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Chapter Text

Kaveh thinks he might die of heatstroke. That is, if he doesn't get trampled by overzealous freshmen first.

"Come join the Investment Banking Club!" someone shouts way too close to his ear. "Get a head start on your career in finance!"

"Love cheese? Join the Cheese Collective! We try new cheeses every Tuesday!"

A flyer is shoved directly into Kaveh's face. "Akademiya Hentai Society! A safe space for all—"

Kaveh grabs the flyer, but only to use it to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

When he pictured his in-person college experience, he hadn't expected the club fair, of all things, to be a complete bloodbath. Then again, thousands of people crammed into one grassy lawn on a hot summer's day does sound like a recipe for disaster, so perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Although, begrudgingly, he's a little intrigued by the sound of the Cheese Collective. Maybe he should sign up for their mailing list.

"You there!" a man shouts directly at him. "Want to become a MILF?"

Kaveh blinks, then looks at the table next him, emblazoned with bright letters spelling out MEN IN LIFTING AND FITNESS. Wrong target audience. He doesn't even bother to respond.

Out of the hundreds of student organizations at the Sumeru Akademiya, there is only one that Kaveh is really looking for. However, at this rate, he's concerned that he'll faint in the grass before he finds the elusive table. If only he didn't lose his brand new water bottle on move-in day. Right after he decorated it with cute stickers, too.

Someone bumps into Kaveh from behind, for the possibly the fiftieth time that hour. This time, Kaveh whips his head around and is about to open his mouth and say something uncharacteristically snappy, because the sun is killing every kind cell in his body. However, just past the person's shoulder, he finally sees the words he's been looking for, like water in a desert: HONKAI STAR LEAGUE ESPORTS TEAM.

Actually, upon getting closer, the sign appears to say HONKAI TAR LEAGUE E PORT TEAM. For some reason, all of the Ss have fallen off.

Lesser men would be deterred, but not Kaveh, who has been set on this decision for months. He walks up to the two girls standing behind the table. "Hi! I'm interested in joining the team."

"Amazing!" one of them says warmly. She has two-toned eyes, one blue and one gold. "What's your name?"

"Kaveh."

"Wait," says the other girl, who looks like she could easily bench the entire MEN IN LIFTING AND FITNESS roster. "Kaveh, like, Kaveh from Empyrean Gaming?"

Kaveh winces, bracing for the inevitable reaction. "Um..."

But she just beams and claps him on the shoulder. Hard. It makes him wince even harder. Maybe he should start lifting after all. "That's so sick! I'm Dehya, one of the captains. We've never had a pro player in our ranks before."

"I'm Candace, another captain," says the other girl. "We're so excited to have you join us! Tryouts are taking place over the next week. Can you write down your email and phone number to sign up for a slot?"

"Tryouts?" Kaveh echoes. He takes the pen from her hand.

"Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, we can only have a limited number of people on our roster," Dehya says. "But I wouldn't worry. You went professional! We usually accept people who have no esports experience every year, so there's no reason for you to stress."

He knows it's meant as a compliment, so he tries to take it as such, smiling back. "Thank you."

As he writes down his contact information, he hears Candace say to someone else, "Are you also interested in joining?"

"Yes," comes an unfamiliar voice. "How do the tryouts work?"

Kaveh steals a look at the guy next to him, who he's 95% sure is the same person that bumped into him just now. Unlike the other frazzled students running chaotically around the club fair, he has the calm, almost bored confidence of an upperclassman, looking at Dehya and Candace with an expression that betrays little emotion.

"Great question! They're typical PvP matches, 5 on 5," Candace says. "Our current team members observe your individual skills and teamwork abilities, then conduct a short interview with you after the game. If you make the cut, you're stacked onto one of our competitive teams."

"Okay." Without even turning to acknowledge Kaveh, he holds out his hand for the pen. Kaveh stares at it for a moment, then passes it to him, a little surprised.

"Thank you for your interest!" Dehya says. "What's your name?"

"Al-Haitham."

"Well, Kaveh and Al-Haitham, we'll see you both soon," says Candace. "Be sure to follow us on social media and reach out if you have any questions! We'll be in touch with details on tryouts."

She gives them a wave. Kaveh waves back, excited to finally escape the club fair and head back to his dorm room to lie motionless beneath the ceiling fan.

Partway into his walk back, he notices Al-Haitham following him toward the same general direction. "Nice to meet a fellow Star League player," he greets.

Al-Haitham doesn't respond, at first. He looks Kaveh up and down for what feels like an awkwardly long amount of time, then says, "Akademiya Hentai Society?"

Kaveh stops in his tracks. "What?"

Al-Haitham gestures towards Kaveh's hand, which is when Kaveh realizes way too late that he's still holding the very conspicuous flyer. He didn't look closely earlier, but now he sees that the art on it is... extremely graphic.

"You're turning red," Al-Haitham says.

"Archons," Kaveh says. "This isn't even mine. I'm not joining the Akademiya Hentai Society!"

"I'm not judging," Al-Haitham says. "However, if you're so embarrassed about your interests, you shouldn't parade that flyer around."

Kaveh drops the flyer immediately. "Like I said, it's not mine!"

"You shouldn't litter, either."

He's right. Unfortunately. Kaveh snatches up the flyer from the floor and crumples it in his fist, eyes scanning the periphery for a bright blue recycling bin to save him. "Okay, okay, sorry. Ugh. Can we forget that happened? I'm Kaveh."

"I know," Al-Haitham says. "They said your name back there."

Kaveh blinks. "Well, then. I'm going back to my dorm. It was nice to meet you, Al-Haitham." The pleasantry is a force of habit, but as he speedwalks away, he decides he would not describe this interaction as nice. In fact, although he knows it's irrational to make snap judgments based on first impressions, he would prefer not to run into this man again.

Of course, because the universe has never once given Kaveh what he wants, Kaveh walks into the esports team's practice room—a dusty classroom in the computer science building with very little natural lighting—and instantly sees a familiar face.

The only available seat left in front of the computers is also next to said familiar face, so Kaveh sits down between Al-Haitham and another student. He pointedly does not look in Al-Haitham's direction, and as he expected, Al-Haitham doesn't say anything to acknowledge him. Good. Maybe, if he's lucky, Al-Haitham forgot about their encounter already.

Dehya and Candace walk into the room, shutting the door behind them. "Welcome to tryouts!" Dehya says. "The purpose of these tryouts is to evaluate your skills both as an individual and in a collaborative setting. As a student-run team, we have a very limited budget, so we only have three competitive teams on our roster each year. If you pass our tryouts, you will be assigned to one of our teams, and if not, we would love for you to try again next year!"

"You will play one full round of a regular Star League match," Candace says. "Afterwards, Dehya and I will conduct brief interviews with each of you, so please wait here until you are called. You may leave after your interview."

They cover a few more logistics, letting them know that they can expect to hear back by the weekend via email. Kaveh is getting antsy, his fingers itching to just start playing the game. He doesn't really enjoy playing with people who don't know what they're doing, but hopefully the skill level of this room isn't too low.

When he logs in, he thinks about going for one of his usual picks—Seele or Boothill? Maybe Acheron, since he has no idea who the other team's players will choose—when Al-Haitham says to his right, "Who do you think I should play?"

"What?" Kaveh says, turning to him. "What do you mean? Just pick whoever you usually play."

"I've never played before."

"What the fuck." Kaveh cannot deal with this right now. He turns back to the character selection screen, except somehow in that short amount of time, the other three random people in their tryout team have already picked their characters. Only the two bottom lane slots are still left: the ADC and the support.

Kaveh's hand hovers over his usual ADC picks, but then he looks at Al-Haitham, who is observing the character selection screen intently and has clearly never seen any of these faces in his life.

He makes a split-second decision.

"Pick Seele," he says. "She's an Attack Damage Carry. I'll play support as Bronya. But listen to me during the game if you want to stay alive, okay?"

Al-Haitham makes some vague noise of assent, then clicks on Seele. And Kaveh, who has favored the ADC role since he was a prepubescent kid and played professionally as a designated ADC for the past two years, assigns himself one of Star League's oldest supports. What is he doing? Every cell in his body is screaming at him for being an idiot, but then the game starts, and he can't take it back.

Despite that little change in plans, the familiar sound effects of being transported into the arena still cause him to buzz with the adrenaline of starting a new game. He may have mixed feelings about this game now, and the situation he finds himself in has higher stakes than his casual games, but ultimately, Star League is Kaveh's domain. The countless hours he has poured into mastering its mechanics mean that playing is second nature to him—and given his ineptitude at taking care of himself, perhaps it truly is easier than eating or sleeping, or at least eating three meals a day or maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.

Instincts kicking in, he shifts forward in his seat as the little figure of Bronya runs forward onscreen, then glances over to his right, only to see Al-Haitham's screen spinning in dizzying chaos as Al-Haitham attempts to move his mouse.

Kaveh's head starts hurting.

"Okay, follow me," he says. "We're going to the bottom lane. No, don't go forward. Go right. Archons."

Al-Haitham's avatar obediently follows his on the map. "What do these buttons do?"

"That's your basic attack," Kaveh says, despairing and wondering how he ended up on babysitting duty. "Those are your skill and ultimate. You need points to use the skill, so maybe just stick to— No, don't press that yet, that's your technique—"

"Can you guys shut the fuck up?" says the stranger on Kaveh's left. "I'm trying to lead our team to victory here."

From another person on their team: "Yeah, quit yapping! If you don't know how to play, what are you even doing here?"

Kaveh rolls his eyes. "I am literally trying to make sure we don't get dragged down by this guy," he shoots back at them. Then, to Al-Haitham, "Ignore them."

"I was going to."

"Perfect— Oh no, here comes our opponent! Spam basic attacks!"

The other team's top laner is playing Hook. Which is certainly... a choice. Nothing like getting exploded by a deceivingly adorable little girl. But Al-Haitham does a surprisingly decent job of basic attacking with decent timing, while also dodging most of the very obvious hits coming his way. At least, until he gets absolutely destroyed by a massive ball of fire and a very loud "BOOM!"

From the other side of the classroom, their opponent cackles maniacally. It sends shivers down Kaveh's spine.

"Oh," Al-Haitham says. "I died."

"Yes." Kaveh sighs. "Just... Come back here after you respawn."

But despite that rocky start, Al-Haitham seems to get the tiniest bit better at dodging later on, and even manages to land a few key blows to Hook, all while their opponent swears at them loudly in language certainly not appropriate for Hook's ears. Kaveh thinks back to every time he's played Seele and tries to support Al-Haitham where he can, with the appropriate defense mechanisms and perfectly-timed boosts.

The game progresses as Star League games typically do, eventually devolving into 3v3s and 4v4s and even 5v5s as the map unfolds into chaos. Kaveh manages to avoid death, though Al-Haitham gets sent back to spawn at least three more times, which is honestly not terrible for a first game. And then he walks straight into enemy territory without Kaveh and gets sniped within seconds.

"Why did you walk right into them?" Kaveh yells. "There were three of them right there!"

"I didn't see them."

"Look around the map!"

"How do I do that...?"

Somehow, playing with these uncooperative strangers and trying to keep this idiot alive becomes just as stressful as Kaveh's professional days.

Ultimately, they end up losing, while their three other teammates keep bickering about whose fault their defeat was, seemingly not realizing that their total inability to work as a cohesive unit on the rest of the map was what gave their opponents so many openings, even though the opponents were also not spectacular. In fact, one of their teammates even whirls around and points to Kaveh. "You were the deadweight, actually," she says. "What did you even do? Literally nothing."

Kaveh is filled with immense sympathy for anyone who consistently plays supports. "I literally boosted your damage by 300% during that last battle. You were the one who couldn't land hits on anyone."

"This is true," Al-Haitham says from behind Kaveh, surprising him. "You aimed all but three of your ultimates into the bushes."

"Excuse me?" she shrieks. "I will not tolerate this slander from someone who doesn't even—"

"Everyone, please," Candace says. Kaveh realizes he's been acting too much like what some might call a "toxic gamer" and shuts his mouth. "Be kind to each other—you might be future teammates, after all. We'll be conducting the interviews now, beginning with Al-Haitham."

Kaveh really hopes these people won't be his future teammates. They were all terrible. Surely the Sumeru Akademiya talent pool is more competitive than this. His teammates may not have appreciated his supportive capabilities, but he knows he made some good strategic decisions and was crucial to his team's damage output, so he trusts that Dehya and Candace will see that, even if he was playing a role he was not confident in.

He gets called up after Al-Haitham and takes a seat in the side room, which doesn't have any windows and feels slightly like an interrogation room. Or a storage closet that was cleared out last-minute. "Thanks for your time today, Kaveh," Candace says. "We're really excited that you chose to try out for our team."

"Why have you chosen to compete at the collegiate level?" Dehya asks.

Kaveh knows the underlying questions she's asking, which he's sure that anyone who knows about his professional career would have. Why did someone who had played professionally for two years drop out of that life? Why did he go back to school and choose to transfer to a large university, instead of continuing with his online degree? Why is he now trying out for the Akademiya's esports team, after making it to championships at the national and global level?

"Pro play was stressful," he says, perhaps the understatement of the century. "I just didn't feel supported by my teammates at all towards the end. I didn't think they would miss me if I quit. So I did. But I wanted to move forward with my life, so I chose to transfer here, because I missed out on all those experiences that regular college students get to have, and I wanted something like that for myself."

Dehya nods. "And you wanted to keep playing Star League?"

