Chapter Text
It seemed to be a completely normal night in Sumeru. The heat was scorching as always, but despite that Kaveh was in a good mood. He had just completed a commission from a client with little to no problems, which was all the more reason to celebrate. It was as if nothing could break his high. That was until he looked down at the hand that was carrying Mehrak and saw something similar to a little beetle. Whatever it was, it was a bug, and Kaveh could feel its little legs touching his skin. Usually he would’ve screamed but since he was just leaving the tavern after celebrating, he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of all the people swarming the place.
Kaveh took a deep breath and just brushed the thing off, but not before feeling a pinch on the center of his hand. “Oh come on…” Kaveh groaned, looking down at the red dot forming on his hand. Well, in any case, a small bug bite wasn’t going to ruin his whole evening so he closed his eyes and hummed on the way home. It was fairly late, so anywhere that wasn’t Lambad’s was practically barren. That was one of Kaveh’s favorite times to walk home, when he could hear the soft swaying of the trees and the hum of the street lights. Kaveh rummaged around in his pocket for his keys, making a small triumphant hmph as he realized he hadn’t lost them again. He swung the door open and waltzed in, flopping down onto one of the divans, laying Mehrak beside him.
“Good day?” He heard a voice. Huh. Kaveh could’ve sworn that Alhaitham said he would’ve been working late that day, but no matter. No matter how annoying his roommate would choose to be that night, Kaveh was not going to let it ruin his good mood. No sir. Work was going great and he was a bit tipsy, probably the best things could be going. “Mm… Yeah, I finally had a non-irritating client. Shocking, I know, right?” Kaveh said, opening one of his eyes and giving Alhaitham a light smile.
He felt his heart give a weird thud and both of his eyes widened instantly. Oh come on, he was much too young to already be getting a heart attack right!? Kaveh also just so happened to be subconsciously scratching the bug but that was currently swelling up on his hand.
Alhaitham had been reading a book as per usual when he acknowledged Kaveh’s weird expression. He shut it and placed it down onto the table, taking off his reading glasses, “Something the matter?”
“Ah uh no. Everything’s good.” Kaveh shuddered. What was that? Maybe he was more inebriated than he originally thought. Yeah, that was it. He shook his head as if to shake the incident off entirely, his face going back to a more relaxed state. “Anyway, I thought you were going to be staying long at work tonight?”
A suspicious expression remained on Alhaitham’s face before he took the shake of Kaveh’s head as a signal to not question it,” … Well, I remembered that since I’m Acting Grand Sage as of right now, I’m the boss, so I left.”
Kaveh just stared at him slightly dumbfounded. He knew his roommate was lazy, but not that lazy! Neglecting your duties just to go home and read? Well, sure, Alhaitham never explicitly asked to become the Grand Sage after Althezar got booted, but Kaveh could never imagine in his wildest dreams just leaving a job of that importance! He opened his mouth to say something rude to that, because how dare he? Alhaitham might deem Kaveh a workaholic, but at least he isn’t a lazy slob.
“Oh, well, that’s good. I’m glad you’re getting enough rest.”
Wait, what? Kaveh didn’t mean to say that. He was trying to point out Alhaitham’s lack of a sense of duty! But for some reason he couldn’t find that in him. Maybe it was the tiredness. Well, the tiredness, the drunkenness, all the possible excuses were the same. Alhaitham just gave a small nod at the words. That seemed like a good way to end the conversation, with some weird sweet shit coming out of Kaveh’s mouth. He got up from the sofa with a yawn, grabbing Mehrak and going into his room.
Kaveh flopped down onto the bed, feeling unnecessarily tired. He felt around for his pillow, but when it was nowhere to be found his eyes jolted open. He felt dazed, looking around not his own room, but Alhaitham’s. Oh god, just what was going on? He got up and darted over to his actual room, hoping to spare himself of the teasing that Alhaitham would’ve surely done if he noticed Kaveh’s presence in his room.
Making sure that he was actually in his own room, Kaveh changed into his nightwear before settling in for the night, not bothering to do anything else. He figured he could shower in the morning no problem. Except, the thing was, Kaveh couldn’t fall asleep despite his tiredness. There was this pounding ache in the back of his head, and especially on his hand.
When he woke up in the morning looking like a zombie, Kaveh groaned and rubbed his eyes, then having to bite back a scream when he saw the throbbing red bump on his hand. With a sharp gasp, Kaveh darted out of his room into the restroom, running it under some water. It didn’t necessarily hurt at all, but a bug bite of that size would definitely be considered concerning. A sigh of relief escaped him when he noticed the bump starting to subside a bit, wiping the slight bit of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead with the other hand.
As Kaveh left the restroom, he noticed Alhaitham up and in the kitchen already. It would be wisest for Kaveh to go start getting dressed to go to a meeting with his newest client, but something drew him into the kitchen instead. Must’ve just been that he was hungry. Kaveh made his way over to Alhaitham and let out a soft grunt as a greeting. Next thing he knew, his arms were around Alhaitham’s waist and his chin was on his shoulder, a hug from being. Alhaitham froze in his movements of making coffee for a moment, but his breathing and heartbeat remained the same. “… Well, a good morning to you too.” There was a slight hint of something in his voice, but whether it was irritation, surprise, or a mix of both, Kaveh didn’t know.
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Kaveh’s mind screamed at him. There was no excuse for this. Well, at least Alhaitham didn’t seem too unhappy about it. He just went right back to making his coffee after a second. At that, Kaveh decided to just embrace the feeling of hugging another person. even though he really should’ve been getting dressed at that point.
Without another word, Alhaitham promptly shoved Kaveh off so he could go sit down and drink his coffee. Kaveh just shook his head and went back to doing what he initially intended to, not even wanting to think about what was happening. His heart was thudding around Alhaitham, it was very apparent. He hadn’t had any romantic feelings for Alhaitham ever since their big argument, so why would this happen now?
That was something Kaveh thought about the entire time he was changing, but only figured it out when he noticed himself subconsciously rubbing the little red bump on his hand again. This only started happening when that appeared. He let out a small huff, taking some time to let the realization sink in before groaning. Of course it had to be from the bite, that was when it started.
Instead of meeting up with the client like he originally intended to, Kaveh decided to make his way to Grandhara Ville to talk to Tighnari. Hopefully his friend would know exactly what was going on, what that but was, and why his feelings for Alhaitham were resurfacing.