Work Text:
Kaveh wakes up like he usually unfortunately does; half passed three, arms serving as pillows for his head against the rough and hard wood of his desk, hungover and annoyed at the fact that he had fallen asleep once again amidst working on a client's blueprint throughout the night, swearing it’ll be finished by morning.
No amount of words from a Haravatat scholar could express the mass amount of utter shame he internally feels from betraying his own words.
‘Not again…’ He thinks to himself as he rises out of the tight, confined space between his desk chair and work desk and stands up, although his stance is slightly shaky. He stretches his arms, additionally cracking his back and knuckles for good measure.
Which, in turn, relieves a bit of the tension within his body. After stretching and muttering a great some of degrading words to himself, he caught a whiff of what smelled like coffee. Brewing coffee.
He ponders for a moment and then concludes that that must mean that Alhaitham is up as well, even if slightly drowsy. Kaveh was well aware that Alhaitham preferred an early routine, but this early was a bit puzzling, if not entirely strange.
And so, Kaveh steps out of his messy, blueprint scattered room and into the hallway of his and Alhaitham’s shared home.
As Kaveh emerges from the darkened hallway and enters the kitchen, Alhaitham’s gaze falters from the coffee and instead onto him.
He’s pleased to receive the confirmation that his intuition was correct. Alhaitham stood in the kitchen, wearing a pair of grey sweats and sporting a long-sleeve black turtleneck that consequently highlighted his broad, masculine form. The sight reddens Kaveh’s cheeks. Nevertheless, he was, just as Kaveh thought, indeed brewing a pot of coffee.
“You’re up quite early.” He states the obvious.
“So are you, which is…strange.” Kaveh replies.
“Couldn't sleep. You?”
“I fell asleep again and I feel disgustingly drained. You know how it is.” He sighs.
Alhaitham hums. “Yet another delayed blueprint, hm? It appears our Light of Kshahrewar is lacking once again.” ‘I wish you would take better care of yourself.’ Goes unsaid.
“Oh, shut it!” He fumes, his cheeks slightly red from the title. “Your constant reminders are not needed in the slightest. I’ll get my clients planning finished soon. It’d be great if they didn’t keep making such outrageous changes and ‘suggestions’ that don’t even hold water!” He places his right hand atop his forehead in irritation.
“Perhaps you should be more bold in defending your work.” Alhaitham suggests with a mere smirk.
Kaveh groans. “Ugh, what would you know, Alhaitham?”
He shrugs.
“Insufferable…” Kaveh mutters.
Eventually, the pot of coffee finishes brewing and Alhaitham proceeds to grab a cup from the cabinet and pours himself a full one.
Kaveh looks at him with a frown.
“What?” Alhaitham asks with a raised eyebrow. “You never asked for a cup.”
Kaveh groans again. “Archons, you’re terrible with social cues.”
Alhaitham simply responds with another casual shrug and walks over to the living room, grabbing his book from the kitchen counter and taking a seat on the left side of the divan. He opens his book and begins to read.
Kaveh narrows his eyes at the sight, sighing at the fact of having to get his own cup of coffee, but eventually caving in to do so. Kaveh grabs a cup, pours a sum of coffee, then saunters over to the divan, sitting opposite to Alhaitham on the right.
A few minutes pass by and Alhaitham continues to read while taking a sip of his coffee from time to time. Kaveh drinks his too.
“Hey, Alhaitham,”
Alhaitham lowers his book, shifting his gaze towards his roommate. He looks at him with a puzzled expression. “Yes?” He asks.
Kaveh’s not sure what the stoic scribe will respond with in regards to his question, but he believes that it’s a reasonable ask.
“When I asked you earlier why you were up so early, you said that you couldn't sleep.” He explains as Alhaitham’s eyes pierce his conflicted gaze. “Why is that? Usually you’re extremely straightforward with your sleep schedule.”
“Yes, unlike you. And am I obligated to tell you?” He questions, to which Kaveh scoffs.
“You..!” Kaveh lets out a small sigh and attempts to calm himself. “..Yes. I'd like to know your ‘stoic reasoning’.”
“Fine.” Alhaitham places his book on the coffee table and readjusts his position on the divan to look at Kaveh. “Do you remember what you told me last night after I picked you up drunk from Lambads?”
“...What?”
“I carried you on my back. You're quite heavy.”
“Thanks.” Kaveh says sarcastically with an eyeroll.
“But, as I was carrying you, you muttered something in my ear. And the fact that you don't remember anything of it makes me slightly doubt the meaning of those words.” Alhaitham sighs.
“I mean,” He fiddles with the handle of his coffee cup. “It was probably just another sequence of my drunk ramblings, right?” Kaveh laughs.
“...Right?”
Alhaitham purses his lips together. “Kaveh,” Kaveh noticed that the tips of his ears bore a tinge of red. “You said you loved me. Romantically.” Kaveh's eyes widen.