"Yeah," Kaveh admits. "I mean, I've dedicated way too many years of my life to this game. But once upon a time, it brought me more joy than pain. And I think some part of me hopes that... I'll be able to find that again."

It's ridiculously cheesy, and probably a little too vulnerable for this college club interview in an empty storage closet, but Candace smiles.

"Thanks for sharing, Kaveh," she says. "We'll be in touch."

Kaveh makes the team.

It's not really a surprising outcome, though he's still happy about it. What is surprising is the people in the practice room when he enters—two guys he's never seen before, the Hook player from the tryouts, and Al-Haitham.

And Dehya, who says, "Ah, there you are, Kaveh! Right on time."

Kaveh is actually two minutes late, but the clock in the practice room appears to be running behind, so he's not going to correct her. "Hi," he says, trying to smile, even as he makes direct eye contact with Al-Haitham.

What is he doing here? The whole reason he didn't make a complete fool of himself at tryouts was because he had Kaveh's help.

Does this mean they have to be teammates? For the rest of the year? Archons give him the strength to endure that.

"Welcome to your first team meeting, everyone," Dehya says. "We're so excited to welcome you to SumAk C!"

"I'm sorry," says one of the other members, who's rocking a sharp bob cut in a way Kaveh didn't know was possible in the 21st century. "Did you say 'smexy?'"

"SumAk C," Kaveh says, more slowly. "Sumeru Akademiya's C team."

"Exactly!" Dehya says. "SumAk has an A, B, and C team. Our C team is typically for newest members, fresh from auditions. However, we're entirely student-run, so you'll be getting to know everyone quite well, even our A team and B team members!"

Kaveh's been placed on their C team. The lowest ranked team. That stings a little. A lot, actually.

Is he so rusty now that he's on par with people who have never played the game? Maybe joining this team was a mistake. Maybe it's time to leave his Star League days behind for good.

"Please introduce yourselves to each other," Dehya says, oblivious to Kaveh spiraling in his seat. "You already know me, but I'm Dehya, one of the captains for SumAk A. I'm a senior majoring in anthropology, and I've been part of the team for my four years here. You've also met Candace. She's the president of the esports team, but also the captain for SumAk B."

She gestures for Sharp Bob Cut to go next. "I'm Tighnari," he says. "Sophomore, Biology major. I started playing last year because Cyno made me."

Before Kaveh can wonder who Cyno is, the guy next to Tighnari introduces himself. "I'm Cyno, also a sophomore, studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics." He has a very nice voice. "I started playing after the Genius Invokation and Star League collab, and I main Jing Yuan."

The Hook player from tryouts is wearing a large, wide-brimmed hat today. "Scara. Super-senior." He doesn't say anything else.

Al-Haitham uncrosses his arms. "Al-Haitham, freshman, major undecided."

And then it's Kaveh's turn. "Uh, I'm Kaveh." He glances around, seeing if anyone will react to his name the way Dehya did at club fair, but nobody does. Maybe that's for the best? "I'm a junior, but I just transferred this semester. And I'm studying architecture."

Dehya nods. "We've assigned you all to this team based not just on how you performed at tryouts, but also team synergy and roles." She looked down at the notepad in her hands. "We'll have Scara in the top lane as the tank, and Tighnari in the middle lane as the mage. Cyno will be the jungler, leaving Kaveh and Al-Haitham in the bottom lane... With Al-Haitham as the ADC, and Kaveh as the support."

Support? What?

"Also, Kaveh will be your team captain."

Captain?

"Captain?" Tighnari echoes. He glances sideways at Kaveh. "Aren't you also new to the team?"

"Actually, Kaveh has played competitively for years and was on a professional Star League team for the last two years," Dehya says. She smiles at Kaveh, and it would be encouraging if Kaveh wasn't still so thrown by her words.

Did he sign up for this? To be a team captain, and play a support? Archons.

But instead of voicing any of that, he smiles. "Um, woohoo! Go team!"

Nobody responds. It's kind of embarrassing.

Dehya is clearly trying hard not to hide a wince. "Okay. I'll give you guys the rest of the time to get to know each other, but then feel free to leave. This will be your weekly practice time for the rest of the semester, though during our season, we'll have more frequent team practices too. Any last questions?"

Once Dehya is gone, Kaveh realizes it falls to him to keep the conversation going. The team captain. Kaveh has never captained anything in his life. Is it too late to quit?

"It's nice to meet you all," he says weakly. "Um, who do you like to play?"

Cyno clears his throat. "Jing Yuan."

Kaveh nods. "Right, you said you're a Jing Yuan main?"

"He genuinely never plays anyone else," Tighnari says, sounding slightly pained. "Only Jing Yuan."

"Oh," Kaveh says. "Why?"

Cyno's eyes light up. "Because he's the coolest. His majestic voice, his noble character, his powerful skills. I got all of his eidolons and light cones. He's the best character in the game."

Privately, Kaveh thinks to himself that Jing Yuan hasn't been meta for one and a half years, but there are weirder characters to be obsessed with. "Alright. Wait. Aren't you a jungler?"

"Yeah."

"People play Jing Yuan in the jungle?"

"I do."

"...Okay."

Scara shrugs. "I don't really care. I like the ones that make people rage when they lose."

That explains the choice of Hook. How did this guy make the team? From first impressions, it doesn't seem like he has a single bone of sportsmanship in his body.

"I like playing Imbibitor Lunae," Tighnari says. "Sometimes Himeko and Argenti. I'm still learning some other characters." Finally, a normal person. Those are all very normal mid lane picks.

"I never played until tryouts," Al-Haitham says. "I played... Seal?"

"Zee-luh," Kaveh corrects.

"Wow, and you made the team?" Cyno says, sounding impressed. "Congratulations." He holds out his hand for a fist bump, but Al-Haitham doesn't seem to see it. Slowly, Cyno lets his hand fall.

A headache is forming behind Kaveh's temples. "Thanks for sharing. I guess I'm playing support now. Honestly, I haven't played a lot of that recently, but I know how most of them work, so I guess I'm pretty flexible and will keep trying out new ones. I imagine our practices will mostly consist of practice games, but eventually we can move into drills for skill-building, and maybe some Simulated Universe alongside PvP matches."

"What's Simulated Universe?" Al-Haitham asks. "Is it a domain?"

"Yeah," Cyno says, "it's where you have fun."

Tighnari raises a hand, which Kaveh finds hilarious. "So we'll basically just be gaming the whole time?"

"Yes." Kaveh frowns. "We are an esports team...?"

"Makes sense," Tighnari says. "Well, I'm off to touch some grass. See you all next week."

"He's working on a biology experiment," Cyno says.

"Cyno, it's bad enough when you explain your own jokes. You don't need to explain mine too."

Scara and Al-Haitham soon take their leave as well. Now that he's alone, Kaveh looks around the practice room, trying to envision the next year of weekly practices here.

"Kaveh?" Dehya re-enters the room. "Hey, I wanted to check in and see how you felt about everything."

How does he feel? Oh, boy. "I'm a little surprised," he admits, which is a gross understatement. He really wants to ask, Why wasn't I told about any of this beforehand?

"I understand," Dehya says. "Don't worry; we know you'll be a great captain. We were very impressed by how quickly you helped Al-Haitham improve at the game during tryouts and how well you supported your team, as well as Al-Haitham's natural talent at the game. Cyno and Tighnari were also standouts from a different round of tryouts."

"What about Scara?" Kaveh can't help but ask.

"Well, he's tried out for the team for... I don't even know how many years," Dehya says. "He seems, well, harsh, I guess you could say, but he's actually quite nice. He helped us in the past with some team errands, and with some of our technical support."

"Really."

"Yes, really."

"Alright." Kaveh will believe it when he sees it.

Dehya smiles. "With your experience, we feel like you have a lot to teach SumAk C. As we've mentioned, we're entirely student-run, so we really rely on our captains to be coaches for their teams too. Candace and I will meet with you regularly to check in with you, captain to captain, in case you need help with anything. We want to support you, Kaveh. But we also believe in you!"

Kaveh tries to smile back, and he hopes it's convincing. "Thank you. I won't let you all down. What is the competition schedule like?"

"We attend an invitational in the fall semester, typically in November. The spring semester is when we actually participate in the competition circuit, starting with regionals." She shrugs. "But don't worry about that! We don't really put pressure on SumAk C to do well, especially for the fall. Since you're our newest team, we just want you to all to learn, and to do your best! The most important thing is getting to know each other better and building a sense of teamwork."

Kaveh nods along. It all sounds great. There's just one problem: Kaveh wants to do well.

In the second week of classes, Kaveh encounters his worst enemy in the dorm study room.

"Stupid fucking printer," he seethes. After unsuccessful attempts to reset it, he's resorted to smacking the top of it as if that will make it miraculously cough up his essay. "Useless piece of junk. Why do you hate me? Why do you pray on my downfall?"

"Maybe you should be nicer to it," he hears, and he looks up to see perhaps his second-worst enemy on this campus (after the printer, of course). Al-Haitham is leaning against the doorframe, unreadable as always.

"Ha, ha," Kaveh says. "Hilarious."

"I thought so too."

Kaveh groans. "You live here too?"

"Yes. Can I use the printer?"

"You can try. It's not being very cooperative."

Al-Haitham walks up and taps a few buttons with a look of intense focus on his face. Just when Kaveh is about to make fun of him, the printer sputters back to life. Kaveh stares at him. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't call it a useless piece of junk, for one," Al-Haitham says. "Here's your essay." He hands Kaveh the printed pages.

"Um, thanks," Kaveh says. He looks closer at them to make sure the printer didn't mess up the text.

"Why did you tell me to play the ADC?"

Kaveh pulls his gaze away from his essay to stare at Al-Haitham. "What?"

"During tryouts. I googled you after our team meeting last week," Al-Haitham says, like this is perfectly normal behavior. "You're known for playing ADC characters, but you made me play the ADC instead."

"A man can't want to change?"

"Right before trying out for a competitive team?"

Kaveh sighs. It's a fair question, just one he doesn't want to explain his answer to, especially not to Al-Haitham. "Well, you said you'd never played before. I didn't want to play as ADC if I would have a shitty support, and I knew you would be a shitty support. So it made more sense for me to play as the support. Guess I'm stuck as that now."

"Hmm."

Kaveh wants to question what that reaction means, but then he catches a glimpse of the time on his phone screen. "Fuck, I have to go. I'm gonna be late to hand this in." He quickly throws the essay into his backpack, then looks at Al-Haitham unhurriedly printing more things. "Don't you have class too?"

"No, I'm printing this for my class tomorrow." Al-Haitham shrugs. "You should leave more time in the future if you anticipate technological challenges."

"Okay, fuck you too," Kaveh says. And then, to be polite, "See you at practice tomorrow."

"Don't be late again."

"I am literally your captain," Kaveh says, with some disbelief.

Al-Haitham smiles—the first ever crack in his permanent mask of indifference. It's a crazy sight, and Kaveh abhors it. "See ya."

What an asshole. Kaveh is going to find a different printer on campus to use in the future—too bad he can't find a different teammate.

At least his other teammates are quite lovely. Well, most of them. Some of them. In their own way.

Tighnari is probably the most normal of all of them, including Kaveh himself, though he wouldn't admit that out loud. Thank the Archons for Tighnari, honestly. He looks like the type to take things a little too seriously, but he puts up with Cyno's terrible humor, so he's clearly got some tolerance for clownery. Kaveh also appreciates that he doesn't hesitate to call out anyone on their bullshit during their practice games, pointing out idiotic moves so that Kaveh doesn't have to do it himself. He's also the only one who responds consistently in their team group chat, even though Kaveh's sure most of these people are chronically online.

Cyno... well, there's the terrible sense of humor. Usually, when he doesn't get a reaction, he proceeds to explain the joke himself. Judging by Tighnari's facial expressions, this is a common occurrence. Kaveh is debating whether it might be better to start faking laughter so that they can move on from his jokes more quickly—that might be a worthy team strategy. But he's quite earnest and tries very hard, even if he stubbornly insists on playing Jing Yuan for every game.

("What if our opponent picks Jing Yuan first?" Kaveh once tried to say. "Who will you play then? You should learn how to play someone else, just in case."

"Who is picking Jing Yuan first in this meta?" Cyno said, and well, he had a point there.)

Then there's Scara, who is terribly loud and vulgar when they're gaming. Kaveh can always tell how he's doing without even looking over on the map because Scara will either be laughing in vicious delight, or swearing up a storm. Outside of that, he's surprisingly quiet, a little broody at all times, and quite a mystery. Kaveh still doesn't know anything about him, other than his penchant for pissing off both his opponents and his teammates during games.

And of course, Al-Haitham. Al-Haitham, who must be aware that every sentence out of his mouth grates on Kaveh's nerves. Al-Haitham, who has infuriatingly good reflexes and reaction time but still doesn't know the first thing about combos and strategy and even where he is on the map. Al-Haitham, who would die seconds into every game if Kaveh wasn't there to save him.

So all in all, they're a very dysfunctional team. Compared to the random teams Kaveh gets sorted into when he solo queues at night, they somehow have even worse synergy. It's a nightmare.

At least some of them are having fun, if the sounds of Scara cackling as his in-game figure of Silver Wolf triumphantly stomps on the opponent are anything to go by. Personally, Kaveh is about to go bald from stress-induced hair loss.

"How much do you guys play this game on your own?" he asks, out of curiosity, during the middle of one of their practice games.

