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Amazing.
Alhaitham assesses the pieces of information he’d collected again and again. Same result. There’s no mistaking that the group he’s looking for headed that way.
His newest lead is taking him right through the Ashavan Realm, Apam Woods to be exact. He hates jobs that drag him through the rainforests; they’re inefficient and make him feel sticky.
Desert jobs are more his style. Solving puzzles and avoiding traps in the old Deshret pyramids are child’s play for someone with his certainty and intuition. The heat is one factor, but if you’re smart enough to come prepared, it won’t wear you down as fast. Simple planning ahead can save most people who get themselves in tough situations regularly, like a certain blond he knows.
Rainforest jobs, on the other hand, are unpredictable. Plants, animals, monsters, and people alike will hide in the tall trees or countless caves for a chance to strike. It’s really a hassle to uncover clues when half the life out there wants to kill you. The Akademiya hasn’t even begun to document and locate over 60% of what’s out there.
In the desert, he mostly faces people. People are predictable. Rainforests are not.
He should probably get moving. Turns out there’s yet another hidden workshop where the ex Akademiya researchers he’s been tracking have been colluding and conducting illegal research.
Normally he wouldn’t give them a second glance since most scholars who get discharged from the Akedemiya weren’t intelligent enough to keep their spots in the first place, but this group was different. They have information they shouldn’t which means they still have internal connections. Internal connections mean a whole headache of paperwork that makes him stay overtime to finish. This was personal now.
After an annoying hike through an unkempt jungle, he stumbles across a worn-down path that proves human activity. Vines and undergrowth have been cut and stomped down as the group made trips back and forth.
Maybe, this job won’t be as much of a headache as he’d thought.
The scribe follows the trail casually until it ends abruptly at the trunk of one of the huge Apam trees that give this stretch of forest its name.
A sudden burning smell surrounds him as he walks closer to the tree. A forest fire? Could they be trying to destroy evidence? Does that mean they know he’s on to them?
Looking around, he spies a scorched Tri-Lakshana mushroom, the cause of the terrible stench. If they know someone’s on to them, they clearly don’t know it’s Alhaitham yet, unless they’re idiots (which is a possibility). It was still emitting smoke and crackling, so they must be close.
His gaze trails up the tree trunk and follows the winding, unmistakable path of burnt mushrooms leading to the top.
They probably burned the mushrooms so pursuers couldn’t use the natural bounce pad to follow them up to their hideout. The plan is stupid for two reasons: 1. The burnt mushrroms alone give away the base like a cordial invitation. 2. Dendro revives scorched Tri-Lakshana creatures. These guys were doomed from the start.
Alhaitham almost pities them as he throws out some dendro energy, thanks to his vision, and hops up to their base.
When he reaches the top, the fight lasts about 30 seconds after the first guy yells, “Who’re you?!”
After lugging the brunt of them down to a reasonable height where he’s sure they won’t die from the fall, he throws them off one by one to the hard forest floor. A smirk plays at his lips as they get their payback for making him run around the rainforest for days.
He hops down on the mushrooms and begins tying them all together. He’s still got to drag them to the nearest forest ranger station who will handle them from there, but he takes a seat against the old trunk for a short rest.
As he does, however, the mouthiest of the guys regains consciousness, “You Bastard!” the man shouts angrily. “Akademiya dog!”
Alhaitham’s face scrunches up in disgust, but he doesn’t humor him with a response. He can believe anything he wants; it makes no difference to him.
Clearly the man was undisturbed by the scribe’s silence since he keeps talking. “Our research will change everything! The Grand Sage will-” blah blah blah. Alhaitham doesn’t care enough to listen to his nonsense. He tunes him out with his earpieces as he takes a sip from his canteen. He’s heard all these monologues before.
And from what he’d discovered of their research, it hadn’t amounted to much yet, still in the experimental testing phases.
Enhanced mindreading plant pollen was hardly enough to overthrow the Akedemiya with their skillset, but anything can become a threat if sold to the wrong people. He cracked open one of the research journals he’d swiped off one of them to read about their findings so far.
