Work Text:
There was a clattering sound as keys scraped past the lock at the front door, sliding around before eventually lodging, the click of the door unlocking followed. Alhaitham scoffed inwardly, at least Kaveh had remembered his key this time though he clearly needed some practice in how to use it.
Alhaitham set his cutlery down his dinner forgotten and turned in his seat at the kitchen counter, to watch Kaveh stumble into the living area. Was he drunk? No, it was too early for him to have gone to the work celebration after his meeting and have made it home already, the sun was only just setting.
He watched in silence as Kaveh stumbled into his house, barely managing to kick off his shoes in the entryway. His roommate looked haggard. While Kaveh often looked defeated after anything work related due to his incurable people pleasing habits, the tension in his body; his pinched expression and wound-up shoulders were worse than Alhaitham had seen in some time.
“How did your meeting go?” Alhaitham quizzed, a brow drawing up in challenge, but Kaveh physically flinched at the question.
That rection by itself was answer enough as Kaveh wordlessly trudged through to his bedroom door which laid across the living area from Alhaitham’s own. Knowing his roommate, Kaveh must have been scammed, talked into discounting his service or agreeing to extra hours and demands. Alhaitham tried to roll the tension from his shoulders at that thought. Too frequently, Alhaitham had to tell himself his roommate’s lack of a spine and boundaries were not his problem. Yet he did care, or rather it was a morbid curiosity and investment in Kaveh’s welfare. Only because he needs to pay rent Alhaitham told himself though he was too intelligent to believe the lies his mind whispered when it had been months since he’d last even cared to chase down Kaveh’s owed rent. It’s not like money had motivated Alhaitham to offer Kaveh a place to live in the first place.
“Kaveh” Alhaitham started up, striding after him as Kaveh’s back disappeared into his room. “You did charge your client, didn’t you? These people are taking advantage of you, kindness is cumbersome in busine-“
The words died in his mouth as he came to stand in the doorway to Kaveh’s room. It was strewn with mess and as much as that made Alhaitham twitch it was Kaveh’s prone figure that cut him off. His roommate had shed his red cloak and now laid curled atop his large, rumpled bed, white blouse loose and revealing a large portion of the smooth skin of his back as he curled in on himself. While Kaveh was typically dramatic, something about his current state drove a spike of worry to Alhaitham’s gut. It was the quiet whimpering coming from his prone roommate that told him something was truly wrong.
“What’s wrong with you?” Alhaitham was rarely praised for his directness, but he had never found tact to be all that useful. He moved closer to Kaveh, tempted to reach out to the man but held back.
A vicious shudder wracked Kaveh’s body before he groaned out “allergies… I think.”
That gave Alhaitham pause “that doesn’t look like an allergic reaction.” He’d read many medical tomes in all his studies, he remembered every volume he’d read that covered allergies, none had presented symptoms quite like what he was witnessing in Kaveh.
“I think it was the… flowers” Kaveh panted out. “It feels. Worse… than normal.”
Worry sunk itself deeper into his bones in that moment, Alhaitham had certainly read of responses to toxic flora presenting like this. “Kaveh. What flowers?”
Carefully he leaned down, brushed Kavehs bangs from his head and pressed his hand to his forehead. Alhaitham had only intended to check his temperature but a shiver wracked Kaveh as he leant into the touch with what almost seemed to be desperation. Bizarrely, Kaveh’s temperature felt fine, which made no sense given his symptoms.
“They… were a... thank you. From client” Kaveh was trembling now and when Alhaitham retracted his hand a Kaveh groaned in protest.
“Did you touch them?” Alhaitham quizzed discomfited by Kaveh’s current state. He should check Kaveh’s hands for a dermatological reaction, but the man weakly shook his head before curling up further.
Toxic flora spread through touch, though everything seemed off with Kaveh’s symptoms. For the first time in a long time Alhaitham felt helpless, a heavy sigh tearing from his lungs as he ran a hand through his hair.
In a fruitless effort Alhaitham drifted from the room to locate the medicine Kaveh usually took for his allergies and a glass of water, in the hopes it might do something. Mentally he was running through all his mentally archived knowledge from his shelves, trying to calculate whether he knew of anything that might identify Kaveh’s ailment. His best chance would be to contact the medical scholars of the Akademiya.
Upon returning to Kaveh’s room he found the symptoms had worsened, full body tremors ceaselessly barraged his prone figure. Alhaitham rushed to set down the glass and medicine vial on the small table beside Kaveh’s bed.
“I’ll contact the Bimarstan” Alhaitham’s words fell on stubborn ears.
“No” Kaveh managed to protest and though the man said nothing further Alhaitham could hear the cause behind the plea. Kaveh wouldn’t seek help, wouldn’t impose himself upon another person even if he felt as though he were dying.
“Well at least take this medicine for your allergies” he moved around the bed to help Kaveh up to a sitting position so Kaveh could drink the medicine.
When Alhaitham wrapped an arm behind Kaveh’s shoulders he was shocked as Kaveh gripped his wrist and just like that he was dragged down onto the bed. Before he could protest Kaveh had wrapped his trembling body against him.