"A few times a week," Scara says. "Sometimes more if I'm— BOW BEFORE ME, WORM! YOU DARE TO THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE? PERISH—"

Kaveh makes the conscious decision to tune him out. "How about the rest of you?"

"Cyno and I used to play for hours on the weekends," Tighnari says, not taking his eyes off the screen, where he's farming a horde of minions. "But since school started, we've been a bit busy, so not a lot."

Kaveh turns to look at Al-Haitham. "I don't play this game on my own," he says.

"Of course you don't." Kaveh sighs. "Well, can I recommend that when you all do, you take notes on what characters you play, how you synergize with your teammates, and how you fare against your opponents? Right now, we don't have a cohesive strategy. We need to figure out how to combine our preferred playstyles to maximize our strengths."

He's not really sure they even understand their own preferred playstyles. Other than Cyno's preferred playstyle: playing Jing Yuan.

"Oh, and you," he tells Al-Haitham. "Please play on your own. Try some different champions. See if you enjoy any of their skills. Please."

"You should ask me nicely, senior, and I'll consider it," Al-Haitham says.

"This is me asking you nicely!" Kaveh throws his hands up in the air. "I said please twice!"

"You should get on your knees and beg him," Tighnari offers from the side.

Kaveh takes back all his mental gratitude for Tighnari. Never mind. His entire team sucks.

About a month into practices, they have a practice match against SumAk B.

Up until this point, they've mostly been practicing against random strangers, so to play against a team that theoretically knows each other and has a cohesive strategy makes Kaveh nervous. Not that any of his teammates seem to be affected. Scara is doing his usual pre-game ritual of sitting with his eyes closed and ignoring everything around him, while Tighnari and Cyno are chatting quietly. To Kaveh's right, Al-Haitham is looking at him expectantly.

"What," Kaveh says, when the staring becomes too weird to ignore any longer.

"Who should I play?"

Kaveh groans. "All this time, and you still haven't found a favorite? Literally just pick whoever."

Al-Haitham moves his mouse to hover over Moze. "Wait, not him," Kaveh says.

"Why not?"

"I don't like his voice."

Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow, but switches his pick to Dr. Ratio.

"Have you been practicing with him?" Kaveh asks, a little surprised.

"No," Al-Haitham says. "I played him once. I just enjoy dropping buildings on people."

"Oh, for Archons' sake," Kaveh groans, but then picks Aventurine for himself, sensing that he'll have to keep up the team's defenses this round. Scara has picked Topaz, because apparently even more fun than crushing opponents with cute children is crushing opponents with a cute pig, while Tighnari seems to be trying out Jade. Cyno, of course, is playing Jing Yuan. Honestly, other than Cyno, their character lineup goes together quite well. If they play this right, they could have decent synergy.

Except, of course, they don't play it right.

"STOP DYING!" Kaveh yells at Al-Haitham. "STOP GOING NEAR THEIR JINGLIU! DON'T LET HER ONE-SHOT YOU!"

"What is a one-shot?"

"EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE!" Kaveh yells, a second before Al-Haitham gets one-shot. Again.

"Sorry!" Candace calls from the other side of the room, except clearly, being apologetic doesn't actually stop her from one-shotting Al-Haitham five more times in the next ten minutes. At this point, Al-Haitham has spent more time in this match dead than alive, and his damage output is suffering because of it.

"We're screwed," Kaveh bemoans. "It's over. I'm abandoning you, Al-Haitham."

"What?"

Kaveh abandons him. By that, he means he leaves Al-Haitham to keep getting one-shot in the bottom lane, while he joins the action up top, where Candace has teamed up with Faruzan, one of her teammates currently playing Blade, and is making things rather rough for Tighnari and Cyno. However, with Kaveh and some decent RNG on their side, utilizing Aventurine's shields to the fullest, they're able to push forward a bit more.

Then Candace and Faruzan disappear from sight. "Where'd they go?" Cyno asks.

"They're ganging up on me," Al-Haitham shouts, more panicked than Kaveh has ever heard him. And sure enough, when they get over to that side of the map, the other team is pushing the bottom lane aggressively, getting closer and closer to their base.

"Al-Haitham, weren't you supposed to be defending that lane?" Tighnari asks.

"I was dead."

"Ah."

In no time, SumAk B wins the match. Scara throws off his headset and swears. Tighnari says something to Cyno, who laughs. Kaveh looks over to Al-Haitham.

“You left me to die,” Al-Haitham says. “I thought you were on my side.”

“Yeah?” Kaveh says. “Well, stop dying so much.”

"I don't know how," Al-Haitham says, some genuine frustration bleeding into his tone. That gives Kaveh pause.

He looks at him and remembers when they sat in these same chairs for the tryouts, when Al-Haitham had learned the basics of playing Seele surprisingly quickly when Kaveh had been by his side, shouting directions at him. Hmm. Come to think of it, Al-Haitham has mostly been on his own since then, trying random champions with little success.

"You know what," he says. "We can play Star League together. I can help you get better at the game."

Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow. "Don't you already spend enough hours playing? Maybe you should focus on getting more sleep."

"Okay, fuck you, I'm trying to help," Kaveh says. "I... I can understand how if you haven't played the game before, it can be hard to pick things up on your own. I know how to use most of the ADCs pretty well. I can explain their kits to you, help you figure out where to position yourself in the match and what items to get, all of those details. Honestly, I think you'd get the hang of it pretty quickly."

Al-Haitham is quiet for a moment, then says, "That would be helpful. Thank you."

For some reason, Kaveh didn't expect him to agree so easily. But he supposes Al-Haitham has no real reason to turn down his quite generous offer. And Al-Haitham is annoying as hell, but Kaveh has figured out pretty quickly that he isn't stupid.

"Ignore the mess," Kaveh says, when he opens the door.

Al-Haitham looks around at the piles of the laundry on the floor, then back up to Kaveh, raising an eyebrow.

"I told you to ignore it."

"I'm not saying anything."

"Ugh, whatever." Kaveh gestures. "Come on in. I only have one desk chair, so you can take it."

Al-Haitham sits down while Kaveh perches on a rickety stool next to him, then looks at Kaveh's set-up, complete with his cat ear headset, large monitor, and RGB-backlit keyboard. "This is a lot."

"Former pro player, remember?" Kaveh says. "Check out my mouse. It's super ergonomic."

"Wow," Al-Haitham says dryly, not sounding very impressed.

"Anyways." Kaveh gestures to the screen. "I think what'll work best is if you play the game, and I watch and tell you about what you should be doing for the first half of the game. But then for the second half, I want you to keep using your best judgment based on what I've taught you. You can remember that, can't you?"

"Yes." Al-Haitham frowns. "Also, should I put on the headset?"

"Oh, yep. Please."

Al-Haitham puts it on, and Kaveh grins. "I lied. You need to be able to hear me during the game. I just wanted to see what you'd look like with cat ears."

"The fact is that you own these, which means you've worn them way more than I have."

"Play the damn game, Al-Haitham."

This time, Al-Haitham picks Kafka. Kaveh dutifully sets about explaining how damage over time works, and the timing Al-Haitham should use for Kafka's ultimate, and what items to buy, and Al-Haitham seems to listen dutifully. The support, playing Ruan Mei, is also surprisingly helpful, so within the first few minutes, Al-Haitham manages to land the first kill on the other team.

"Nice!" Kaveh says. "See how satisfying playing a ADC can be, when you're good at it?"

"You're good at it," Al-Haitham says. "I saw clips of you playing online. You're really good at this game."

"Um," Kaveh says, feeling like Al-Haitham dropped those words way too casually. "What."

Al-Haitham turns around to look directly at Kaveh. "So why did you quit?"

"Keep your eyes on the screen," Kaveh hisses. "Why are you asking me this now? Focus or you'll get killed!"

Without taking his eyes off of Kaveh, Al-Haitham walks directly into enemy fire. "This... isn't the end," they both hear, as the screen tells Al-Haitham that Kafka has died.

"Seriously?"

"I want to know," Al-Haitham says. "I don't get it. You're clearly good at the game, and good at playing the ADC role. Why are you now playing as a support for SumAk C?"

"Can we have this conversation after this game?" Kaveh says. "You know what. I'll tell if you win this round."

And all of a sudden, Al-Haitham appears to have memorized Kafka's playstyle. He manages to shock multiple opponents at once, pulls off some quick kills that even Kaveh has trouble following, and ends the match not only victorious, but also as the team's MVP.

"So you can play well," Kaveh says, a little dumbfounded. Was that a random stroke of luck, or has Al-Haitham not been putting his full effort in this whole time?

"I won the round," Al-Haitham says. "I want to know."

Kaveh sighs. "I don't know why you care so much, but fine. First of all, it wasn't my choice to be on the C team. They assigned me to it and made me captain without asking me. But... how much do you know about pro play?"

"Nothing," Al-Haitham says. "Other than what I learned from googling you."

"Alright," Kaveh says, "that's not weird at all. Well, I was on a pretty competitive Star League team. And at that level, when there's that much pressure on you, people don't take mess-ups lightly. My first year was pretty good. I got to play in a lot of games, I did pretty well for myself, and I had a good dynamic with my teammates. But you've played ADC a bit now. You know how much it relies on your teammates protecting you, or else you just get one-shot, and then it's over."

Al-Haitham nods.

"Well, I had a bit of an unlucky streak at the start of last year," Kaveh says. "But the team just kind of... gave up on me. Then they blamed me for messing up their games and being a deadweight, and by the time we qualified for the world championships, they'd all but replaced me with this new ADC who they actually cared about. I just didn't want to deal with that anymore. And I wanted to find a life for myself where I was something more than a literal professional gamer. Like, that's kind of embarrassing, isn't it?"

"It's not embarrassing," Al-Haitham says. "You're good at what you do."

"But I can't stare at a screen and get carpal tunnel forever," Kaveh says. "So I thought coming to college but playing more casually would be nice. And why I'm now playing support? Well, Dehya sprung that one on me too. But honestly, maybe it's for the best. I don't want to feel useless and inadequate again. I don't want to be given up on by my teammates."

"That's what you did," Al-Haitham says.

"Huh?"

"Against SumAk B. You left me to fend for myself."

"Oh." Kaveh winces. "Sorry. I guess I did."

"Don't worry," Al-Haitham says. "I don't care. This is literally a video game I play in my free time."

"Yeah, but... we'll also be competing soon," Kaveh says. "That's a lot of pressure."

"We're SumAk C. Who cares how we do?"

"I do."

"And? Who else?"

Kaveh opens his mouth, then finds that there probably isn't anybody else who really cares about SumAk C's performance in the collegiate circuit, let alone in random fall invitationals. Is that supposed to be sad, or freeing?

"Don't you want to do well?" he asks.

"I'm already getting what I wanted out of joining this team," Al-Haitham says. "It's probably more enjoyable if I know how to play the game well. But I'm not going to stress about it, especially if nobody is blaming me for our losses."

He gives Kaveh a pointed look.

Kaveh grimaces. "Alright. But what am I supposed to do as our captain, then? Just accept that we're shit, and we'll always be shit?"

"Well, no," Al-Haitham says. "All of us want to get better. What you can do is help us get the practice and resources we need to get better at the things we want to. Let Cyno become the school's number one Jing Yuan main. Give Scara more effective strategies for hunting down and terrorizing his opponents. Help me learn how to play different ADCs' kits. We don't have to work together like a well-oiled machine the way that pro teams do—and it sounds like they don't even work well together, from what you've said."

"Yeah." Kaveh shudders. "They really don't."

"Just have fun," Al-Haitham says. "And that goes for yourself, too."

"Who made you so wise?" Kaveh complains. "You're literally just a freshman."

He reaches out and flicks Al-Haitham's forehead. However, instead of recoiling or laughing it off, Al-Haitham stares at him, eyes wide.

Somehow, Kaveh gets the feeling he made things awkward. "Um." He retracts his hand. "Anyways. One more round?"

"Sure." Al-Haitham looks back to the screen. "Show me how to play Dan Heng. The four-star version."

"What...? Okay, fine."

Everything Kaveh learns about Scara only makes him more of a mystery. Why does he still live in the dorms? Why does his room have a full cabinet of liquor? Why is there an actual disco ball hanging from the ceiling?

"I told you, Scara hosts the best parties!" Dehya shouts over the loud, bass-boosted music. "They're kind of an urban legend here at the Akademiya!"

"Is that why you let him onto the team?" Kaveh yells back. Dehya only grins. "Also, how are the RAs not shutting this down? The building is shaking!"

"Don't worry. Scara is besties with his RA."

"Scara has friends?"

Apparently, the team has a tradition of hosting a massive Halloween pre-game every year, before their back-to-back weekends of invitational tournaments in November. Kaveh didn't expect that a group of sweaty gamers would be the type to party so hard, but it turns out appearances can be deceiving, because he's pretty sure some of the people dancing on the coffee table right now are from SumAk A.

Other than Scara, he hasn't actually spotted any of his own teammates. Tighnari mentioned something about not liking loud noises, and Al-Haitham never responded to the group chat message, but Cyno must be around here somewhere.

"Kaveh!" says Cyno's voice, a little too perfectly timed. "Nice costume."

"Thanks, Cyno!" Kaveh spins around. He went for a generic witch costume, but he procrastinated buying his costume for too long and found this secondhand on Facebook earlier that day, so he's fairly happy with how things turned out. "And you're... Dressed as Jing Yuan. Of course."

Cyno flashes him a thumbs-up. His armor and cape look quite heavy, so Kaveh admires the commitment. Surely he must be sweating under there. "A foregone conclusion."