It’s about what he expected, no conclusive evidence and unfinished testing. He knows from talking to Tighnari and watching him work that flora experimentation is time consuming and rather finicky, no wonder they were denied funding.
After locating a forest ranger checkpoint, he drops off the men and returns to their base to find leads as to who they might be contacting within the Akademiya.
Something was still bugging him about the whole ordeal while rummaging around the messy lab. With so little meaningful data, why would they choose to set up so far out in the forest? It must’ve been taxing just to get supplies out here.
Just what was out here that made the extra steps worth it?
As he fumbled with a few hypotheses in his head he started to notice his throat become dry.
That’s odd.
A dry throat somewhere as humid and damp as the rainforest? He was used to his throat drying out in the desert since it’s so dry and sand gets everywhere, but here it makes no sense. Was he getting ill?
He pulls out his canteen again and finishes up the last drops of water. Empty? He hadn’t realized how much he’d been drinking. This is so unlike him.
Rationally, there’s a good chance this has something to do with the research those men were conducting here, but there’s no obvious trigger.
He ignored the sudden thirst that only got stronger as he hurried to find any evidence to explain what was happening to him. Eventually he had to get out of there as he began coughing uncontrollably.
He really hates the rainforest.
Luckily, as he dropped by a nearby river to pick up some more water the coughing died down, but his mouth and throat were still dry.
He decided that it’ll most likely get better over time, mostly because he wanted to get out of the rainforest as fast as possible and didn’t want to stop by Tighnari’s camp to get poked and prodded at.
The hike back to Sumeru felt like travelling through Natlan. How was it so much hotter than earlier? Maybe he was getting sick.
It didn’t matter. He just wanted to get home.
As he entered the city, he finally started to cool down and assumed whatever had been affecting him was wearing off. He’d have to remember the details of his symptoms to write about in his report later.
“Alhaitham?” a voice pulls him out of his thoughts. He turns and faces Cyno who had a brow raised and an inquisitive look. “You look awful.” The Mahamatra states.
“Thank you.” The scribe responds without blinking. “I feel awful. I’m hot and tired and annoyed.” He hears himself say before adding, “And really fucking thirsty.”
Both of Cyno’s brows shoot up this time, “Did you just tell me how you feel?!” He looked at him startled. “And… complain?!”
Did he?
Why would he do that?
Sure, it was true, but that’s not something he needs to address with Cyno of all people, or anyone, for that matter. Since it doesn’t involve them.
“I’m sure you can relate to a frustrating day at work, so opening up to you probably-.” He says before slapping his hand over his mouth. What is he saying right now?!
That’s not what he wanted to say at all!
Cyno’s eyes narrow in his direction tentatively. “Right…” he drawls out. “You sure you’re feeling okay?”
Yes, I’m sure. Leave me alone. Is what he wants to say, but he doesn’t trust his mouth to say it, so he gives the general a curt nod and walks past him briskly.
“Tell Kaveh I said hi.” He hears the man chuckle and call after him, clearly forgetting Kaveh doesn’t want people to find out they’re roommates, or rather purposely not caring.
“I will.” His mouth calls back. NO, HE WON’T! Well, he definitely would, but he’d never tell Cyno that!
He needs to get home now.
He makes it back to his house in record time, being sure to avoid anyone that may want to talk to him. He needs to figure out what’s going on and how to stop it.
He shoves his key in the lock violently before closing the door behind him with a loud thud. He marches straight to his study despite the idea of a cool shower feeling awfully alluring after the day he’s had.
With all the noise he’s made since coming through the door and throwing books on his desk, he’s not surprised when he feels his roommate’s eyes on him.
“The hell happened to you, Haitham?” the blond sounds rightfully annoyed. “Thought a herd of sumpter beasts barged through the house.”
Alhaitham sighs and hopes if he pretends to be using his earpieces, he’ll get frustrated enough to leave him alone. He really can’t talk to Kaveh right now with this going on. Whatever this even is?
The scribe’s eyes drag over the pages of the book he’d decided to start with: ‘Flora of Sumeru’s Ashavan Realm vol.1’.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!” he hears over his shoulder, but still refuses to respond.
