, sending a shiver up the blonde’s spine. “Ya hayati… won’t you come join me for coffee?”
The bed slowly dipped from behind him and a warm hand returned to its place on his shoulder, smoothing across the exposed skin of his arm in a drawn-out, comforting motion. The only difference between this and his dream was the slightly colder feeling of a golden band around Alhaitham’s ring finger. Kaveh huffed a pleased sigh, allowing his body to unwind and melt into the bed at the touch, as well as allowing his mind to relax equally as much at the gentle reminder that he was wedded to the love of his life.
Have been, actually, for ten years, now.
After taking a moment to bask in the gentle touch of his lover, vermilion eyes finally slipped half-open, and Kaveh lifted his head, shifting onto his back so he could gaze up at his husband. Alhaitham’s lips were quirked up into one of his still more rare smiles when Kaveh turned to face him, and there was a look in his eyes so soft that his naturally sharp gaze wouldn’t be able to disturb even a grain of sand in the desert, despite it. The crow’s feet that formed at the corners of his eyes had always seemed to soften his features further since they initially appeared.
“Finally. Come on now, I’m hungry.”
Kaveh shot his junior a glare, though it didn’t carry as much annoyance as he had hoped it would.
“Hmph, if you were so hungry why didn’t you cook yourself breakfast?”
Alhaitham chuckled in response, the almost melodic sound of it involuntarily heating up Kaveh’s face.
“Is it so bad that I want to enjoy my husband’s cooking on our anniversary?” Alhaitham tilted his head and leaned further over Kaveh to press a short and sweet kiss to his lips, fingers lightly tracing soft lines of the architect’s face that he cherished so.
“Ugh, you’re insufferable,” Kaveh mumbled once Alhaitham pulled away, his eyebrows furrowed, cheeks flushed and a pout forming on his face as he slowly pulled himself out from beneath the covers.
“But you love me.” Archons, Kaveh could hear the smirk on his face as Alhaitham helped him up and pulled him to standing.
The two made their way out to the kitchen together, fingers ghosting against each other as they walked side by side. Once they entered the kitchen, Alhaitham split off from Kaveh’s side to get started on their daily cup of coffee. Kaveh looked on with fondness in his heart at the practiced way Alhaitham handled the coffee pot, and the way the muscles of the scribe’s back tensed and relaxed with each movement was… mesmerizing to say the least. Kaveh still couldn’t believe he’d gotten so lucky as to marry such a wonderful (and handsome) man, and his husband was even luckier that Kaveh could deal with him for all ten of those long years of marriage, despite Alhaitham’s infuriatingly incessant teasing.
Kaveh reluctantly tore his eyes away from the sight of his husband, ignoring how his heart yearned to go and attach himself to the scribe in favor of scouring their pantry for ingredients. Today was an incredibly special day, so he decided he would prepare an equally special breakfast. Flatbread, some jam, a bit of honey, as well as some lentils for the adasi. Alhaitham would definitely complain about the dish. Not good for reading, he would always whine, though he would still happily eat it and everything else, on the sole condition that Kaveh was the one who made it. This was one of those things that had become customary between them over the years.
Some time later, while in the midst of cooking, Kaveh nearly startled as Alhaitham’s hands slowly came into view and strong arms folded perfectly around the architect’s form, a weight following as he rested his head on his shoulder. The scribe’s body was splayed comfortably against his own, and Kaveh couldn’t help but think about how perfectly their bodies seemed to slot together; like two pieces of a puzzle, incomplete without the other.
Kaveh felt a smile forming on his face as he leaned back to press his lips into Alhaitham’s hair.
“Be patient, won’t you, azizam?” The grin on Kaveh’s face widened just slightly when the scribe mumbled something incoherent and nosed his way further into the crook of his neck. The architect merely huffed a fond sigh. “It should be done, now, anyways. Be a dear and go set the table.”