At this point, Kaveh has heard Jing Yuan's voicelines so many times in games with Cyno that even he can recognize them. "...So true. Hey, do you wanna go join Scara? I don't know if Al-Haitham's here, and we should stick together! Team bonding, you know?"

Scara is currently sitting cross-legged on a table in the corner and doing shots with some people Kaveh doesn't recognize, but looks up right when they arrive. "Hey. Drinks?" Cyno shakes his head. Scara shrugs. "Suit yourself."

"I'll have one," Kaveh says. Scara passes him a red cup and pours what looks like way more than one shot into it. "Also, what's with the disco ball?"

"It was a gift from my mother," he says. Kaveh really can't tell whether that's meant to be a joke or not. "Hey, Kaveh, why the basic bitch costume?"

"I was on a time crunch."

"Boring," Scara says, drawing out the first syllable.

Kaveh's jaw drops. "Excuse me? What are you even meant to be?"

"Oh, I didn't dress up." He shrugs. "Not really my thing. Nice costume, Cyno. Looks heavy."

"Thank you."

Kaveh blinks. "Hold on. What—"

"Wait, someone's knocking," Scara says. He gestures to the door, right next to Kaveh. "Can you get it?"

"Sure." Kaveh squints through the peephole. The hallway appears empty. "Um, I don't see anyone outside."

"Just open it."

Nobody appears to be there when he opens the door. That is, until he looks slightly downward and makes eye contact with the bright green eyes of a very, very short girl. "Oh! Um. Sorry."

"Nahida," Scara greets, hopping down from the table. It makes him shorter than Kaveh again. "Want a drink?"

"Very funny. You know I'm on duty!" Nahida says. Her voice is bright and childlike, making it hard to take her seriously. That, and she looks quite happy right now, like she is seconds away from pulling Scara down to squish his cheeks. "Also, you got a noise complaint."

"Wow. Shocking."

"I'll overlook it if you drink a glass of water right now," Nahida says. "Remember to stay hydrated and take care of yourself! The box of grape-flavored liquid IV I bought you should still be in the cabinet under your sink."

"Fine," Scara says, reaching for a glass of water.

"Alright, well, I'll be off, then." Nahida looks around the room, still smiling. "Have fun! Stay safe!"

She shuts the door, before Kaveh has had enough time to process this bizarre interaction. "Was that... your RA?" he asks, thoroughly confused.

Scara groans. "Ugh. She always makes sure I take care of myself. So annoying."

That sounds pretty nice to Kaveh, especially if she overlooks very valid noise complaints, but he isn't going to voice this to Scara. Not when this is the closest to "bonding" they'll probably ever get.

"Hey, where are the rest of the suckers on our team?" Scara asks. "Tighnari and Al-Haitham?"

"Parties aren't really Tighnari's thing," Cyno offers helpfully. "He doesn't like loud noises."

They both turn expectantly to Kaveh.

He scowls. "How am I supposed to know where Al-Haitham is?"

Scara shrugged. "Aren't you guys roommates or something?"

"What? No! We just live in the same dorm." Being roommates with Al-Haitham sounds like a literal nightmare Kaveh wouldn't wish on anyone. Then again, Al-Haitham is a freshman, so maybe some poor soul was consigned to a year of living with him through the housing lottery.

"You also hang out outside of practice," Cyno points out.

"Yeah, because I'm teaching him how to become a better ADC," Kaveh says. "What the fuck. We're barely even friends."

"That's so sad," Scara says. "He told me the other day that you were his only friend." When Kaveh's jaw drops, he cackles. "Nah, he didn't say that. I just wanted to see your reaction."

But Scara's stupid joke actually gives Kaveh pause. Does Al-Haitham have friends?

And an even worse thought: does Kaveh have friends? Honestly, the people he sees most consistently, other than classmates he occasionally studies with, are the people on SumAk C, now that they've upped their practice schedule to twice a week. And outside of that...

Oh, Archons. SumAk C are his only friends. He feels faint.

"Kaveh? Are you okay?" Cyno asks. Aside, to Scara: "Wow, he must really be a lightweight."

Scara snickers. "Nah, I think he's just realized that we're his only friends."

"Shut up."

"Well, isn't there something going on between you and Al-Haitham?" Cyno asks. "No romance brewing up between the bottoms? Get it, because the two of you are bottom laners, but colloquially, the word 'bottom' also—"

"That's a terrible joke, and there's nothing going on," Kaveh says defensively. "What even gave you guys that idea?"

Scara and Cyno exchange a glance that Kaveh does not like one bit. "Whatever you say," Scara sings. "That's probably for the best, since teamcest is against the rules."

"'Teamcest?'" Cyno repeats.

"You know, dating within the team."

Kaveh feels his brows knit together. "That's such an ugly word. Also, is that actually a rule? Says who?"

"Says the Honkai Star League Esports Team's constitution," Scara says. "Don't tell me you didn't read the constitution. Kaveh! Our noble captain! How could you?"

"I totally read the constitution," says Kaveh, who has never heard of the existence of such a document until now. "I must've missed that one." What a weird rule. But it's whatever. He's not in any danger of breaking it, so it really has no relevance to him. Truly.

"Anyways," Scara says. "Shots?"

"No," says Cyno.

"Yes," says Kaveh.

When Kaveh gets back to his dorm later that night, he should brush his teeth and go straight to bed. Unfortunately, he has never been great at making decisions, and force of habit has him turning on his computer for one last game of Star League. There's nothing like ending the night on a win, right?

However, when he logs into the game, he finds that someone surprising in his friends list is still online.

Al-Haitham picks up after a few rings. "Why are you calling me?" comes his voice through the speaker.

"Do you want to play a game of Star League?" Kaveh asks. "I see you're online."

"Right now?" Al-Haitham asks. "Are you drunk?"

"A little," Kaveh says. "But I can still carry your ass."

The noise that Al-Haitham makes sounds kind of like a laugh, but since Kaveh has never heard Al-Haitham laugh, he has no evidence to prove it. "I'd like to see you try."

"Is that a yes?"

A pause, and then, "Yes."

So they play Star League. And it's fun. Probably because of the alcohol lingering in his body, but still. Kaveh laughs when Al-Haitham gets sniped by the enemy, but cheers even more loudly when Al-Haitham lands a few kills, helped by Kaveh's excellent supporting skills. It's not until their third game that Cyno's words suddenly come back to him, right as Al-Haitham clinches their third win in a row.

Isn't there something going on between you and Al-Haitham? And... well, actually, he doesn't even want to remember Cyno's awful joke. It can stay banished to the corner of his mind, thank you very much.

There's nothing going on, Kaveh decides very firmly. Al-Haitham is just... Fun to play with. It's nice to have someone who actually tries to listen to Kaveh when he's sharing his knowledge, even if Al-Haitham rarely listens to him otherwise. Seeing his junior improve over time is endearing, even.

So... Maybe, they are friends, after all.

"Hey, Al-Haitham?" Kaveh says. "Thanks. This was really—" His words get cut off by a massive yawn. "—Fun," he finishes, before yawning uncontrollably again.

He hears a soft noise, this time unmistakably a laugh. "Good night, Kaveh," Al-Haitham says.

Sleepily, Kaveh finds himself smiling. "Good night."

Chapter Text

After Halloween, Kaveh no longer feels like breaking into a cold sweat when his brain associates the word "friend" with Al-Haitham. Queueing for games with Al-Haitham is also a productive use of his time, technically. They're only a few days away from the fall invitational tournament, so helping his teammate takes priority.

"Sure," Al-Haitham says. "If that's how you tell yourself it's okay to procrastinate your homework."

"You're not done with your essay either," Kaveh fires back. He once felt guilty about being a bad influence, but then he found out Al-Haitham barely attends lecture and is still getting good grades, so now he can't bring himself to care anymore.

They're in the middle of character selection for another game, and probably their last game of the night given how long they've both been on the Discord call. Surprisingly, one of their teammates picks Jing Yuan—the only time Kaveh has ever witnessed that happen with someone other than Cyno. As the game starts loading them into the map, someone on the opposing team sends a chat message.

[04:20] [All] moansteps (Firefly): everyone join vc

Normally, Star League voice chat with random strangers is a horrible idea, because you'll probably get cussed at by 12-year-olds lying about their age. "What the hell, why not," Kaveh says into his call with Al-Haitham, then deafens their call to join the game chat. Surprisingly, 8 of the 10 people in their game do.

He instantly hears a voice boom through his headset and say, rather offputtingly, "I'm fucking all of your mothers."

"Here comes Moansteps," says a different user on the other team who is playing Gepard.

Without missing a beat, an icon of Firefly appears, saying, "I make your mother come."

Kaveh has to interject then. "What are you, a 12-year-old?"

"I bury my 12 inch dick in your mother," says the Gepard, with the exact same delivery as the Firefly.

"Um," says a tiny, squeaky prepubescent baby voice, belonging to another opponent playing Seele. "There might be minors here. Not me, obviously, but you never know who's playing. Should you guys be saying this... bad stuff?"

"Shut up, minor," the Firefly and Gepard say simultaneously.

Kaveh wonders what he's gotten himself into as he heads into the bottom lane with Al-Haitham, all to the beautiful background noise of your mom jokes. Hopefully it distracts their opponents and clinches them an easy win?

"Your mother wishes she was a cow in her next life and me the farmer to milk her every morning," the Firefly is saying.

"Your mother wishes she was a cow in her next life and me the farmer to milk her every morning," the Gepard is saying right back.

"My mother is dead," Al-Haitham says.

Kaveh hears dead silence. (No pun intended. Oh, Archons. Is this what it feels like to be Cyno?)

"Oh." The Firefly coughs. "Erm."

"Sorry," the Gepard says.

"Yeah," the Firefly echoes. "Sorry."

"Guys, look at Jing Yuan," says Kaveh's teammate playing Jing Yuan. "He's so beautiful."

They hear noises through the call.

"Are you crying?" Kaveh dares to ask.

The only response he gets is more crying.

"Okay," Kaveh says. "This was unproductive. I'm leaving this voice chat."

"Wait," says yet another member of the opposing team, playing Acheron. "Before everyone leaves: what should I have for lunch?"

"What are the options?" the four other voices on their team chorus at the same time.

"Tomato soup, miso soup, corn soup, potato leek soup—"

"I like corn," the Seele pipes up in their tiny baby voice.

Just then, text flashes across the screen: FIRST BLOOD. Apparently, one of Kaveh's teammates has killed the opposing team's Aventurine.

"Oh no, so sad," the Seele squeaks. "Good thing they were so old anyway."

"I'm going to smack you into the pool with my walking frame," threatens the Aventurine in an old, raspy voice. "This is a generational war."

Kaveh clears his throat. "I'm leaving the voice chat now."

And so he does. Surprisingly, he notices that Al-Haitham stays in the voice chat for quite a while. It doesn't do the much good. Their opponents have a shocking synergy that Kaveh could not have predicted from the chaos of the voice chat, and so Kaveh's team loses.

After the game, he stays on call with Al-Haitham to ask about it. "Why'd you stay in the voice chat?"

"They were amusing," Al-Haitham says. "I thought the Aventurine in particular was very funny. But then I left, because they all started talking about showering together, and that was too much for me."

"You are so weird."

"You're blaming me for their weirdness? Anyways, they were actually decent. We could learn from them."

Kaveh sighs, and accepts the reality that even a bunch of random strangers who happened to find themselves in the same game of Star League can form a surprisingly good team. The universe truly works in strange, unfathomable ways.

Tighnari has taken on an unofficial sub-captain role for the team, which Kaveh is grateful for, though he would never tell Tighnari that to his face. "You're good at the game, but you've clearly never captained anything before," Tighnari said, direct as always. It turns out Tighnari has plenty of leadership experience through his lab work (or "dealing with idiots," as he called it), so now he helps Kaveh develop strategies for the team.

Two days before from the fall tournament is their second-last practice. Tighnari is giving pointers to Scara and Cyno on timing when a knock rings out.

"Are we expecting anyone?" Tighnari asks.

Kaveh goes to get the door. It turns out to be Dehya, holding a cardboard box in one arm with ease. "SumAk C! Hard at work, I see."

"Dehya." SumAk A is competing at the same tournament at them this weekend. Luckily, the rules prevent them from competing against teams from their own school, so the two teams have been trading tactics and preparing in tandem. It's SumAk C's turn to have the club's official practice room this hour. "How's A Team's prep going?"

"Good, good." Dehya waves her hand dismissively. "But don't worry about that. This is for you!" She drops the cardboard box on the ground, where it kicks up a cloud of dust. "Everyone, come and see."

As everyone else gathers around, Kaveh opens up the box and finds two neatly-folded stacks, side by side: jackets with the Sumeru Akademiya Honkai Star League Esports Team logo, and shirts with a smaller version of the logo, a symbol indicating their game roles, and their names. Kaveh, reads the one on the top of the stack.

Kaveh picks it up, feeling the smooth, cold material slide across his hands.

"Here are the official T-shirts you'll be competing in this weekend," Dehya says. "And as a tradition, everyone on the team gets jackets! We used the sizes you gave us in the post-tryouts form, but let us know if the jackets don't fit well. Unfortunately, we can't get new shirts in time for the tournament as we had an issue with our manufacturer, so you'll just have to wear these."

The jacket is made of a soft, thick fabric in the same shade of dark, gentle green as the shirt—the official color of the Sumeru Akademiya. Kaveh pulls it on over his outfit. It fits perfectly, wrapping him in a cozy embrace.