He keeps scanning the book for any relevant information before Kaveh’s had enough of being ignored and rips off his earpieces angrily, “You don’t just get to barge in here all loudly and ignore me!”
Finally, Alhaitham lets himself be turned around to face the blond. He looked pissed. Not anymore than usual, but still enough that he knows he needs to give him some sort of reasoning.
“I do not want to talk to you right now, Kaveh” he states.
Kaveh bristles, “Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t want to mess up my sketch for my blueprints either, but someone wanted to slam the front door!”
How can he fix this? The longer he talks to him, the more likely he’ll say something he regrets. “That’s not what I meant to say.” He explains. “Something is wrong with me.”
“Well, I’ve known that for a while.” Kaveh rolls his eyes and puts a hand on his hip.
Alhaitham stands from his seat, “I’m serious, Kaveh.” he says staring into ruby red eyes. The eyes slip down to Alhaitham’s mouth after he says this, and then his face starts leaning closer. He has to bite his tongue hard to not say something he can’t take back.
“What’s in your mouth?” the blond asks, suddenly grabbing the scribe’s face to open his mouth again. “Open up!”
Alhaitham battles him reflexively until his words sink in. “What do you mean what’s in my mouth?” he asks distractedly while still trying to push him away.
“I don’t know, Haitham.” Kaveh huffs at him before he reaches for the man’s mouth again. “Open your mouth so I can see.”
Alhaitham can feel his face heating up. “Your fingers in my mouth are going to make me say something I shouldn’t.” the scribe struggles out over Kaveh’s fingers. Fuck.
Kaveh suddenly stops his torment and blinks at him. “Huh?!” Reluctantly, he allows Kaveh to open his mouth wider, hoping to distract him from what he just let slip.
He watches Kaveh’s eyes widen and then narrow again as he inspects his mouth, and he suddenly feels like he’d stopped at Tighnari’s anyway. The man always made Alhaitham feel like he was under a microscope.
“It’s like glowing.” Kaveh describes dumbly.
“What’s glowing?”
“Your breath stinks.” Kaveh supplies with a crinkled nose before answering his question. “There’s a symbol. Sort of like the dendro symbol, but a little off. It’s on your tongue.” He explains, his ears growing redder by the second.
Alhaitham swats his hands away and runs to the nearest mirror. Luckily Kaveh had just put a large one in the hallway that he said, ‘made it look bigger’. He peers at his reflection, ignoring the dusting of pink on his face, and opens his mouth.
Staring back at him was a bright green, almost dendro symbol on his tongue, just like Kaveh had described.
“What the hell?” he says aloud. This has got to be related to how he keeps blurting out things he’d never say because he’d never seen anything like it before.
Kaveh stifles a laugh behind him, “Pretty ugly tattoo. You should get it removed.” Alhaitham just puts his head in his hands and takes a few calculated deep breaths. This is the worst day of his life.
“So, you gonna tell me what’s going on?” the blond asks carefully. His nonchalance from early has worn off and he’s starting to get worried.
Looking back up at the reflected green symbol, Alhaitham sighs. “Yes”, he says, “I probably will tell you what’s going on. Even though I don’t want to and all I can think about is your fingers in my mouth.”
Kaveh gapes at him confused. “W-What?”
“Cyno says hi.” He blurts out and suddenly wants to punch the man in question as if all this is his fault.
Kaveh continues to blink at him. “Why are you acting so weird? What does Cyno have to do with this?” he asks.
There’s a question he can hopefully answer without saying something horribly inappropriate. That is, if it were a simple question to answer. “I’m still trying to figure that out.” He begins explaining the job he was on. “I’m assuming this enhanced pollen they were experimented on is what started all of this and now I keep saying things I don’t mean.” He suddenly breaks into a coughing fit until he thinks of something. “Things I don’t mean to say aloud. They are things I mean.” he corrects his statement against his will and his coughing stops.
When Kaveh doesn’t say anything, he tries to conceal his panic behind a straight face. “And apparently if I lie, I start coughing unless I own up to it. Which was just a hypothesis until I just proved it correct.”