Alhaitham’s weight seemed to intensify momentarily in protest, but eventually the younger lifted himself off of Kaveh’s back and he sulked off to do as he asked. It was adorable, really, how reluctant he was to part from Kaveh. It brought back good memories of those old times: the ones they spent together in the Akademiya. Days where they would spend hours draped over each other, conversing the day away as they talked about nothing and everything at the same time, always so reluctant to part wherever classes pulled them away.
Kaveh truly envied those days… they were so carefree back then. Their friendship truly thrived when all they had to worry about were due dates and angry librarians reprimanding them for their unwillingness to stop publicly debating in the House of Daena. But even then, they often did not have to worry about that, because Kaveh’s favorite days had always been spent lazing in a field of grass, with the last dregs of sunlight warming his face and a comfortable thigh cushioning his head; keeping it safe from the dirt and grime of the earth.
Of course, there was the fallout soon after they started that little “tradition” of theirs, but they had both long made peace with that incident, having discussed it thoroughly some years ago while basking in the other’s warmth on the divans.
Still, he yearned. Despite everything, he would go back to those days if just to bask in the setting sun in that field of grass overlooking the city with his junior once more–
“I can hear you thinking,” Alhaitham’s voice murmured, so much closer to his ear than he would ever expect.
Kaveh, of course, shrieked and whipped around to face the infuriating man, his hand very nearly coming into contact with the pot of boiling adasi, only to be swiftly saved by Alhaitham
“Will you stop sneaking up on me when I’m making breakfast of all times?! Are you trying to get me to burn myself?!” The echoes of his shouting bounced around the kitchen, and then it was deathly silent. Kaveh could feel the heat growing further on his face. Whether it was with embarrassment or momentary anger he did not, and could not recognize.
Alhaitham narrowed and averted his eyes, the corners of his eyebrows knitting together into an odd expression that Kaveh could only recognize as some kind of badly hidden discomfort, and he felt the fight instantly drain from his body. The architect simply sighed and pressed closer to the younger, hands coming up to press gently against the scribe’s chest. Alhaitham had always struggled with apologies, he knows, so he starts with a soft “I’m sorry, Haitham, I didn’t mean to yell. You just… scared me. I’m sorry…”
He felt Alhaitham’s body slowly untense beneath his palms, and only relaxed himself when the scribe’s arms wrapped around him in turn. “I’m… I would also like to apologize. You know I don’t mean to do that to you. I would never want to see you get hurt.” Kaveh felt a warm hand encapsulating his own on Alhaitham’s chest, and then it was lifted up and then warm lips were pressing against each individual finger. “Is your hand okay? Thankfully I caught you before you could get hurt.”
Kaveh’s face burned. Archons, this man was insufferable, always looking out for Kaveh whenever possible, and that Kaveh loved so, so deeply that the weight of it made him hang his head in guilt. Did he truly deserve such forgiveness? Such sweet tenderness? After all, he was the one who immediately jumped to conclusions, not Alhaitham.
“I can hear you thinking again,” Alhaitham tutted in disapproval. Another warm hand came to cup Kaveh’s face and lift his gaze so their eyes would meet. “Stop that. Or, you can tell me what’s on your mind. I won’t judge.”
Kaveh’s gaze dropped down to Alhaitham’s collarbone while he weighed his decision. He could tell Alhaitham anything, of course. They’ve become far more communicative over their years of marriage, so it was a given that they could trust each other, but… would Alhaitham find the source of it silly? Or selfish even? That Kaveh had been yearning for the old days instead of relishing in what he has now? It would be a risk, but…
Kaveh opened his mouth, and then-
“Ah-, tell me over breakfast. The adasi is burning.”
“What?!”
—
Thankfully, the adasi had been saved just in time, and now Kaveh was stuck picking at his food as he internally debated what he was going to say to Alhaitham. In retrospect, he knows it’s not a particularly difficult thing to talk about, it was just…
He was afraid of Alhaitham’s rejection.
Kaveh could almost laugh at himself. What a silly thought, he’s your husband, Kaveh. Reprimanding himself came as easy as breathing, even after all these years. There’s no way he’s going to laugh, even if it’s silly… right?