He's transported back to the last time he put on a team's official shirt and jacket. The Empyrean Gaming uniform was far flashier than this, thanks to their brand endorsements, but wearing that name across his back felt like an enormous burden upon his shoulders—the weight of a name that he had to prove himself worthy of wearing. Now, representing Sumeru Akademiya C as its captain, he feels... Different. Maybe a good kind of different?

Around the practice room, everyone else pulls on their jackets. Five college students stand there, matching in Akademiya green. They almost look like a real esports team. If Kaveh were more emotional, he might burst into tears. As he is, though, he's barely keeping it together, which is so embarrassing, because the rest of his team looks bored.

"Very dapper," Dehya says. She claps her hands together. "Well, I'll be heading off so you can get back to practice, but remember to bring these this weekend!"

"Thank you, Dehya," Kaveh manages.

She smiles softly, as if she can sense the additional layers of meaning this carries for him. "Of course." She pats him on the shoulder firmly, which nearly makes Kaveh topple over, then walks out, the door swinging shut behind her.

Kaveh turns back around to his team, only to see them already at the computers again, going right back to wherever their practice left off.

He takes in a deep breath. They're coordinated—well, at least kind of—as a team. They've been practicing for months. They're ready.

And more importantly, what Al-Haitham once told him: there is very little riding on this. Everyone's just here to have fun, and no one is counting on SumAk C's success or downfall.

He breathes out. They'll be okay.

"Kaveh!" Tighnari says, currents of panic flowing through his voice.

It's way too early the next morning. Kaveh pulls the phone closer to his ear, not fully awake yet. "What."

"It's an emergency. Cyno's in the hospital."

"I fought valiantly," Cyno says with a dramatic sigh. "But my fearsome opponents were too much for me, and bested me in the end."

Tighnari groans. "Don't listen to him. He dropped his Jing Yuan figurine down the stairs and dove after it."

"...Well, at least I prevented my figurine from taking damage."

When Kaveh rushed there, Cyno was lying in a hospital bed with one of his arms at an awkward angle, and Tighnari in the chair next to him looking more distraught than Kaveh had ever seen him. Al-Haitham and Scara arrived a few minutes later, so now the five of them are crowding up Cyno's small hospital room as the nurse watches on suspiciously.

"How long will it take to heal?" Kaveh asks.

"I'll have to be in a cast for many weeks." Cyno looks down at his arm. "They don't know yet."

"Cyno, you idiot," Tighnari says softly. "What are we going to do without you?"

Cyno shrugs with his unharmed side. "I have a friend who plays casually. I've already told him to reach out to Dehya about subbing in for me this weekend."

"Yeah, but that's not going to be the same." Tighnari's voice cracks a little, though he quickly clears his throat and glares at the rest of them as if to threaten them all into forgetting it happened. "You're part of our team. And now we won't get to compete with you.

Cyno hangs his head, all traces of his usual joking nature gone. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize," Kaveh says quickly. "Archons, Cyno, I'm sorry. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"I'll be okay. And so will you." Cyno looks off into the distance. "I know you'll do well at the invitational."

"It won't be the same without you."

"That's true, but I still believe in you. Good luck. Break a leg." He clears his throat. "Get it, because I just broke my arm, but 'break a leg' traditionally means—"

"Too soon," Tighnari says.

Cyno looks downcast. "I thought it was perfectly timed."

The Uber ride to the tournament is uncomfortably silent.

Riding shotgun is Sethos, Cyno's friend from home. He's a freshman and a decent Star League player judging by their final practice yesterday. Unfortunately, their team dynamics aren't created for junglers who are not Jing Yuan, and Sethos doesn't play Jing Yuan, so Kaveh's not sure how this will go, but what choice do they have now? At least Sethos is nice. Currently, he's asleep.

In the back seat is Kaveh, wedged between Al-Haitham and Tighnari, because he took it upon himself to volunteer for the middle seat knowing neither of the other two would acquiesce. Al-Haitham is staring out the window, while Tighnari is doing a lot of looking down at his hands.

Scara isn't there, because in his words, he's "banned from using rideshare apps." Instead, he waved goodbye to them all before hopping into a tiny white car with his short RA in the driver's seat.

Kaveh sighs, leaning against the neck pillow. It's in the shape of a pink bunny. Everywhere he looks, the car is decked out in merchandise of this pink bunny, from the figurines on the dash to the stickers on the windows. It's a very cute Uber; he admires the commitment to the theme.

"Hey," he starts. "We're gonna do great today. We'll go out there and play a bunch of games against a bunch of other teams, and we'll do it all again tomorrow, and then we get to go home and live out the rest of our lives. It'll be great."

"If this is supposed to be inspiring," Tighnari says, "it's not."

"Fuck you, Tighnari. I'm trying my best. Captain duties, you know?"

"I don't care what happens today," Al-Haitham says.

"That's... not inspiring either."

"How good can we expect these teams to be?" Tighnari asks. "I mean, there'll be teams like us, but also teams like SumAk A. Hopefully we can at least land a few wins, otherwise it'll be a bit embarrassing."

"I think there'll definitely be a range of teams," Kaveh says. "I looked at the roster, and some schools are even sending their D teams."

"Well, as the worst team at the Sumeru Akademiya, let's hope we can beat the fourth-best teams at these other schools."

"I don't like this attitude, Tighnari."

Tighnari sighs. "I'm sorry," he says, uncharacteristically solemn. Kaveh blinks and takes a second to make sure he's heard him correctly. "Everything with Cyno stressed me out a lot more than expected."

Kaveh nods, not sure what to say. "I understand. I wish he was here."

"Me too." Tighnari chuckles, but it sounds defeated. "I never thought I'd wish I was playing with Jing Yuan on my team, but here I am now. No offense, Sethos."

From the front of the car, Sethos just keeps snoring, but Kaveh's sure no offense would be taken even if he were awake. Sethos seems like a chill guy.

"Well, let's make Cyno proud," Tighnari says.

The car settles once again into a somber silence, feeling Cyno's absence. (And Scara, technically, though that absence is more welcome.)

"Excuse me," their Uber driver says. "Did you just say 'Jing Yuan?'"

"Um." Tighnari tilts his head. "Yes?"

Letting out a genuine squeal, the Uber driver whirls around to face them, her entire face alight with joy. "I love Jing Yuan!" With one hand still on the wheel, she pulls a small keychain plushie of Jing Yuan from the center console. Then another. Then yet another. "Look, isn't he so cute? He's so cute." Her eyes start welling up with tears.

"Can you keep your eyes on the road," Al-Haitham says.

She does, but still waves the collection of plushies around. "I love him so much! I'm the #1 Jing Yuan fan. I'm his wife, after all!"

Through the rearview mirror, Kaveh is pretty sure her eyes are welling up with tears. He bites back whatever he was going to say in defense of Cyno, and he senses Tighnari doing the same—maybe this woman truly is the #1 Jing Yuan fan.

"So are you guys going to a Star League tournament?" she asks.

"Yeah, we play on a college team," Kaveh says. "Our other teammate is actually a Jing Yuan main! Unfortunately, he injured himself, so he isn't competing with us this weekend."

"Oh, that's unfortunate indeed," she says. "He has great taste. Jing Yuan is so under-appreciated."

"He has him at E6S5," Tighnari says. "Man, Cyno would have such a great time talking to you right now. I wish he was here."

"Aww, I would've loved to meet another Jing Yuan fan. Well, I think we've reached your destination," the Uber driver says, the car slowing to a halt. "Good luck, you guys! I'm sure you'll do great. The Jing Yuans believe in you." She waves the plushies around again, as if they're doing a little dance.

And with that blessing, they arrive at the tournament.

Over the course of the weekend, SumAk C will play 8 games, with 4 on each day. The first day's match-ups are randomly assigned, while the second day's are power-matched based on their win count of the first day. They're lucky that the tournament is in Sumeru City, so they didn't have to travel far. It looks like some schools have traveled here all the way from other nations, just for a chance to practice before the spring competitive season. The energy in the room should be intimidating, but truthfully, it's just a crowd of nerdy college students.

As the tournament organizers release the first round's match-ups, Kaveh cranes his head to look at the large screen and spots their team name next to ILL: the Institute of Liyuen Literature, a school with only one competing team. That means they could be extremely good, extremely bad, or anywhere in the middle.

They meet up with Scara at their assigned room. In his hands is a cute lunchbox. "Are you ready?" Kaveh asks.

Scara cackles violently. "Ready to show these worms what happens when they try to face against ME, the all-powerful—"

Never mind. Kaveh doesn't know why he asked.

They take their assigned seats, with Al-Haitham right next to him. Kaveh shrugs off his team jacket, knowing he'll work up a sweat soon enough, and watches Al-Haitham do the same. Then, his jaw drops.

Al-Haitham catches his gaze. "What."

"Your shirt," Kaveh splutters. "Isn't it... A little small for you?"

Al-Haitham looks down at himself, then shrugs his arms. The way that makes the shirt stretch even tighter across his muscles has Kaveh looking away immediately. Who even knew this loser had muscles? Is he secretly a member of Men in Lifting and Fitness? Does he hit the gym with Dehya every week? "You heard what Dehya said. It's too short-notice to switch shirt sizes."

"That has to be uncomfortable," Kaveh says.

Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow at him. "Do you have a problem with me in this shirt?"

"No!" Kaveh squawks. "You know what, never mind. Focus on the game." He resolutely decides not to look at Al-Haitham the whole game. Not that the sight of his underclassman's muscles is distracting, or anything.

"...Okay." Even without looking at him, Kaveh can tell he doesn't believe it.

Across the room, their opponents, ILL, are also getting ready, though two of their members, short girls with dark hair, are chatting in the corner. "Elsie, I feel sick," one of them groans. "I feel so sick."

"Me too, Luna," the other says. "I feel ill. So mentally ill."

Well. That's good for their odds?

As their first game of the tournament starts, Kaveh feels a familiar adrenaline overcome him. Other than when he barks out notes to their team, they play mostly in a focused silence, as Kaveh and Al-Haitham push the other team's bottom lane. Their opponents are playing rather sloppily, and before Kaveh realizes it, they've overtaken the enemy team's base and won.

"Oh," Kaveh says out loud. "We won. We won!" Before he realizes what he's doing, he's jumping and pulling Al-Haitham up with him, wrapping him in a hug.

Al-Haitham very stiffly hugs him back, and the feeling of his surprisingly strong arms—seriously, does this guy lift?—snaps Kaveh out of his stupor. "Oops," he says. "Sorry." He looks around. Sethos holds his hands out for a high five, so Kaveh obliges. "Good job, team," he says. "That was only our first game! The day's only going to get better."

The day does not get better.

Riding the high of their first victory, Kaveh leads SumAk C to their next round and strides in with confidence. Their opponents are ST D, or Sumeru Technical's D team, so another local team. Still, Kaveh isn't scared.

At least, not until one of the team's members hisses and snarls at him. "I'm the top dog," she says.

"Good job, Spout," says another opponent. "You tell them who's boss."

"Thanks, Pink," says Spout. "I can't wait to take a nap after this."

Kaveh blinks, not feeling so confident anymore, because what the hell are they up against?

He should've trusted the terrible premonition. SumAk C loses that match, all while ST D keeps hissing and snarling. When they leave the room for lunch, Kaveh looks back over his shoulder only to see their opponents staying to... nap, apparently.

As if that wasn't weird enough, their next round is against a team from the Preparatory Establishment of North Narukami: PENN E. Kaveh didn't even know there were E teams at this tournament. Surely they won't be that strong? Yet PENN E defeats them soundly, despite the fact that they seem to only communicate with each other by meowing. They're all so short and cute, Kaveh kind of wants to pat them on the head, except he's still hurting from the loss.

Their third and final defeat of the day comes against Springvale University's A team. Mondstadt is a long way away, and yet the members of Sprin A appear to have made their trip worth it, as they play with a solid, practiced ease suggesting hours of teamwork and coordination. They're in sync in a way that Kaveh knows SumAk C is not, and so he sighs and accepts the defeat as gracefully as he can.

"Well," he says, later, when they're all walking through the gates of the tournament venue, ready to head home for the day. "Today went... well."

"1 win and 3 losses," Al-Haitham says.

"It could've been worse!"

Tighnari, of all people, nods. "It could've been worse."

"Tomorrow will be power-matched," Kaveh says. "So we'll theoretically be playing against opponents that are on our level."

Scara speaks up: "So if we lose to 3 more of them, it'll be super embarrassing for us." Kaveh winces. Luckily, before he finds something to say to lift the mood, Scara breaks into a wicked grin. "Good thing I don't plan on losing."

Kaveh is exceedingly thankful that Scara's vengeful energy is focused on their opponents, and not turned against them.

"The only embarrassment is how much time you spent hitting towers when you could've been helping me," Sethos says.

Scara spins to face Sethos. "Excuse me?"

The two of them walk off, bickering about their gameplay, as if the rest of them don't exist. Kaveh can only watch their retreating figures with Al-Haitham and Tighnari. "I guess Sethos isn't Ubering back with us."

Tighnari looks sheepish. "Actually, do you guys mind waiting for a second? I think I left my water bottle in our last room."

"Go ahead." Kaveh reaches around to his backpack where his own water bottle should be and meets empty air. "Um, I might've left mine too. Could you grab it?"

Tighnari rolls his eyes, but disappears back into the venue, leaving Kaveh and Al-Haitham standing there.

Kaveh sizes Al-Haitham up. "So, how are you feeling, Mr. I-Don't-Give-A-Shit?"

"I never said that."

"You literally said it in the car earlier."