Heat flushed Alhaitham’s face, and he was glad for Kaveh’s sudden fascination in hugging his body so he couldn’t see the way Alhaitham’s face, neck and ears burned.
“Kaveh?” he asked, his voice coming out huskier and more uncertain than he preferred.
The blond only responded by pulling himself tighter into Alhaitham’s chest, their bodies completely flush as Kaveh entwined their legs while his arms wrapped tight.
“Kaveh, what are you doing?” Alhaitham mustered a little more force behind his voice. He couldn’t help the way his arms slowly snaked around Kaveh, drawing his body firmer against his chest. That’s when he noticed the tremors had subsided.
Kaveh groaned into the embrace like it was the relief he’d so desperately needed, and the sound fluttered through Alhaitham’s chest.
“Do you think you could take some medicine now?” Alhaitham asked softly, loosening his grip and pulling away with the intention to reach for the vial but a pathetic whimper escaped Kaveh at the loss of contact.
“Stay” Kaveh begged.
It was embarrassing how quickly Alhaitham caved at the desperation in Kaveh’s voice. He settled back down pulling Kaveh deeper into his body, warily accepting this new twist of fate. If he were truly honest with himself, he’d admit that he didn’t mind the excuse to hold his roommate, but more than that he was enjoying the contact. He felt his breaths easing, slowing to match Kaveh’s, synchronising in a steady soft rhythm that soothed an ache Alhaitham hadn’t even been aware of.
Guiltily, Alhaitham allowed his hand to twine into Kavehs hair as his chest constricted with emotion.
“Kaveh, talk to me.”
“Mmm?” the contented hum of question was his only response.
“How are you feeling?”
“You’re so warm” Kaveh mumbled.
“What happened today?”
“Why are you interrogating me?” the irritated edge in Kaveh’s voice was muffled by the way he snuggled deeper into Alhaitham’s chest.
A relieved chuckle slipped past Alhaitham’s lips at Kaveh’s irritation. He felt Kavehs head leave his chest in response, drawing Alhaitham’s eyes down to meet the ruby ones looking up at him.
“You should laugh more often.”
Alhaitham looked away from Kaveh at that. Away from golden messy hair that framed those captivating eyes, suddenly aware of everywhere their bodies met, of how his arms reciprocated Kaveh’s desperately tight hold on him. And yet he couldn’t pull away.
There was an ache in his chest that Kaveh’s body pressure was alleviating. An ache, Alhaitham had never noticed before but became a chasm once his attention was drawn to it. He had the ridiculous urge to pull Kaveh into him, in the hopes he might fill that hole.
The thought that Kaveh might enjoy his laugh was too much to bear, that such a small indicator of emotion from Alhaitham could mean anything to him.
“You should smile more too.”
Alhaitham wasn’t certain Kaveh was of sound mind, but his words resonated. They told him Kaveh paid attention to him, his emotions, his lack of smiles, despite their tense relationship. Somewhere past all the irritation and arguments that had haunted their relationship since they fell out, Kaveh cared. His chest constricted and he wanted so desperately to be angry at Kaveh, it would be easier than this.
A light brush of fingertips across the bridge of his nose brought his attention back to Kaveh.
“You’re crying” Kaveh stated in soft wonder.
Alhaitham froze, he hadn’t noticed any tears slip but now mortification coursed through his body. Once more he wished he could pull away but some desperate thing in him refused though he had no excuse unlike Kaveh. He found escape in tucking Kaveh’s head back against his chest, the smell of his henna berry shampoo a soothing aroma.
“What happened today?” he repeated instead, curling against the warmth of Kaveh’s lean frame. Creating a space for his tears to slip from his eyes unobserved. “Talk to me Kaveh.”
He felt Kaveh’s inhalation before he spoke, the tightening of the other man’s chest before his voice came out gently. “I closed business just like you suggested. You should be proud” Kaveh’s words took on a bemused tone then. “I kept things professional and firm even though I wanted to crawl out of my skin when I told Mr. Ambeya the design was final. It worked though, so I suppose I have you to thank for that, turns out being a horrible person has its benefits sometimes.”
Alhaitham’s gut twisted at those last words, despite how it was a jest at his own unfeeling demeanour it was telling of Kaveh’s own self-perception. Kaveh had listened to him, those harsh words he’d ruthlessly directed at him had made a difference, but they’d also done their damage. Alhaitham felt the desperate need to reassure him.
Kaveh shivered at the loss of contact as Alhaitham lifted his arm, though quickly froze when he brought it up to cup his chin. Alhaitham tilted Kaveh’s slender face away from his chest, blond hair fell messily as he locked eyes with Kaveh and whispered “you are not a bad person” with a fervour that should have embarrassed him.
Blood rose to Kavehs cheeks staining them pink, and his roommate looked torn between pulling away to save face and leaning deeper into Alhaitham’s touch. Alhaitham chose the latter for him, smoothing Kaveh’s bangs away from his face before his hand came to rest on his cheek. It was more than Kaveh’s affliction called for, but something in Alhaitham was satisfied by the way Kaveh’s eyelids fluttered at the soft touch, his head following his hand.