To make matters worse, he could just feel Alhaitham’s eyes on him, looking right through him and boring holes through his very being. Couldn’t he stop staring just for a minute?! For his sake?! (That sort of request was far too much to ask of Alhaitham, of course. Celestia itself would have to rip his eyes off of his husband.)
Kaveh nearly flinched a second time when Alhaitham finally opened his mouth again.
“Kaveh. Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll do what I can to help you.” He spoke with no hint of teasing or reluctance in his tone, only with assurance and a sort of worried affection that runs deeper than the pools of Fontaine. “Eat your food, too. Stop picking at it.”
Almost automatically, Kaveh shoved the jam-covered flatbread he’d been staring at for the past several minutes into his mouth, chewed and swallowed, which seemed to satisfy Alhaitham. “Good,” he praised, and it alighted upon Kaveh’s heart as it has always done. “Now. Please… tell me what’s wrong.”
“I was just…” Kaveh paused and bit his lip, suddenly interested in the folded napkin hidden somewhat beneath his plate of flatbreads. “I… was just thinking about the old days. You know, when we were still in the Akademiya…? And- before you say anything- I know it’s dumb, but… I miss the things we would do together back then.”
Kaveh heard more than saw Alhaitham folding his arms, and alarms rang off in his head immediately. Was Alhaitham closing off? Shutting him out, as he would all those years ago before they were together? Kaveh’s shoulders tensed in response, and he had half a mind to shut up, but his mouth kept moving almost against his will. The words came out faster, rushed from nerves.
“Like… when we would sit in the House of Daena together and just debate each other all day long, or even just sit in silence and work on assignments together… you remember that, right? I’ve also been thinking about when we would just… sneak out of the city. Those were my favorite times,” a pause to let out a nervous chuckle, “A-and please don’t get me wrong, I love what we have now, I love you, but I also loved just laying with you in the field. I miss it so much, Haitham, I…”
“Kaveh…” Alhaitham interrupted, voice low and soft. Kaveh could easily tell he was trying to be gentle about it, and it made his shoulders square in defense. Was Alhaitham against the idea of Kaveh mourning the past so deeply? Especially considering what had amounted to be years of pain occurring not too long after…
The chair squeaked against the floorboards, and footsteps rounded the table separating them, only stopping at Kaveh’s side. A warm hand ghosted under his chin, fingertips caressing the curve of his jaw before warmth engulfed half of his face and lifted him up to make him meet his husband’s gaze.
“After all these years of being married, why are you still afraid to ask me to accompany you on our anniversary?” The scribe’s eyes had softened into one of those expressions that he had specifically reserved for Kaveh. Calloused thumbs smoothed over softened cheeks as they wiped Kaveh’s tears away; tears that the architect hadn’t realized had been falling until now.
He sucked in a sharp breath, breathed out a shaky “Sorry,” and nearly wilted with shame had Alhaitham’s hand not been holding his head up. Of course. Alhaitham had lived with him for years, now. He would know better than anyone that Kaveh had a tendency to get in a tizzy about seemingly little things like that.
“Don’t be,” the scribe whispered before he leaned in to press a sweet, tender kiss to each of Kaveh’s cheeks. “While I cannot promise that it will be the same as when we were students… I can still take you to some of those places. Will you accompany me?”
“Yes…” Kaveh leaned into the touch of his beloved as the whisper fell off his lips. “Please…”
Alhaitham’s lips spread gentle warmth across his entire face, each ghost of a kiss making his skin tingle pleasantly until it ceased at Kaveh’s lips. Kaveh giggled into the kiss and swiftly allowed his eyes to flutter shut. He was quick to lean into every little touch with a content hum sounding in his throat.
His husband was first to pull away, much to Kaveh’s dismay. He leaned forward to chase his lips and let out a frustrated groan when he didn’t get what he was looking for. How annoying.
Alhaitham’s resulting chuckle didn’t help anything.
“Come on, shower time, and then we leave.”
“Fine,” Kaveh huffed, his brilliant red eyes sharp with ambition, “but you owe me more kisses in the shower.”
“Only after you pay what you owe me first,” the scribe returned coolly.