“Mindreading pollen?” Kaveh gives it some thought. “Sounds more like they accidently created a truth serum but got beat up before they could realize it.”
Alhaitham nods along to his assessment. “They weren’t smart enough to realize even if I hadn’t beaten them up.” He murmurs. Finally, something he probably would’ve said without what Kaveh’s calling ‘truth serum’.
Then Kaveh burst out laughing, “Either way this is hilarious!” He cries. “You? Getting hit with truth serum?! You’ve got to be kidding me! How the mighty Scribe Alhaitham has fallen!” he announces. “I’ve never seen you so frustrated before!”
“Shut up.”
A devious grin widens on the blond’s face, and he knows he needs to get out of there. “What do you really think of my cooking?” he interrogates.
Really?
“It’s good, but mine’s better.” He replies easily, watching the smugness fall from Kaveh’s features. “Have you had your fun now?”
Kaveh puts his hand to his chin in thought, “No.” he sing-songs. “I’m just getting started. Tell me what you think of my designs now that you have to be honest.”
Alhaitham searches his face. Is that really what he’s going to ask him in a situation where he could ask anything? He clears his throat and looks away, “I think the Palace of Alcazarzaray is the greatest showing of architectural prowess since the halls of the Akademiya were built and if you weren’t limited by funding and being conned you could singlehandedly make Sumeru a more beautiful place with just your designs alone.” He has to force himself to stop talking.
Kaveh’s face is unreadable when he peeks at him, so he cocks his head to the side. “Did you seriously not think I’d like your designs? I like everything-” his hand muffles the rest of his words before it’s too late. “Although you don’t act like it, you’re a famed architect and I have eyes.”
“Haitham…” the blond says, but no words follow it. He looks away bashfully, picking at invisible lint on his pants.
After the awkward silence, Alhaitham gets up to leave. “If that’s all, then I should really try to find a way to fix-”
“Shouldn’t you go straight to Tighnari?” Kaveh cuts him off and he responds with a grimace. “What’s the matter?”
Alhaitham curses himself before opening his mouth, “It’s not that I hadn’t thought of it, but he makes me nervous.” Once again sharing more personal details he never wished to.
Kaveh’s eyes widen, “He makes you nervous?!” he asks unbelievably.
“…Yes.”
Kaveh starts laughing again. At this rate he won’t have any secrets left. “I’m dying to know how many other things make you nervous.” He says with a lilt to his voice. It was that same teasing tone he’s used on the man countless times, but the smile mocking him was so warm and full of mirth. Was this all just some cruel divine punishment from Celestia?
Screw Celestia.
The scribe turns to leave. “Wait!” The man who still can’t catch his breath shouts between laughs, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
His apologies are empty as he wipes tears from his eyes, so Alhaitham heads to the kitchen to start brewing some herbal tea: his second-best option to speed up the recovery process.
Maybe it would be easier to risk dissection from the Forest Ranger than face this nightmare. But does he really want to go back into the rainforest?
It’s not long before he hears Kaveh enter the kitchen behind him as he expected. He must’ve collected himself because he’s no longer cackling.
“Hold on.” The blond starts more seriously than before, “How do you know this isn’t dangerous?” he asks. “What if it never goes away or your tongue falls off?” he looked genuinely concerned.
What’s more dangerous is this conversation. He quietly thinks he’d rather have his tongue fall off than go through this any longer. Especially when Kaveh’s looking at him like that and he can still feel the ghost of his fingers on his lips.
His mind had never been such a mess. He was good at controlling his thoughts and actions; known for it, actually. Settling his invaluable thoughts to the back of his mind made it easy to focus on his research. Becoming roommates with Kaveh had almost destroyed this system entirely. He was the first person to ever get a rise out of him so easily. When he was around, he suddenly couldn’t keep down the unnecessary thoughts that lingered in his head and kept him awake at night.
But he’d never had to doubt his ability to keep these unwanted thoughts from getting out. He had self-control.
Until now.