Hotness creeps its way to Kaveh's cheeks, his body beginning to be enveloped in an internal panic, and he sets his coffee cup down on the table in fear of smashing the glass within his tense grip.
“That…I couldn't have said that! I-”
“Did you mean it?” Alhaitham quickly asks.
Kaveh looks at him, flustered. His eyes are constricted and watery and his cheeks fashion a great elevation of heat.
“I-” He stutters.
“Kaveh,” He begs.
“Kaveh, did. you. mean. it? If so-” He says word for word slowly only to get interrupted; the architects denying demeanor shattering.
“I-I don’t know!” He yells. Alhaitham’s eyes remain on him, studying the effects of Kaveh’s overwhelmed state and great unsureness.
The corners of Kaveh’s eyes begin to moisten and he brings his hands up to them. “I don’t know, Alhaitham…I don’t even know how to begin to explain something like that. Least of all to you! It’s-It’s difficult to an endless degree. I think I love you, but I always discard that idea once the reality that you don’t even love me back sets in once again. I really, really don’t know. And the fact that I admitted it while drunk is even worse! With your relentless teasing, arrogant attitude, and your secluded lifestyle, how could you even possibly ‘like’, least of all ‘love’ someone like me!?” He cries.
Alhaitham’s mouth goes slightly agape and he watches Kaveh try and quickly wipe the downpour of already streaming tears away.
“I love you.”
Kaveh turns to him, startled by the sudden admission. “No, you don’t! You don’t have to pity me, Alhaitham. Leave me alone, please..” He continues to cry out, but Alhaitham narrows his eyes, slightly irritated.
“I love you, Kaveh." he admits. "For years I have loved you, yearned for you. Ever since the Akademiya when I first laid eyes on you as you introduced yourself to me. We were much younger back then, but from that day onward I knew that you were the only person I could be capable of loving so ardently. The amount of kindness and love you showed to me and others that you refused to show to your own being. It hurts me. Your undying pride and devotion to your work; to the people of Sumeru."
A smile begins to grace his face as he continues.
"My teasing comes from a place of desire to witness your emotions, to have you argue back to me, to engage with me in such a mind stimulating way as you are the only person that can manage such a thing with me. I do not mean any harm in such. As for my lifestyle and attitude, I know that you’re aware that it’s to fulfill my grandmother's wish: ‘May my child Alhaitham lead a peaceful life.’ A peaceful life involves you, Kaveh. My ‘ideal’ peaceful life is you, Kaveh. So, please, listen to me when I say that I love you, Kaveh and I don’t think I can ever stop.”
It seemed almost as if Alhaitham was on his hands and knees, begging for Kaveh to accept someone’s love for once. Except, this love was his own, and he wanted Kaveh to realize that.
He wanted Kaveh to feel and digest his ever growing love. A type of love that controlled his being every day, every hour, every minute and second; a type of love that tortured and haunted his soul from dawn to dusk.
“You..you don’t mean that.”
Alhaitham grasps one of Kaveh’s trembling hands and brings it up to his lips, pressing a soft and tender kiss to his scratchy and red knuckles. “I do.”
“If you don’t believe my words, then please, allow me to make you believe my feelings through my actions.” He brings himself closer until his lips are mere inches away from his roommates.
Kaveh's eyes soften at the closeness, and that was Alhaitham’s cue to commence the final act of his long-awaited confession.
He surges slightly forward and presses his lips against Kaveh’s, kissing him fervently. His lips lock with Kaveh’s in a wordless confession. He savours the softness of his roommate's lips, taking him deeper. Perhaps he savours the feeling a bit too much as they soon end up lying on the divan: Alhaitham on top of Kaveh, a hand running through blond locks and the other circling his waist while the latter grips his ash grey hair in desperation.
Kaveh soon breaks the kiss for some much needed air. “You…”
“Do you believe me now?” He asks smugly, looking down at Kaveh.
Kaveh smiles gently and nods, a few tears forming once again at the outer corners of his carmine eyes. “I’ve wanted this for so long.”
Alhaitham scoffs. “Oh? Really, Kaveh. Do you know how long I waited?”
Kaveh laughs. “You can be seen as desperate then, I presume?”
“Only for you.” He hums.
“But, thank you for telling me, Alhaitham. And reassuring me…I know, I’m a bit much. Quite rotten work.”
“It’s not rotten work, not if it’s you.” Alhaitham then continues. “I’m glad my feelings are reciprocated though. Confirmation is nice.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, it actually is.”
Kaveh pulls Alhaitham into a warm embrace. An embrace that didn’t lack the security of ardent love; one that was a decade overdue.
He wraps his arms around Alhaitham’s neck tightly while Alhaitham grips his waist, contently holding him close.
“Maybe you do have a romantic bone in your body after all, Alhaitham.” Kaveh sneers.
“I only express the honest truth.” He replies.
He chuckles. “Whatever you say..”
Their lips soon find one anothers yet again.
A decade late, but not a second too soon.