This man was surely going to be the death of him.
—
“Alhaitham, where are we going?” A reasonable question, surely! Kaveh wasn’t exactly happy with getting jostled about through the crowd while his husband tugged him along by the hand. Slipping through the cracks of people unnoticed was Alhaitham’s thing, not his.
Alhaitham, of course, did not respond, and Kaveh merely sighed in defeat. It must be those archons-forsaken headphones again, but Kaveh knew better than to let it make him angry anymore. After all, it wasn’t the scribe’s fault that his hearing was so sensitive. In fact, it was more likely that he had truly not heard Kaveh at all than he was intentionally ignoring him. Even more so when Kaveh knew Alhaitham didn’t just do that to get a rise out of him anymore.
Kaveh opted for tapping his index finger twice against the scribe’s wrist, and the speed at which he’d reacted nearly made Kaveh flinch. Within seconds, Alhaitham had stopped and reached up to switch off the noise canceling function of his headphones.
“Is something wrong?” The almost worried furrow in his brow was a special kind of cute. It made some kind of pride swell up in Kaveh’s chest. He was certain he was the only one who could ever find those things about the scribe adorable, but then again, these little expressions were only ever reserved for him.
“No, no, nothing’s wrong just…” Kaveh momentarily shuffled closer to Alhaitham, both simultaneously shielding the other from the pull of the crowd. “Where are we going, love?”
Alhaitham flashed one of those horrifically soft smiles at him in response.
“Someone as smart as you ought to have figured it out by now.”
Kaveh rolled his eyes in feigned frustration, but he couldn’t help the fond grin growing on his own features. He dipped his head forward– nearly making contact with Alhaitham’s chest in the process– to signal that he could keep walking.
Alhaitham obliged and continued on their way towards their destination. Within seconds, his hand had once again come up to switch the noise canceling function of his headphones back on. Kaveh gave Alhaitham’s hand a light, assuring squeeze, and he could almost feel the tension bleeding away through his palm.
The next thing Kaveh knew, Alhaitham had pulled him all the way into the Akademiya’s House of Daena. Immediately upon scanning the surrounding area, Kaveh recognized the table they stood beside as the one they frequented when they were still students. Something tugged at Kaveh’s heart, and the grin that spread across his face was unmatched.
“I see what you’re doing now,” he chuckled. The spark of joy in his husband’s eyes did not go unnoticed.
“Won’t you have a debate with me, Senior?” The scribe teased, a smirk quirking at the corner of his lip.
“Not this time, Haitham. Let’s just… read together this time… you remember where my old annotations are, right?”
“Of course I do. How could I ever forget that?” Alhaitham busied himself with the rows and rows of books on the impossibly crowded shelves, the tips of his fingers running almost reverently over each individual spine. He treated his books with the same kind of gentleness that he did with Kaveh, and the architect found that to be another one of those adorable things about him.
Alhaitham was always a cautious man, one who was gentle with his touch. No page in any book had ever been hurt by those hands, and Kaveh wholeheartedly doubted they ever would be. Kaveh believed that books were something sacred to Alhaitham, and yet, the only thing more important to the man than any regular old books were the ones Kaveh had poured the fruits of his mind into.
Kaveh watched with intent as two of Alhaitham’s fingers stroked the spine of one such book. It was a book on architecture, naturally, nothing Alhaitham would typically be interested in… While this topic was not among the scribe’s particular topics of interest, it was without a doubt one of Kaveh’s, and the notes he’d left in this volume had been… enthusiastic to say the least. Heat rose in Kaveh’s face at the sappy realization of why Alhaitham had specifically chosen that book.