Now the thoughts formed words and syllables. They leaked out from the darkest corners of his mind. In a normal situation, he’d have made progress by now if not had already sorted it out. But instead, he faces his greatest obstacle yet: the combination of Kaveh and a sudden lack of his verbal filter.
“Hello?” a voice shakes him out of his own head.
He only blinks at him.
Kaveh knocks on his skull like a door, “Did that pollen get into your brain?” he asks. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
“Can’t. Talk.” He forces out before he starts coughing. “Without fear.” He adds to stop the fit from getting worse.
Alhaitham feels pathetic. His brain was going in so many directions at once that he couldn’t think properly at all.
Kaveh retracts his hand, “Oh, okay.” His face softening and pulling an ache from Alhaitham’s chest. “Okay. How about you sit down and drink your tea. I’ll call Tighnari, but I’ll have him come here, alright?” he suggests.
Minutes go by while Kaveh disappears to send a message to the forest ranger. It shouldn’t take long for him to receive it with the new direct message systems online, but travelling to Sumeru City might be too much of an ask when the sun’s about to go down.
He should’ve gone straight there.
His roommate’s been gone for a while now. Knowing Kaveh, he’s probably explaining the situation in excruciating detail. Alhaitham prefers a simple statement of main concerns to long-winded descriptions, but he’s doing him a favor, so he won’t bring it up… this time.
When Kaveh finally returns, a weight lifts from his shoulders. He sits across from him at the kitchen table with his own teacup and they sit in comfortable silence or the first time that afternoon.
The scribe can feel red eyes drilling into his soul to figure him out but chooses to ignore it until the man speaks up. And it’s not long before he does.
After a sip, the blond meets his eyes, “It feels weird being the one teasing you for a change.” He frowns. “It almost makes me feel bad that you can’t give it right back to me.”
Alhaitham takes his time to answer, still warry of his current oversharing issue.
Kaveh takes his silence as a sign to continue. “And don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty of stuff you’ve said tonight that I’m dying to make you clarify, but that’d be like taking advantage of you!” He seemed conflicted and his face began to redden. “I couldn’t do that.” He looks away.
Alhaitham’s mouth opens. Then closes. Then opens again, “I can still consciously choose whether or not to speak, so you don’t have to think about it like that.” He says carefully before pausing to take a breath. “I don’t mind if you want to ask me questions. I’ll just reply to ones I feel like I can.”
Kaveh’s eyes widen as they look back up and consider his words, “Then I can really ask you whatever’s on my mind?” he asks.
“That is what I just said.” The scribe states plainly.
With a huff, the blond puts a finger to his chin to think of a worthy question. Then he settles on one. “Why are you so critical of the things I do that don’t affect you?” he braves.
“I’m only hard on you because I’m afraid of you getting hurt again.” Alhaitham’s answer flows out easily. “Your kindness and empathy are too susceptible to cruelty, although it’s also one of your greatest strengths and what I admire most about you. But I don’t know how to express my feelings to you, so it comes off as you say critical.”
The man across from him blinks, almost in a haze. He must not have expected him to actually answer. “I-I think that’s a bit too truthful… I don’t even know where to start. You really think so highly of me?” he doubts.
Alhaitham chooses not to answer that question; It could only end poorly, so Kaveh speaks up again, “I always kinda worried you saw me as a burden or a failure. After all, I am living in your house and I’m supposed to be your upperclassman, but this is…” his words falter off.
Big, round, red eyes look up, startled, at the expression on his roommate’s face.
Alhaitham stares at him longingly. He wishes he had a way to show how much that wasn’t true, but he didn’t know how to explain it. His gaze strays from sad eyes and gets caught on soft lips.
“I want to kiss you so bad.”
Oops.
“HUH!?”
Their equal looks of both horror and shock are interrupted by a knock at the door. They stare at each other wordlessly before Kaveh hurries over to the entryway.
Before he knows it, he’s standing in his kitchen with Tighnari, Kaveh, and… Cyno?
“What’s up Al-trutham?” The general greets with a casual salute. He’s obviously been practicing that one the whole trip here and Alhaitham wants to kick him out already.