Clarity seems to dawn upon him. "Oh. I meant that I don't care about the outcome of this tournament. It has very little bearing on me."

"Wow," Kaveh says, unable to keep the bitterness from seeping into his voice. "That must be nice."

"That doesn't mean that I 'don't give a shit,'" Al-Haitham says. "If I didn't care at all, I wouldn't be here."

Kaveh struggles to wrap his brain around this weird man and the intricacies of his language. "I'm not following. You literally just said you don't care?"

"About the outcome. By being here, I'm playing games of Star Rail with you, our teammates are trying their best, and it's fun." He shrugs. "So whatever happens, whether we win or lose, it doesn't matter."

"Well, winning's more fun than losing, don't you think?"

"...Naturally."

"So try your best not to lose, alright?"

"Senior." Al-Haitham closes his eyes, then opens them. "Believe me, I was already trying."

The next day, their first challenge is against a team representing the University of Ritou, Modern Mt. Yougou—shortened to URMoM. It's another school small enough to only have one competitive team, so after their victory against ILL the previous day, Kaveh is hopeful that this team won't be too much of a challenge.

"Let's do this," he says as they take their places. "We can show... uh, URMoM, what we can do!"

"Your mom found out what I can do last night!" shouts one of their opponents from across the room. Kaveh exchanges eye contact with Al-Haitham and wonders whether there's some sort of correlation between Star League players and the subset of the population that still finds those jokes funny.

Suddenly, from his side of the room, he hears a roar that sends chills down his spine. "You will not speak of my mother, Inazuman scum!" Scara says. For all his chaos, Kaveh has never seen Scara look so deadly serious.

He whispers to Al-Haitham next to him, "Isn't that kind of racist? Should I say something?"

"I think he's Inazuman too," Al-Haitham whispers back.

"That doesn't necessarily make it okay!"

Scara's mommy issues and internalized racism become their team's salvation. He plays with a ferocity Kaveh has never witnessed, cussing thrice as much as he usually does, surging past the rest of them to land some insane kills on their enemies, and ultimately winning the title of the MVP of the match. It's with awe and some fear that Kaveh removes his headset at the end of the game, truly grateful that they're not on the receiving end of Scara's ire.

"That was sick, dude," Sethos says.

"Of course," Scara says. "I am very sick."

"Whatever you say, Scara."

Their next opponents are the D team from the Oculus Conservatory. The members of OC D walk in and immediately start wiping down the desks, chairs, and gaming setups with packs of wet wipes. Honestly, given how many sweaty gamers have used through these rooms in the last day, that's a wise decision.

Unfortunately, OC D's wet wipes can't protect them, because SumAk C is on a roll after their sound win against URMoM. Scara's earlier burst of motivation seems to have bled onto all of them, because from Sethos in the jungle to Al-Haitham in the bottom lane, every member of their team is sharper than usual. It's a closer match, but still a win.

After lunch, they face off against another D team. This one, ADH D, represents another school from Sumeru—the Academy of the Desert of Hadravameth. Given their morning winning streak, Kaveh is pumped for another chance to prove their worth, yet when SumAk C arrives, the room is empty.

"There's still a few minutes until lunch is officially over," Kaveh says. "I guess we wait."

They wait, and then wait some more, bleeding into the 15-minute grace period that teams get before they officially forfeit the match due to being absent. Right as Kaveh is wondering if they got unsatisfyingly lucky, ADH D rushes into the room, only a minute before they would've been disqualified.

"I'm so sorry," one of their members says breathlessly. "We lost track of the time, and Ysa lost her phone."

"I didn't lose it," Ysa defends herself. "It was right where I left it, in the bathroom. Besides, we were all waiting for Rin to finish putting her contact lenses back in."

"I'm sorry, my nails make it so hard," Rin says. "Especially because I didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Oh, I didn't sleep at all last night," says another member.

Ysa shakes her head. "Maven, that's concerning... Well, I only slept for four and a half hours. But it's fine; I feel great!"

With how out-of-breath they are from clearly rushing here, and their apparent sleep deprivation, Kaveh quietly hopes this will be another certain victory.

His first warning sign should've been when one of the opponents, Rin, chooses to play as Jing Yuan. If only Cyno were here to witness this! Actually, it's good that he isn't, because he would've been fucked over if he had to play anyone else. But still, selecting a character like Jing Yuan means that their opponents are either insane, or really good.

They turn out to be really good, and Kaveh dies a few time at the hands of the Jing Yuan, ultimately leading to one more defeat.

"One more match," he says, as they prepare to enter the last room. Their opponents are SANT A from the State Academy of Natlan, Tezcatepetonco, but power-matching indicates that they should've also had 3 wins and 4 losses up until this point. Even though they're playing an A team, this should be an even match.

Whoever wins this comes out of the tournament with an equal number of wins and losses—not ideal, but not the worst fate. Whoever loses has to walk home with 5 losses, which suddenly feels like so, so many.

"You're stressed," says Al-Haitham's voice from his right.

Kaveh glares at him. "Obviously."

"Well, I'm not."

"Congratulations?"

"Because I know you'll have my back," Al-Haitham says. "Just like the rest of us will have yours. So have fun and enjoy this, one last time."

It's so much easier said than done, but Kaveh tries to smile. Al-Haitham returns it.

He picks Seele, so Kaveh picks Bronya, just like the tryouts at the very start of this semester. But this time, Al-Haitham understands Seele's kit and how to use her mechanics to deal crushing blows to their opponents. Kaveh understands how to boost his entire team's offensive capabilities with Bronya's skill and ultimate, and is never more than a few steps away from Al-Haitham.

It's a long and difficult game, as their opponents mirror their passion and commitment. But when a window of opportunity opens up, Kaveh takes it, and they push forward to overtake their opponents' home base.

They win.

All of the tension dissipates from Kaveh's body as he leans back in his chair. Next to him, Tighnari and Sethos are excitedly congratulating each other. It's not very sportsmanlike to celebrate in the room itself, within earshot of their opponents, so Kaveh tells them pointedly to go into the hallway, but they're still very much audible. Scara is smiling to himself, looking genuinely pleased.

Four wins, four losses. If this were a professional tournament, Kaveh would be replaying all of those losses in his head, thinking about the moments where they could've turned the tide. He would probably even be dwelling upon his low kill count in the winning games, thinking about where he dragged behind the rest of his team's damage output.

But that's not what will stick with him from this weekend. Instead, it's Al-Haitham turning to him with his eyes aglow, saying, "We did it, senior."

"We did," Kaveh agrees, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting up. He shakes himself out of it. "You can head out. I'm gonna clean up after us and make sure nobody forgets anything this time."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Al-Haitham lingers behind to help pick up some of their belongings from the side of the room. He's distracted when the captain of SANT A approaches him, hand outstretched. "Very well played," they say. "And happy holidays."

Kaveh shakes their hand. "You as well. Although, the holidays are quite a while away..."

The SANT A captain shrugs. "It's always the right time for some holiday cheer." Another poorly-disguised cheer sounds out from the hallway, sounding like one Scara, and the captain's eyes twinkle. "You've got a good team."

"Thank you."

As SANT A leaves the room, Kaveh and Al-Haitham head out to join the rest of their team. Kaveh is still basking in the exhilaration of the moment, of ending this tournament on a great note, when suddenly a camera and microphone are thrust into his face.

"Burgeonburg Entertainment Reporting Network here!" the woman in front of him says too loudly, too brightly. "Are you Kaveh, formerly of Empyrean Gaming?"

Kaveh freezes, but the reporter must see something that confirms her suspicions in his face, because she carries on. "Wow! Fans everywhere thought you were done with the game after your disastrous final season with Empyrean. The professional Star League circuit could never have predicted your comeback, especially not at the collegiate level! Are the rumors true? Are you playing as a support on the Sumeru Akademiya's C team? At a school that only has three competitive teams?"

Kaveh's throat is so dry; he can do nothing but clutch his bag tighter. He hasn't faced something like this in months. All he wanted was to move on with his life, but the camera and microphone pointed at him are bringing him back to the days of being bombarded by internet posts, criticized mercilessly by fans and haters alike. He doesn't like the questions. He doesn't like what the reporter's tone implies. He doesn't know what to say.

"He's not just our support." Al-Haitham voice rings out clearly as he steps up to stand beside Kaveh. "He's our captain, and he's devoted countless hours to helping us improve at this game. He does an incredible job, and he keeps us all alive. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a team to get back to."

Without giving the reporter a chance to react, Al-Haitham shepherds Kaveh out of the hallway, determinedly creating a path toward the rest of their team.

Kaveh could say a number of things, like Please take your hand off the small of my back or I could've handled it myself. Instead, he finds himself saying, "Thank you."

Al-Haitham glances at him and dips his head. "Of course."

He doesn't press the matter further, and Kaveh doesn't say anything else. Soon, they spot Tighnari, Sethos, and Scara. "What took you so long?" Tighnari asks.

Kaveh and Al-Haitham exchange glances, an unspoken agreement. "I talked to SANT A's captain briefly," Kaveh says. "They said I have a good team. I agree."

They all exchange smiles. Kaveh can so clearly see how before this moment, all of them were clearly trying to act unbothered by the tournament and take whatever results in stride—and doing a much better job of hiding it than he did. But now, with their final victory under their belt, their happiness is written clearly across their faces, like they can finally be proud of what they've done. Even Al-Haitham looks pleased, his expression so easy to read for once.

Four wins, four losses. Thanks to the people around him, Kaveh can only find himself caring about the wins.

"I'm so proud of all of us," Kaveh says, realizing he genuinely means it. "Let's go do something nice to celebrate! There's a fancy restaurant nearby that my friend—"

"Nope." Scara cackles. "I've got dinner plans, because I'm too cool for all of you. See ya, suckers." He saunters off, but they all watch as he pulls out his phone and speaks into it quietly, "Yes, Nahida, I'm still coming. Yes, I'll be there in half an hour. I know, I know."

Just like that, the moment is broken. Oh well.

Tighnari winces. "I promised to bring Cyno some takeout and eat with him."

"I have a pre-pre-pregame to go to," Sethos says. When they all turn to look at him, he shrugs. "What?"

"On a Sunday?" Kaveh says.

"Yes?"

"Never mind, then." Kaveh sighs. "That's really nice of you, Tighnari. I hope you have a good time. You too, Sethos." He turns to look at Al-Haitham. "Well, I'm not going to a fancy restaurant with just you."

"Right... Besides, aren't you broke?"

"Rude!" Kaveh huffs. "Do you want to do something simple to celebrate? We can just head back to the dorms."

He expects Al-Haitham to find a random reason to abscond, just like the rest of the team, but Al-Haitham shrugs. "Sure."

That's how they find themselves sitting on the floor of Al-Haitham's dorm room, two cups of instant noodles in front of them. It's some vegetarian flavor from a brand called Moongrass, which was all the dorm vending machine had left.

"What a celebration," Al-Haitham says.

"Shut up," Kaveh says. He slurps up another bite of noodles. "Honestly, this is surprisingly good."

"I'd like it more without soup."

Kaveh's mouth falls open. Luckily, he already swallowed his bite. "You don't like soup?"

"I don't like soup."

"That's blasphemous." Kaveh shudders. "I love a nice, warm soup."

"Soup-based dishes are hard to eat while reading. Or gaming."

"Well, you're not reading or gaming right now."

Al-Haitham looks at Kaveh. "I'm not."

The significance of this moment sets in. This is the first moment where the two of them have willingly hung out, outside of team practices and their additional gaming sessions. They don't have Star League pulled up on the computer in front of them, and yet they're still able to exchange civil conversation.

Hanging out with Al-Haitham. Kaveh doesn't even hate it. He wonders if these are the moments that people remember from their college days, interspersed between the flashy highs of competitions and achievements: sitting on the floor and eating instant noodles in good company.

For the next week, Kaveh barely sees his teammates. The reasons are twofold. One, they don't have any scheduled practices, so he's free. Two, he procrastinated on an obscene amount of homework in the weeks leading up to the tournament and now has to study for three exams, write two papers, and work on one group presentation in the days immediately after.

Once or twice, he considers texting Al-Haitham to see if he would want to do something like study together, but he manages to convince himself out of it by imagining how Al-Haitham would probably tell him smugly that he's all caught up on his work. No thanks. Besides, it's not like he wants to spend more time with Al-Haitham. He definitely doesn't think about Al-Haitham at all that week or look forward to the post-invitational party that weekend. The only reason he texts Al-Haitham to confirm whether Al-Haitham will be going to the party is because he's a team captain, obviously. He's making sure that everyone will be there—including Sethos—for team morale.

The party is once again hosted at Scara's dorm. It's a much smaller, cozier gathering than the Halloween bash, since B team is competing this weekend, but Kaveh spots more familiar faces this time—Tighnari in the corner with large headphones covering his ears, Sethos doodling on Cyno's cast, and Al-Haitham standing by the drinks.

"How's it going?" he asks, sidling up to Al-Haitham.

Al-Haitham looks over the rim of his red solo cup at him. "You're 50 minutes late."

Kaveh scoffs. "Everyone knows that parties don't start until 30 minutes after the stated start time."

"20 minutes late, then."

"Whatever." Kaveh peers inside Al-Haitham's cup to see some sort of mixed beverage. "You didn't strike me as the drinking type."

"This is my first time drinking."

"Really? So you're that one guy always sober at the function?"

"There's nothing wrong with that," says Cyno, popping up from beside them.