The scribe turned to face the blonde and motioned for him to sit. Kaveh’s body obeyed before he could even realize it, and just mere moments later the scribe was at his side. Old habits die hard, Kaveh supposed, as he instinctually laid his head against the younger’s shoulder while the book was carefully opened.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl around them where they sat side-by-side. Kaveh’s world was reduced to the sound of Alhaitham’s voice reciting the words on the pages with a monotone that had always, in a way, soothed the architect. Combined with the steady heartbeat in his ear, it was the unfortunately perfect catalyst for turning Kaveh’s body to lead where he sat. His eyelids drooped along with his head
The blonde nuzzled into Alhaitham’s chest, and the scribe in turn wrapped an arm around Kaveh to allow him to get more comfortable while Alhaitham read to him. The scribe’s hand smoothed up and down his back, the wedding band providing a comforting, assuring sensation, coupled with the low and soothing sound of Alhaitham’s voice that all lulled him further into a sleepy haze. Distantly, he registered Alhaitham’s low chuckle, and a soft kiss had been pressed to his hair, before his eyes slipped close.
“Sleep well, Kaveh. I’ll bring you somewhere special soon.”
—
Wisps of soft grass tickled the architect’s skin, but what tickled him more was the feeling of fingertips ghosting over his cheek, brushing the soft blonde locks away from his face and behind his ear. Kaveh hummed and shifted his head to nuzzle into the weight beneath, his eyebrows furrowing as the fingertips now danced across the shell of his ear, gentle and reverent as if his entire being was a point of study; something to be handled with great care.
There were no winds to rustle his hair tonight, only the soft caresses of a lover. He sighed, bliss and content painting his features along with his heart.
He was, undoubtedly and unequivocally happy.
This was truly all he could ever want.
A hand carded gently through his hair, and memories flooded Kaveh’s mind. Those of longing, happiness, and young naiveté. He cherished those days long past, where they would sneak out of the city on their own to return to the very field they lay in now.
They were much older now, and all the wiser because of it. They experienced heartache and love deeper than their past selves could ever know, and overcame it just the same.
The metallic sensation of a ring brushed him, cold against his skin, and yet it reminded him just as well of how far they’d come together, over these ten long years of marriage.
The hand left his hair, and Kaveh tipped his head to chase the warmth to no avail, and vermilion eyes slipped open to face the brilliant setting sun, and equally brilliant eyes of teal and red fire. Alhaitham had always been a lovely sight to see, but especially now that Kaveh could love every dip of his skin; admire the softened look in his eyes and trace the crows feet at the corners of his eyes.
Alhaitham’s soft smile melted Kaveh’s heart, and he reached up to trace the dimples adorning the scribe’s cheeks with the tips of his fingers.
“Did you sleep well?” Alhaitham questioned, his hand returning to play with the stray blonde locks obscuring bits of Kaveh’s face.
“Mm… you were here, so yes, I did sleep quite well, thank you,” Kaveh hummed in response, watching with amusement as Alhaitham’s exposed ears flushed a bright red before he tilted his head to look out over the vast field of grass and flowers. “And this place… you really brought me here…”
“Of course I did,” Alhaitham mused through his flustered state. “How could I ever deny my husband’s wishes?”
Kaveh huffed out a laugh at the light teasing and slowly returned his gaze to meet Alhaitham’s intense and longing stare.
“Kaveh…” the scribe whispered, the name almost a prayer on his lips, as Kaveh pushed himself to sit up beside him.
Alhaitham’s hand slid over his cheek and cupped his face. Kaveh naturally tipped his head into the touch, his eyes slipping shut again and his own hand sliding against the scribe’s wrist to keep him pressed to his face.
“Haitham…” Kaveh returned, his own whisper equally as adoring.
Soft lips suddenly slotted against his own, and Kaveh immediately melted into the kiss with a content hum sounding in his throat. His arms came up to wrap around the scribe’s neck and simultaneously deepen the kiss.
Love swirled in his heart; the heart that belonged solely to Alhaitham, and would stay that way for the rest of their days.
When they pulled away, gasping for breath and adorning the most adoring, love-sick smiles two fools could ever wear, Alhaitham leaned in once more to press a lingering kiss to Kaveh’s forehead.
“Happy anniversary, Kaveh.”
“Happy anniversary… I love you, Haitham. I love you so much…”
“I love you too.”
The two of them basked in each other’s presence, exchanging vows of unshakeable affection, until the sun had set far past the horizon and the stars hung in the sky to watch over them.