“So, you like Kaveh’s fingers in your mouth that much, eh?” was Tighnari’s greeting, which wasn’t much better.
“Yes, I do. Dammit! Fuck you!” is all Alhaitham can respond before sealing his mouth closed until further notice. Fuck both of them! All three of them, actually, because Kaveh must’ve told Tighnari about the finger thing! His head falls to his hands in shame.
“Nari!” Kaveh cries in terror.
Meanwhile Cyno looks around in confusion, “Did no one get my joke? You see, instead of being his typical Al-lie-tham self, I called him-”
“IT JUST WASN’T FUNNY!” Everyone shouts at the same time for a multitude of reasons.
The general Mahamatra raises his hands in surrender and quietly mutters to himself, “That’s the worst reaction I’ve gotten yet…” and scribbles something down in a notebook.
The attention is back on Tighnari as he clears his throat loudly. “Anyways… seems like this really is truth serum.” He deduces with a smirk. “As funny as this is, you know way too many secrets as the Akedemiya’s scribe to leave you like this. Open wide.” He commands and Alhaitham isn’t in the position to refuse.
Pulling out a package of sterile cotton, he swabs his throat to run some tests. He says something about analyzing the bioculture’s reaction to dendro and electro with the help of Cyno, but it was clear that neither the scribe nor the architect was paying much attention.
“How’d you get here so fast?” Kaveh asks. He’s been sticking close to his side since they’d arrived.
“And why did you bring him?” Alhaitham adds glancing at Cyno.
Tighnari suddenly blushes and looks away.
“Don’t tell me…” Kaveh starts, thinking the worst.
“That’s right!” Cyno intrudes. “We were in the middle of a very serious game of Genius Invocation TCG!”
Oh.
Tighnari rolls his eyes, “Yeah,” he sighs. “It’s kind of fun once you get the hang of it… and he lent me a few cards from an older deck.”
The conversation is sparse after that because Tighnari needed to concentrate on the analysis. Haitham remains silent as much as possible while he waits and at some point Kaveh had stopped pacing and brought his sketching paper out to the living room to fix his earlier mistake .
It was just past sunset when the pair had come to his aid, but by the time Tighnari finished, the sky was a dark shade of purple with the moon above the horizon.
Cyno was passed out on their divan. No one bothered him.
“Okay so it looks like the pollen’s enzymes react similarly to elemental stimuli as Tri-Lakshana flora do.” Tighnari explains as he emerges from the kitchen he was using as a makeshift lab. “If I had more time to run some tests, I could experiment with levels of pyro that could scorch the enzymes for a quick fix, but that’s too risky for right now.” he says taking a long swig of coffee Kaveh had prepared for him.
“What I recommend is avoiding all dendro and electro elemental matter for the next few days.” He continues. “There’s a good chance that it’ll die off on its own even by morning, but if not, I’ll have more data collected by then to work with.”
He figured that much out with just a few simple tests?
Tighnari was impressive. No wonder every Darshan wants to recruit him. But as far as they know he could be stuck like this for a few days. He gulped dryly. He wasn’t even sure if he could get through tonight after what he’s said to Kaveh already.
He looked over at the blond.
Kaveh nodded at Tighnari with his face scrunched up. The face he’d make when he was seriously thinking about something. It reminded Alhaitham of a rabbit.
After thanking them for their help (mostly Tighnari), the two visitors went on their way. He had offered to let them spend the night since it was so late, but Tighnari assured them they’d be fine. He said he had more equipment at Cyno’s place and wanted to do more research.
“Don’t over do it, Nari!” Kaveh waved them off.
The forest ranger scoffed, “If you’re telling me that, then I really need a vacation.” He chuckles as he lugs Cyno’s sleepy form out the door.
As the blonde closes the door behind them, he quickly turns around fixing Alhaitham in his gaze. That was the scribe’s sign to retreat. He makes a break for his room.
“Hey!” Kaveh shouts as he chases him down the hall. “Don’t you dare think we’re done here!” he scolded.