"Well, it's my first college party, so no, the evidence suggests I am not always sober at the function," Al-Haitham informs Kaveh, before taking another pointed sip of his drink.

"Oh, gotcha." Kaveh grins and throws his arm around Al-Haitham's shoulders. "Don't worry. It's all part of the freshman year experience. Shots?"

Al-Haitham gives in a bit too easily, which is how Kaveh finds himself pouring vodka into Al-Haitham's cup. "I may not have had a shot before, but I feel like that's a lot," Al-Haitham says.

"No, this is perfectly normal," says Kaveh, who has just given Al-Haitham at least two-and-a-half shots. "If anything, it's less than a full shot."

Scara and Sethos spot them and come over, demanding to join this round of shots. Once they're all ready, they tap their cups together. Kaveh downs his smoothly, then looks over to see Al-Haitham with an extremely sour expression on his face. "That was disgusting."

"It's part of the experience."

"I think I'll stick to the mixed drinks."

"Suit yourself." Kaveh uses his free arm to grab Al-Haitham's, tugging him along. "Come on, let's go make some rounds."

In one corner, some A team members are debating over the song queue. In another, Tighnari and Cyno are now playing Mario Kart. Kaveh ends up dragging Al-Haitham over to join the small game of Flip Cup starting up dangerously close to the drinks.

Al-Haitham keeps sipping at the mixed drinks, and soon, Kaveh realizes that Al-Haitham is far drunker than he is. Kaveh wouldn't consider himself a lightweight, despite what other people may think. He has perfectly average tolerance, thank you! But Al-Haitham looks more relaxed than Kaveh has ever seen, with a rosy flush spreading across his cheeks. Drunk Al-Haitham is also apparently very competitive and a natural talent at Flip Cup, because the world is unfair.

At some point, everyone still at the party is seated on the floor and playing an aggressive game of Slapjack. It comes down to Cyno, who is completely sober; Scara, who is drunk off his ass; and Dehya, who Kaveh is sure will win; but various other people keep slapping back into the game.

Kaveh is about to slap back in when Al-Haitham, who has been leaning against his side, suddenly lays his head onto Kaveh's lap. "I'm tired."

"Get up, you're blocking me from the cards," Kaveh hisses, not ignorant of the many curious glances that are now being thrown their way. Cyno waggles his eyebrows, but then ends up losing another stack of cards to Scara due to that lapse in attention, which brings Kaveh no small amount of delight.

The game doesn't ever fully get settled, but at some point, the cards get cast aside in favor of chatting on the floor. Al-Haitham's head is still on Kaveh's thigh. Valiantly ignoring this, Kaveh gets to know a few more of the A team members and finds out that all of them have been playing with SumAk for at least 2 years, but two of them only started playing Star League in college. "So Al-Haitham's not the only one who started from scratch," Dehya says, knocking shoulders with one of her teammates fondly. "Though getting into the team without ever playing before try-outs is definitely historic!"

"Don't tell him that. It'll only inflate his ego more." Kaveh pokes Al-Haitham's shoulder. "Hey, why did you even try out?"

"Oh," Al-Haitham says, "I saw you signing up at the club fair and thought you were cute."

The party goes completely silent. A second later, the music starts again, after that ill-timed transition between songs, but everyone is speechless.

Including Kaveh. Especially Kaveh.

Al-Haitham lifts his head up up to look around, brow furrowed, as if not sure why they all had that reaction.

Tighnari has a wicked gleam in his eye. Kaveh leans over to try to throttle him, but doesn't make it in time to suppress his words: "Yes, Kaveh is super cute, isn't he?"

"The cutest," Al-Haitham agrees, oblivious to Kaveh dying an excruciating death above him, then yawns. "I'm tired. Can I leave?"

"You're drunk," Cyno says. "You should probably be escorted back to your dorm. Kaveh, why don't you go with him?"

"I hate you both," Kaveh says. "I'm kicking you off the team."

"You can't do that," Tighnari says, and clinks cups with Cyno.

"What's in your cup?" Sethos asks. "I thought you weren't drinking tonight."

"Lemonade."

"Okay, I'm leaving, because I don't want to be here anymore," Kaveh announces. "Not because of this guy." He knows it's futile, and that they'll start gossiping the second he's gone, but he pushes Al-Haitham out of his lap, hauls the two of them up, and glares at the circle of seated people. "And what's said at this party stays at this party. We're all going to forget this happened."

"Yes, captain," Scara sings, before dissolving into truly hideous cackling.

"You're embarrassing me," Kaveh says to Al-Haitham. "You know that?"

Even while drunk and strangely honest, Al-Haitham still has a talent for pissing him off. "You do that all by yourself."

"Fuck you," Kaveh hisses, but he still leads Al-Haitham out of Scara's dorm and onto the path back to theirs, grabbing a few packets of liquid IV from Scara's drinks table as they pass by. Al-Haitham seems content to stay quiet, just walking along guided by Kaveh's hands and staring at the night sky above them.

With every fiber of his being, Kaveh hopes and prays that Al-Haitham is the type of drunk to forget everything. He still hasn't allowed himself to process the words, or even register their meaning, because he somehow knows that if he does, he'll be forced to acknowledge something else, and that's much too confusing for him to deal with.

The cold seems to sober Al-Haitham up, or maybe it's the liquid IV that Kaveh pours into his water bottle along the walk home. They walk to Al-Haitham's door, where Al-Haitham turns around and, surprisingly, hugs Kaveh. His arms are warm and hold Kaveh steady, and Kaveh allows himself to follow his instincts and relax into the embrace, just a little.

"Thanks, senior," Al-Haitham says. "I desperately need to use the bathroom. Bye."

"Oh. Okay." Kaveh steps back from him. "Um. Good night?"

Al-Haitham disappears, leaving Kaveh alone to walk back to his own room, furiously pushing any thoughts of his underclassman finding him cute out of his own head.

A week later, Candace and Dehya invite Kaveh to grab coffee. A "captains' check-in," they call it. Kaveh shows up, dreading whether he's going to be barraged with questions about his love life. He already received enough texts from the rest of his team. Apparently Sethos started a group chat without him and Al-Haitham to place bets on when they'll get together, which might actually be Kaveh's worst nightmare come to life. Why is Sethos even involved in all of this?

But Candace and Dehya appear to be genuinely focused on discussing the team, one captain to another. They also buy Kaveh a matcha latte, which he and his wallet appreciate. "We wanted to hold this meeting, now that all the invitationals are over, to see how you're doing," Candace says, passing the drink to him across the table. "How was your first semester of being a captain?"

"Honestly, great." Kaveh smiles. "It was stressful at first—okay, maybe always—but the invitational was so rewarding, especially seeing how much everyone improved. It was nice that the focus was on growth, not results. I want to preserve that attitude for the spring season, so that everyone can continuing having fun and developing their own distinct playstyles."

"We wanted you to know that we're also impressed by SumAk C's progress," Candace says.

Dehya nods. "Truly one of the most functional C teams I've seen in my four years here! Captaining is a huge responsibility, but you've excelled so far, and we mean it."

"Thank you for trusting me," Kaveh says, then chuckles. "Although, honestly, springing it on me during our first team meeting was a little cruel."

Neither Dehya nor Candace laugh. "What?" Dehya says.

"We told you over email?" Candace says.

"Wait, what?" Kaveh pulls out his phone and scrolls through his emails, looking for his initial acceptance to the team. Oh, Archons. Turns out it was sitting there all along and he just didn't scroll down to the part where they'd told him they'd like him to captain the C team. Talk to us if you have any questions or concerns! "Oh. Well. You know what, that makes a lot of sense."

"You thought we would just drop that on you out of nowhere?" Candace asks. "Wow, that would've been so irresponsible of us. I'm sorry if it felt that way."

"No, this is fully my fault," Kaveh protests. "Also, I had literally just met the two of you, so I apologize for misjudging you. For the longest time I just thought it was a weird way to manage things. But hey, at least it worked out!"

"It did." Dehya looks to Candace, but Candace is taking a sip of her latte, so Dehya continues. "For the rest of the semester, you'll keep having team training sessions, though not as frequent as leading up to the invitationals. Then, next semester, the focus will be preparing for the spring tournament. But we also wanted to let you know... There could be an opening for you to join SumAk A."

Kaveh blinks. "Pardon?"

"Sometimes, team lineups switch between the fall and spring semesters," Dehya explains. "There's been a few changes to our team roles, so there's a possibility that we could take on a new ADC, and we know you would be great, if you're interested."

Kaveh processes the opportunity that's being presented to him. At the start of the semester, that was where he would've imagined himself: competing in his rightful role as an ADC at the highest level that the Akademiya can offer. He hasn't been able to bring himself to play ADC in a long time, but this is the closest he'll ever get to his former glory, when the world of Star League still felt like his to conquer. Having met the rest of SumAk A, he knows they're kind people who would wholeheartedly support him as a teammate in whatever way he needed.

"Thank you," he says, "but no thank you. I'm happy where I am. And I still have to lead SumAk C to some exciting victories in the spring, with our full roster. After all, Cyno hasn't gotten to compete yet."

Candace smiles at him. "I understand. Your team is lucky to have you, Kaveh."

Kaveh takes that in, the feeling of being appreciated and valued and cherished. Of being loved. He holds it in his heart, hoping he never forgets its power, because it means he's done something right.

"Speaking of your teammates, who you clearly care about so much..." Dehya's grin suddenly informs Kaveh exactly where this is going, pulling him out of his moment of grateful reflection. "What are you gonna do?"

Kaveh tries to play dumb. "About what?"

Dehya fixes him with an exasperated look. "You know what, Kaveh. It's clear that Al-Haitham likes you."

"Um," Kaveh says. "We don't know if that's true. Also, I don't even like him."

Both Dehya and Candace raise their eyebrows at him.

"I don't!" Kaveh says. Why does everyone seem to think he has the hots for Al-Haitham? The unique place he occupies in Kaveh's mind is only because he's the most annoying person Kaveh has ever met. "And even if I did, which I don't, I'm not going to break the teamcest rule."

Candace frowns. "Teamcest rule...?"

As Kaveh looks at Candace, president of the Sumeru Akademiya Honkai Star League Esports Team, repeat those words like she's never heard them in her life, a sinking feeling comes over him. "Scara, you motherfucker."

"I'm sorry," Dehya says. "Scara made you believe there was a teamcest rule?" And then she's laughing, clutching her stomach and wheezing so heartily that she looks like she might fall over. "Teamcest! Please! As if we could enforce something like that. No—be gay, love who you love, whatever. Candace and I have literally been together for years."

"What?" He didn't know that. "I didn't know that."

"Well, we keep it very professional at club meetings."

Candace nods. "We'd never want anyone to feel like a third wheel!"

Kaveh does remember, then, a buried memory of the two of them cuddling on Scara's couch at the Halloween party. Wearing matching costumes. In hindsight, it all adds up.

"Honestly, if you look at our demographics, our team puts the gay in gaming," Dehya says.

Candace sighs. "She makes that joke every opportunity she can. It gets old fast. But I suppose it's true. Don't tell them, but we have a betting ring on Cyno and Tighnari getting together. Actually, let me know if you want to join."

"Oh, Archons, are you two in Sethos's group chat too?"

"Sethos's group chat...?"

"Please forget I said anything." For a second, he questions the ethics of the club president and team captains going behind club members' backs to place monetary bets on whether two people will end up in a romantic relationship. Then he decides that he does not care enough, and that there's nothing he can do about it anyway, especially if there's definitely one for him and Al-Haitham. "And add me to this betting ring."

The object of Kaveh's frustrations has not said anything more about the events of the party. At practice, Al-Haitham offhandedly thanked Kaveh for walking him back to the dorm, but didn't mention anything else, and Kaveh was too scared to ask if he remembered. Surely things would be different between them if he did. But Al-Haitham acts the same as always. It's annoying, yet reassuring. They play many more games of Star League, but those proceed as normal, with not much room to talk about their feelings or whatever Kaveh is fearing.

The only uncharacteristic move Al-Haitham makes is to drop his stuff down at Kaveh's table and take the seat across from him at the library, one late Sunday night.

Kaveh looks up and scowls. "You."

"Yes, me," Al-Haitham says, pulling out a notebook. "It looked like this spot was available."

Kaveh is tempted to lecture him about jumping to conclusions, but the spot was indeed available, and Kaveh's problem set is due in 2 hours, so he doesn't have the luxury of bickering right now. He watches as Al-Haitham puts his fancy noise-canceling headphones back on, and the two work in silence for an indefinite amount of time.

Occasionally, Kaveh looks up from his equations to see Al-Haitham immersed in his notes. They've never actually studied together. It's a productive change of pace, and probably beneficial to Kaveh's time management.

They work separately on their respective sides of the table until a sweet voice interrupts Kaveh's train of thought. "Al-Haitham! Nice to see you." He can scarcely imagine anyone saying those words and meaning them, so he looks up to see a redheaded girl smiling down at the two of them. "Could I join you guys?"

Al-Haitham takes off his headphones and glances over to Kaveh, as if to leave it up to him.

Naturally, Kaveh would never reject her. "Of course!" He shuffles some papers over to give her more space, privately in shock that someone who seems as nice and normal as this girl would be acquaintances with Al-Haitham. Perhaps even friends? "I'm Kaveh."

Recognition lights up her face. "You're Kaveh! I've heard so much about you. I'm Nilou."

What does she mean, she's heard so much about him? Kaveh looks pointedly over to Al-Haitham, who shrugs. Maybe he tells her about the esports team or something, it being his only extracurricular.

