Chapter Text
Alhaitham finally moves into his second-year college dorm. His roommate has clearly already been there, yet is nowhere to be found. After unpacking the last few boxes, he sits on his bed, adjacent to his roommate's. Wondering who his new roommate could be, he changes the song on his headphones and opens a book. Not ten minutes go by until he hears a door click, and it becomes clear that his roommate has finally arrived. Alhaitham lightly turns down the volume in his headphones, and directs his attention toward the entrance.
A faint "Hello?" is heard from the hall, followed by footsteps and eventually revealing who he assumes to be his new roommate. He subconsciously stares at the man, almost taken aback by his looks. "Oh, you must be my roommate, I'm Kaveh," the man holds out his hand, which Alhaitham admittedly ignores, as he is no fan of physical contact. "Hello, my name is Alhaitham." There's a quick pause as Kaveh lowers his hand, face flushing almost immediately. The blonde nods, silently judging the other for not shaking his hand. He sits on his bed, eyes still fixed on Alhaitham, clearly attempting to read him, but to no avail.
"So, what's your major?" the blonde quips. Alhaitham looks up from his book again and answers, "Political sciences, you?" Another pause. "Ah, architecture. Are you new..? I don't see you around much." Kaveh desperately claws for more of this conversation, finding the man infatuating. Alhaitham flips a page of his book before answering, something Kaveh had already guessed, and which rendered the man speechless, unable to come up with another topic to talk about.
Kaveh fiddles with his fingers, before getting off his bed and looking around the dorm further. He looks at Alhaitham's decor, and is almost upset at him. He's a little upset this man clearly doesn't know how to decorate properly, nor very well. The walls above his bed are bare, except for a small, framed pressed padisarah. The frame was crooked. His bed was made particularly neat. Kaveh desperately wanted to pick this man's brain.
"Where are you from?" he asks. "Just about thirty minutes from the city. I live alone."
"Really? All alone that far from civilization?" Kaveh let out a small giggle at this, but Alhaitham didn't seem to think it was all that funny. "Yes. I like quiet." the grey-haired man said, hoping Kaveh would get the hint. He didn't. "Oh, I see. What's your favorite thing to do?" he continuously asked Alhaitham questions, which he begrudgingly answered. He was praying to Kusanali for this man to finally get the hint he should quit talking.
Eventually, he did.. because he left the dorm to go shower before bed. Alhaitham took his headphones off and began to get ready for sleep as well. He sighed, thinking he had a long year ahead of him with a roommate this social. He began to remember his friend, Cyno, who was rooming with his boyfriend of two years, becoming a little jealous. Why couldn't he find someone like that for him?
Kaveh returned, blonde hair still slightly damp, carrying his things. Alhaitham subconsciously stared at him again, admiring. Kaveh sets his things down and begins to feel eyes on the back of him. He turns around to half-heartedly smile at Alhaitham. "I like that the showers here are very clean despite them being communal," he gently sighed as he dimmed the lights and lied down. "I still wish we had our own bathrooms in these dorms though, I guess I just have to wait until next year." He looked at the other in the room, waiting for some sort of response.
Alhaitham simply nodded. Kaveh let out a small, frustrated sound as he turned over in bed as to not face Alhaitham. The grey-haired man eventually set his book down, and fell asleep very quickly after hitting the pillow. Kaveh, however, couldn't fall asleep so easily. He stayed up thinking about how rude his roommate was. Why can't he provide longer answers? What's his issue? Kaveh just wanted to make some friends. Eventually, after dwelling on these thoughts for about an hour after Alhaitham fell asleep, Kaveh did too.
In the morning, Kaveh was already gone by the time Alhaitham woke up. He figured that the blonde had left to go to breakfast with some friends, perhaps. Alhaitham hoped when he arrived at the dining hall, that Kaveh would not call him over to sit with him, or that Kaveh would be gone from the dining hall all together. As he finished getting ready, he grabbed his bag and headed out of the dorms to the dining hall as intended. He got coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and some yogurt.
Kaveh immediately spotted him. "Oh! Alhaitham! Over here, come sit with us." He shouts over about three tables. Alhaitham very lightly blushed with embarrassment as he walked over to Kaveh's table. At last, he meets with Cyno and his boyfriend, Tighnari. Finally, people he can somewhat stand. People that know him.
"You've met Kaveh?" Cyno asks, looking at Alhaitham's delicate flush as he sat at their table, directly next to Kaveh. He slowly nods. "He's my roommate."
"Oh! I'm sorry, have I not mentioned that already?" Kaveh giggled and took a bite of lightly buttered toast. "Sorry, I've been scatterbrained since I got here. I didn't know you all knew eachother."
"Small world," Tighnari spoke, looking at Cyno and smiling. "Your hair looks great by the way, Kav. Did you do something new with it?" The two spoke about styles and such while Alhaitham sat silently and ate his breakfast. He thought the coffee was a tad too bitter, despite adding cream and sugar like he usually does.
"Something wrong, Haitham?" Cyno asked him, and only him, as Tighnari and Kaveh were still involved in their own conversation. "My coffee is bitter. I don't know how much more cream or sugar I can add without it tasting terrible." Cyno nodded, then he smirked before opening his mouth again. "Is that making you feel.. depresso?" He chuckled and looked around, waiting for a reaction from the table.
Tighnari groaned as he said, "Really?" which left Cyno giggling. "Ugh, Cyno, don't say that ever again," Alhaitham responded. He looked at the pretty blonde next to him, just before he spoke. "Alhaitham, do you want to try my coffee? I added some of my own creamer."
Slightly perking up at the idea, Alhaitham nodded and took a sip of Kaveh's coffee. It actually tasted well, with a hint of peppermint. He set the mug back down on the table and looked at Kaveh. "Thank you, do you mind if I borrow your creamer?"
"Not at all," Kaveh smiled as a blush crept across his face. "It's up in our dorm, though, in the mini fridge. You're always welcome to use it and to use my coffee maker too." Alhaitham nodded and wanted to smile, but found it challenging. He admired Kaveh's smile, not realizing he had been staring for way too long.
Eventually, each of them left to go to separate classes, and went about their days as usual. Alhaitham continued to think about Kaveh's smile, how his lips reminded him of a strawberry. As he arrived back to the dorm, he wondered if his lips tasted like strawberries, too. Kaveh arrived about a half an hour after he did, sighing loudly and sitting on his bed.
"I'm so bored, do you want to watch a movie with me?" The blonde looked over to Alhaitham, who was reading, seemingly uninterested. Looking up, he responded, "Sure. You choose." Alhaitham closed his book and directed his attention toward the other man, once again finding himself staring. This time at the lightly dusted freckles across his cheeks.
Kaveh was intently watching the movie he had flicked onto the small TV on the desk in front of his bed. He yawned, covering his mouth with his left hand gently. Alhaitham found it impossible to take his eyes off of him. He found himself smiling as he admired Kaveh.
Kaveh slowly turned his head to look Alhaitham in the eyes. "Is there something on my face?" He had clearly been feeling Alhaitham's eyes on him as he watched the movie, and was feeling a little embarrassed. "Oh, no, not at all. I was just zoning out," he lied. He directed his focus back to the television screen, hoping to get Kaveh off of his mind for a minute.
Kaveh fell asleep before the movie had finished. He was snoring gently and was completely uncovered. Alhaitham got up to turn off the television, and in doing so, lifted a blanket onto Kaveh and lightly tucked him in. He turned out the lights, got ready for bed himself, and quickly fell asleep once he lied down.