Alhaitham gets the door shut just in time and pushes back against Kaveh’s angry banging. They’ve each had an hour or so to reflect on what’s been exposed tonight and Alhaitham concluded that getting rejected after the day he’s had was not an advisable option.
Kaveh’s angry shouting paired with the pounding on the door was getting relentless and the scribe is suddenly very aware of the fact his roommate wields a claymore.
Panic ran through his body when the door started creaking unnaturally. The lock would give any second and he’d have to face his feelings head on.
Unexpectedly the banging stops on the other side of the door. It causes Alhaitham’s ears to ring, but puts an ear to the door regardless to hear what could be happening on the other side. Was he getting Mehrak? Or his claymore? Explosives?
He hears nothing.
Then there is a soft thud against the door that sounds like Kaveh’s head hitting the battered wood. Air gets stuck in his lungs when he hears a soft whisper. He almost missed it, but it was there.
“Then kiss me, you coward.”
No other words need to be said. That was his answer. The only sound that echoed through the house was the mechanism in the door unlocking.
Alhaitham’s eyes bore holes through the door, but he didn’t dare open it. He didn’t think he had the strength. He was a coward. Kaveh was so close. He wished the door would just vanish already.
Tentatively, it pushes toward him, and he steps out of the way.
Kaveh’s eyes are glued to his own hand on the doorknob. Alhaitham’s are glued to the entirety of the figure in front of him. “Pretty” he confesses under his breath. The blond’s eyes were glassy from unshed tears and his cheeks were blushed and rosy.
He was scared too. But he was stronger than Alhaitham. He’d had the courage to open the door.
“Shut up.” Kaveh orders, making the scribe swallow thickly. “I’m still mad at you.” He says and Alhaitham can’t blame him. He’d messed up. He’d caused so many problems for everyone. “For ruining my sketch.” He starts, taking a step forward.
“For ignoring me.” Another step.
“For making me worry.” Step.
“For getting me all flustered by your stupid truth serum.” One more step and there won’t be any space separating them. Red eyes fall to his lips effortlessly.
“And I’m mad at myself,” He takes the final step. His lips ghosting over Alhaitham’s enticingly, “For not doing this sooner.” He closes the final distance.
Their lips slot together better than Alhaitham had ever imagined. Like they were made as two parts of a whole. After a moment trying to get his bearings Alhaitham gets lost in the sensations of the mouth on his own. He carefully backs Kaveh back against the abused door, cushioning the back of his head with his hand that tangled itself is blond strands. Kaveh’s hands, his fingers, find their way to the window on the chest of his top and aren’t shy in their exploration.
The scribe thanks Celestia above that his mouth is occupied so he couldn’t spout every thought that came to his head. He’s completely at Kaveh’s mercy as the blond deepens the kiss impossibly further.
Meanwhile, Alhaitham’s other hand makes its way down to feel the contours of his roommate’s ridiculously attractive hipbones. The skin was smooth and warm to the touch while the bone beneath was sharp and sturdy.
Everything about Kaveh was addicting.
They are both breathless by the time they come up for air, but they only separate by a few centimeters. With foreheads touching, their warm breath mixes between them.
“Kaveh.” He says, but he doesn’t know why. Just because he could? Just because he knows it’s not a lie. It’s real.
What they have in this moment is real.
Under the privacy of the late hour, Alhaitham wants to chant that truth over and over again like his own personal prayer. But looking into tired ruby eyes, a fuzzier feeling blooms in his chest.
He takes the blond’s face in his hands and lays a gentle kiss to his forehead, “We need to get some sleep.” He says.
Kaveh’s face erupts again into a brilliant scarlet color at the action and hides his face in his hands, “Alhaitham!” he whines. “Don’t do stuff like that!”
Alhaitham blinks at him.
“It’s embarrassing!”
He just rolls his eyes and bends down to hike the architect over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
“Wait!” the four sack protests.
He carries him to the bed and drops him carefully on one side before walking around to the other side and getting under the covers, “Goodnight.” He says as he turns off the lamp, engulfing the room in darkness. “I love you.”
Shit. He’d almost forgotten about the pollen.
“Love you too.”