And why does Nilou know so much about Kaveh when Kaveh didn't even know Al-Haitham had any other friends? As Kaveh is mentally debating whether he should tell a white lie, Nilou seems to catch on and laughs. "I bet he's never mentioned me. We're in the same first-year writing seminar with Professor Gible."

"Honestly, I didn't know he had friends outside of the team until just now," Kaveh says, taking a social risk. Luckily, Nilou giggles. It seems he's found a kindred spirit; then again, you can't be friends with someone like Al-Haitham without wanting to humble him from time to time.

"You think so lowly of my social life, senior," Al-Haitham speaks up. "I'm not a recluse. I just have all the friends I need already."

Kaveh exaggeratedly rolls his eyes, while Nilou laughs. "So you're also a freshman? I've heard Professor Gible's seminar is great, especially for humanities majors. What are you studying?"

"Dance, with a concentration in Performance Studies." Her radiant smile overtakes her entire face. "Speaking of which, my dance troupe has a show in two weeks! Both of you should come. I can get you free tickets, if you'd like."

"That is so, so cool." Kaveh glares at Al-Haitham. "Al-Haitham, why have you been hiding your lovely friend Nilou from me? I've gone too long without her in my life."

Nilou laughs again. She's been doing a lot of that during this conversation, her eyes flitting back and forth between the two of them. "I'm so glad I finally get to meet you too! We should all grab a meal sometime, or maybe a sweet treat. There's this dessert spot near the dance studio that I absolutely love."

"I would love that," Kaveh says. "Especially because I unfortunately have to focus on this problem set right now, so I can't talk much. I'm so sorry; it's due at midnight."

"No worries. I'm also here to do work." Nilou sighs, pulling out her laptop. "Al-Haitham, did you finish the paper yet?"

"Still choosing my topic."

"You're falling behind," Nilou teases. "I thought you were on top of everything."

Al-Haitham makes eye contact with Kaveh. "I've been playing a lot of Star League lately."

"He has."

"Ah." Nilou shakes her head. "Well, remember to stretch your wrists and take lots of movement breaks. You don't want to strain your muscles and get carpal tunnel."

"I think it's a bit too late for me, unfortunately," Kaveh says. "Professional gaming will do that to you."

"Nilou," Al-Haitham says, "everything I love causes carpal tunnel."

The last portion of the semester whizzes by in a blur of study sessions, sweet treats, final exams, dance performances, and many games of Star League. On the last day of finals week, Kaveh submits the worst essay he's ever written and heads off to Scara's dorm for the third time that semester.

Scara has promised the party will be even wilder than the previous two, and that friends of the team are invited to come. The only person Kaveh would've invited is Nilou, but her dance team had other plans for the night, so it's just him and Al-Haitham, getting ready in Al-Haitham's room because Kaveh convinced him to let him do his makeup.

Kaveh showed up at Al-Haitham's door in his cutest going-out clothes. After some harsh words, he made sure Al-Haitham changed out of his team jacket and into something much more flattering: a tight-fitting black tank and baggy green pants. Now, both of them are dressed much more appropriately for the party, though Al-Haitham insists on bringing the jacket along in case it gets cold.

"It'll be a packed room of sweaty people jumping up and down," Kaveh says. "Not to mention the alcohol. You won't get cold."

"I won't be drinking." When Kaveh turns to look at him in surprise, he says, "I'm leaving for home tomorrow morning. And I think I had enough last time."

Last time. Nope. Kaveh is not stepping anywhere near that battleground. "Makes sense. Now come here and let me do your eyeliner," he says a little too loudly.

For the next several minutes, Kaveh focuses on drawing two even lines across Al-Haitham's eyes, adding some red and teal hues to make the color of his eyes pop. Thankfully, Al-Haitham's eyes are closed for most of the process, except for when Kaveh tells him to open, because Kaveh is realizing how close together they are, and how his supporting hand is quite literally cupping Al-Haitham's face. He doesn't think he could handle that intense eye contact trained on him for so long, at such a short distance.

I saw you signing up at the club fair and thought you were cute, his traitorous brain keeps replaying.

So what if Al-Haitham finds him aesthetically appealing? It just means that Al-Haitham has eyes and surprisingly good taste. This whole situation is just two attractive people finding each other attractive in a platonic, friendly way. It means nothing, which is perfect, because Kaveh feels nothing.

He dabs some finishing touches of highlighter onto Al-Haitham's face, then turns him to face towards the mirror. "You can look now."

Al-Haitham squints at himself. Kaveh isn't used to seeing him with makeup, but he looks good. The thoughts that suddenly rush into Kaveh's mind are certainly all related to pride in his own makeup skills, and not at all his canvas. "Thank you. Did you emphasize my eyebags?"

"Under-eye fat is supposed to make you look youthful and energetic. You wouldn't get it," Kaveh says, affronted. He steps back. "Stand up."

Al-Haitham does, so Kaveh can scan his outfit from head to toe again.

"You know what, I think it's still missing something." He goes back to peer at Al-Haitham's closet and pulls out a bright green tie. "What if you wore this?"

"Over my... tank top?"

"Yeah." Kaveh tugs him closer and loops it around his neck. "You could wear it loosely, so it looks all messy and sexy."

"Sexy," Al-Haitham echoes strangely.

Kaveh rolls his eyes and busies himself with tying. "Here, I'll show you."

For the second time in minutes, he's managed to land himself in a situation with their faces in close proximity again. He ignores the sound of Al-Haitham's breathing, keeping his gaze intently on the knot forming below Al-Haitham's collarbones. When he's done, he steps back to put an arm-length of distance between them. "There." Spotting a pair of large black sunglasses on the nightstand, he also grabs that and places them atop Al-Haitham's head. "I'm a genius."

"Sunglasses. For an indoor party."

"It's a fashion statement."

Al-Haitham looks down at his clothes. "This is some sort of statement, alright."

"You look good." Kaveh's hand moves forward of its own accord, ruffling Al-Haitham's hair. It's so soft, even more than he imagined it would be.

Immediately, he pulls it back. What is he doing?

The expression on Al-Haitham's face is indiscernible. Kaveh racks his brain, trying to find something to say to make everything normal again. "This look would be perfect if you had, like, twin pigtails or something," he says. "With little green bows."

"I would look ridiculous," Al-Haitham says, the weird tension not quite evaporated.

"That's the whole point! Um, anyways, let's go to the party?"

"Yes." Al-Haitham clears his throat. "Let's go. We're late."

It's the last party of the semester, so naturally, Kaveh is drunk. Maybe even the drunkest he's ever been. Which might be why he, Scara, and Tighnari are currently piled on a beanbag definitely only meant for one person, with Al-Haitham and Cyno watching to the side.

"You guys are truly like a family to me," Kaveh sobs, because he is first a talkative, flirty drunk, but eventually an emotional drunk. He wraps his arms tighter around Scara's leg. "I'm just so, so grateful. Did I ever tell you that? You're the most wonderful teammates I could ever ask for..."

"You've told us several times already," Al-Haitham says.

Cyno swats at him. "Let him keep saying it. It's funny."

"Yes, it's great," says Tighnari, who is tipsy but clearly in a much better state than Kaveh and Scara. "Is someone filming this? Cyno, pass me my phone."

Kaveh can't even be hurt, because Tighnari is a wonderful person and a wonderful teammate. So is Scara, and so is Cyno, and so is Al-Haitham. "You're the best team I've ever played with," he professes. "I would choose all of you over the best Star League players in the world. Because. You. Kick. Ass!"

From Scara: "Can you let go of my leg?"

From Al-Haitham: "Kaveh, do you need water?"

From Cyno: "I'm sure Kaveh is thirsty."

Kaveh does not need water, and he is not thirsty, despite the tears that keep leaking from his eyes. "You've truly made me fall back in love with gaming. You've healed wounds that I thought would always remain open. For that, I can never thank you all enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you—"

"Get it?" Cyno asks the rest of the group. "Because thirsty is an adjective describing when someone wants water, but I was referring to how Kaveh is lusting after Al-Haitham—"

"Fuck!" Kaveh bolts to his feet, pushing off Tighnari and Scara. "I need to throw up!"

Scara sits up straight. "If you throw up on my carpet, I swear—"

Kaveh doesn't catch the tail end of the threat; he's already dashing towards the closest, blessedly unoccupied bathroom.

He kneels there for a while, after he's caught his breath, the tiled floor cold and hard and probably dirty beneath his knees. Distantly, he registers the sound of footsteps, then a solid hand patting his back.

"Better now?" comes Al-Haitham's voice.

Kaveh tilts his head up to see Al-Haitham, except he's still wearing his sunglasses, and the sight is so absurd that Kaveh laughs so hard he clutches his stomach and fears he might vomit again.

"...Okay." Al-Haitham sits down next to him on the floor. "Here, I got you some water and almonds."

"Almonds?" Kaveh says weakly.

"Apparently Scara likes them."

"Is it true?"

Al-Haitham frowns. "That Scara likes—"

"That you joined the team because you thought I was cute."

Kaveh looks at him. Al-Haitham looks back. The muffled music from the rest of the party increases in volume. The bathroom floor is still cold and hard. The air smells like lavender and vomit.

"Yes."

The simple admission sends his head swimming. If he's being honest with himself, he already knew it was the truth. Also, Al-Haitham's words are definitely not the only reason why his head is swimming. "Love at first sight, huh," he jokes, not sure where the words are coming from anymore.

"Attraction at first sight," Al-Haitham corrects. "And then I got to know your personality," he adds, in a tone that can only be described as derogatory.

"But you still think I'm cute," Kaveh counters.

Al-Haitham hesitates. "I think you're beautiful."

"Oh." Bile rises up in Kaveh's throat. He leans over the toilet to throw up again.

"Seriously?" he hears Al-Haitham say, but gentle hands gather back his hair and hold it out of the way as he finishes retching.

Once Kaveh is fine again, the hands gently fall away. "Thanks," Kaveh says, his next words lodging uncomfortably in his throat. "You know... You're not so bad yourself."

For a few moments, Al-Haitham just stares at Kaveh. Then, he tilts his head. Reaching out, he says, "Let me help you back to your dorm."

Kaveh takes the hand offered to him. A jacket is draped around his shoulders. They make their way back.

Kaveh wakes up in a familiar bed, several of his stuffed animals teetering dangerously close to the edge. It takes him a few moments before he remembers the events of last night and how he got back to his room—or rather, who got him back.

He sits up and looks around the room, but of course, Al-Haitham and any sign of him are long gone. A quick glance at his watch tells him that Al-Haitham must have left for break already, since he was heading out this morning.

A small thought makes itself known to him, like a splinter lodged in his palm. Al-Haitham didn't say goodbye.

But it's fine. It's fine! They'll see each other in a month. Not to mention that they'll probably call and play Star Rail multiple times over the break. They never owed each other a proper goodbye.

The memories of last night, or rather, early this morning, catch up to him, and suddenly, he doesn't know where they stand. Between the two of them, Al-Haitham was definitely the most vulnerable last night, but Kaveh remembers all of it. Now, in the light of day, it's easier to see the truth for what it is, if only he chooses to look.

For now, Kaveh chooses to look instead at the mess that has accumulated in his room. He should probably clean this up before it's time for him to go home as well.

He's hauling a large trash bag out to the overflowing trash room on the first floor when he spots, through the window, the unmistakable figure of Al-Haitham leaving the dorm, large suitcase in hand.

"Al-Haitham!" Kaveh yells. Before he can think better of it, he drops the bag on the pile of trash and sprints down the hallway toward the main entrance. "Al-Haitham!"

Al-Haitham looks over his shoulder just as Kaveh busts open the door, surprise on his face. He stops walking. "Kaveh?"

"Al-Haitham." Kaveh catches up with him and has to pause to regain control his breath. When he straightens up again, Al-Haitham is looking at him with some amusement. "You know, I'm glad I met you," he announces.

Al-Haitham's mouth falls open. "I'm glad I met you too," he says. "Obviously."

Kaveh swats him on the arm. "Don't spend too much time playing Star League over break, you addict."

"Shouldn't you be encouraging me to play more? It would be best for the team if I practiced as much as possible, no?"

"You've gotten a lot better already. I trust you."

Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow.

Kaveh flushes. "Okay, I'm not going to repeat that." He gives Al-Haitham a once-over. Al-Haitham is in his team jacket and some gray sweatpants, a green travel pillow around his shoulders, looking all ready and cozy for his trip home. "One last thing, before you go..."

Al-Haitham's gaze is questioning.

Kaveh isn't actually sure what he's about to do. He didn't plan for this. Instead, he lets instinct guide him. Stepping in, closer, throwing his arms over Al-Haitham's shoulders, he knows the sound of Al-Haitham's sharp intake of breath is his last chance to turn back.

To hell with it.

He presses a kiss to Al-Haitham's cheek and says, "I'll see you in the new year."

To an outsider, Al-Haitham's expression may look unchanged. But Kaveh can recognize the signs of a suppressed smile, how Al-Haitham's stare is fixed on him like Kaveh has just turned his world upside down and Al-Haitham is dying to analyze how it was done.

Al-Haitham clears his throat. His eyes don't fully meet Kaveh's. "Call me when you want to play together?"

Kaveh grins. "I will."

Later, Kaveh will have plenty of time to stew over whether or not he chose the right move. Whether or not he selected the appropriate strategy, ventured down the correct lane, or played his best hand. For now, watching the retreating figure of his junior lift a hand to his cheek, he only feels an inexplicable sense of fondness—and excitement for whatever may come next.