Work Text:
"Fuck!"
Alhaitham glanced up from the book he was reading in bed. The shout had come from the study where Kaveh was working on a project. Alhaitham just shook his head and turned up the volume on his noise-cancelling headphones, going back to his book.
A few minutes later, he heard another shout. This time, it was accompanied by a bang on the desk. Alhaitham glanced at the clock, letting out a displeased noise when he saw how late in the evening it was. He hoped Kaveh wouldn’t be doing this all night again.
He had just gotten settled back into his book when yet another expletive came from the study. He sighed and snapped his book shut. Might as well just take care of this before it becomes an issue.
Walking up to Kaveh, he was unsurprised to find the man hunched over a sheet of paper, frantically erasing some lines that he had clearly redrawn several times already.
“What’s going on?” Alhaitham asked.
Kaveh startled, glancing up at Alhaitham briefly before returning his attention to his work. “A client needs this project done in a week but it’s just not fucking working, and it’s driving me insane,” he said, stress evident in his voice.
“Are you planning on slaving over it all night?”
“Of course not,” Kaveh denied, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll come to bed soon enough. You don’t need to wait for me.” Alhaitham crooked an eyebrow, unconvinced. The pile of those Inazuman energy drinks that Kaveh was so fond of seemed to contradict his claim.
“Perhaps you would be more productive on a full night’s sleep,” Alhaitham suggested. “Getting frustrated and trying to brute force it won’t magically get it done.”
Kaveh huffed. “Maybe, but I still need to get through this. I can’t waste a night when the deadline is so close,” he groaned.
Alhaitham just shook his head. They’d gone through this charade many times throughout the years. Kaveh would never get any major progress done while he tried to power through sleep deprivation and then would have a massive breakthrough as soon as he got enough sleep. Well, Alhaitham supposed it was about time he took care of this.
He walked around the desk to Kaveh and physically lifted the man out of his chair. Kaveh squawked in surprise. “Wha- Hey! Put me down, you brute!” he shouted indignantly.
“You know you’re only going to burn yourself out if you keep trying to get it all done in one night like this,” Alhaitham said, unphased by Kaveh’s wriggling attempts to escape.
“Haithaaaaaam,” Kaveh whined. Alhaitham didn’t even dignify that with a response. With a huff, Kaveh crossed his arms in defeat. “Fine, but at least let me brush my teeth before we go to bed.”
Alhaitham nodded in assent, changing course for the bathroom. Kaveh couldn’t help but smile a bit at his behavior. “You’re not gonna let me walk anywhere by myself, are you?” he asked.
“Nope,” he responded. Kaveh chuckled at his curtness.
Once they reached the bathroom, Alhaitham plopped the blond down and headed back to their shared bedroom. He settled back in with his book and a few minutes later, Kaveh arrived with his hair tied back. He quickly changed into his pajamas before getting into bed with Alhaitham.
Kaveh was clearly still trying to keep up the pretense of being annoyed, but Alhaitham could tell he was barely able to keep his eyes open much longer. Alhaitham wordlessly clicked off the lamp by their bed and wrapped his arms around Kaveh. The blond stiffened briefly but quickly relaxed, melting into Alhaitham’s arms.
Within minutes, Kaveh’s breaths evened out as he fell asleep. With a smile, Alhaitham leaned over and placed a gentle kiss to Kaveh’s temple before closing his eyes to fall asleep himself. He was confident that in the morning, Kaveh would break through whatever issue was holding him back.
“Love you,” he whispered.
As he drifted off to sleep, he could distantly hear a mumbled “love you too” from Kaveh.