Then he whispered the other line he knew Kaveh didn’t hear enough despite how it caught in his throat. “I’m proud of you.”
Kavehs eyes snapped open, wide scarlet locking onto his own teal-amber eyes. They looked glassy, like he could refract all the light in the room then the tears began to fall.
F*ck. He hadn’t meant to make him cry.
Alhaitham pulled Kaveh tighter against him, deeper, like he could wrap around him and protect him from the world. It was a pity he was too late to protect Kaveh from himself.
“So, the meeting went well, and Mr. Ambeya gave you flowers as a thank you?” Alhaitham prompted wanting to hear the end of Kaveh’s story.
“You know I’m allergic” Kaveh mumbled by way of explanation.
“So why didn’t you refuse?”
Kaveh’s scoffed “I’d done my rude thing for the day already.”
Alhaitham huffed at that, so his advice could only work so well before Kaveh’s people pleasing got the best of him.
“I left that meeting and could feel the allergies coming on even though I’d been so careful. I was intending to go to the wrap up party after that but knew I wouldn’t make it if I had a full-blown reaction.”
Alhaitham remained silent, listening and idly drawing abstract shapes down Kaveh’s back his fingers slipping beneath the low back of his blouse on occasion.
“I felt so guilty getting rid of those flowers, I couldn’t just toss them but of course I couldn’t keep them. I dropped by to see Tighnari, but he wasn’t home, I think I was secretly hoping he’d be there and have some medication I could take so I could make it to the party after all. I already felt guilty for having to miss it, then felt guilty for leaving the flowers with Collei but she said it was fine and sent me straight home.”
“You gave the flowers to Collei?” Alhaitham frowned.
“I think she said she wanted to study them, oh archons what if she gets sick too” Kaveh jolted at the realisation and moved like he was getting up. Alhaitham loosened his grip, letting the man pull away but Kaveh didn’t get far from his embrace before he groaned and dropped to the bed again, curling in on himself, wracked with agonising shivers.
Hastily Alhaitham rose to move closer and pull Kaveh back into his arms, rubbing his hands across his back like he could ease the shivers out of him. Kaveh trembled for a moment longer before managing to wrap himself back into Alhaitham’s embrace a tense breath leaving him.
“Don’t leave” Alhaitham said softly.
A bitter laugh escaped Kaveh, “it’s not like I could even if I wanted to.”
“Collei is a smart girl, I’m sure she knows better than to touch foreign plants” Alhaitham nudged the top of Kaveh’s head with his chin.
“Well at least she wouldn’t have to trek home like I did. I was fine until I reached the thick of the bazaar, and then all I could think about was-“
Kaveh’s sentence cut off and Alhaitham’s wandering hands found a place in Kaveh’s hair, weaving through the soft strands to his scalp.
“About what, Kaveh?”
Kaveh shivered and this time Alhaitham suspected it wasn’t due to his ailment.
“I craved touch, warmth” he mumbled, “still do.”
Kaveh’s breath was hot against Alhaitham’s collarbones, and he had to shove other ideas from his mind at the sensation. He knew his roommate too well to bother asking why Kaveh hadn’t asked for his help the moment he’d stumbled in the door.
“I’m sure Tighnari will know how to help you once he returns home” Alhaitham offered the consolation.
Kaveh groaned at that “I’m so sorry for dragging you into my mess.”
Alhaitham knew in that moment that Kaveh believed he was here begrudgingly, that he had other places he’d rather be. Humiliatingly Kaveh was wrong, though Alhaitham would do nothing to correct his assumption. It was shameful that Alhaitham felt as though he was benefitting from this exchange.
“I’m always dragged into your messes” Alhaitham said, amusement lilted his usually neutral tone.
Kaveh buried his face in Alhaitham’s shirt, and Alhaitham felt his groan reverberate through his body.
“Sorry” Kaveh whispered again.
Alhaitham pulled him tighter to his body and told him “It’s okay, this will pass. Get some sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning.”
Kaveh mumbled a “maybe” against his chest and must have been exhausted after the whole ordeal because his breathing levelled out in only a few minutes. His grip, however, didn’t relax in the slightest. He held onto Alhaitham even in his sleep, like he was Kaveh’s life force.
Alhaitham relished it even as he drifted gently to sleep himself, the pressure of Kaveh’s body against his was a rare comfort.
***
Groggy, Alhaitham registered a warm body wrapped against him. The bed beneath him was unfamiliar, softer than his own and when he cracked his eyelids open, blinking against the light in the room, he was met with the sight of bed tousled blond hair.
Kaveh.
Alhaitham was grounded in the moment and his memories immediately. His right arm was numb, tucked under Kavehs warm body from where he’d wrapped him in his embrace before falling asleep. Stifling a groan, he attempted to wriggle some feeling into his fingertips which only served to flood the nerves in his arm with prickling pain at the movement.
His roommate shifted in his arms and then his sleep puffed eyes are looking up at him from a flushed face. Kaveh’s arms loosened their grip and distance edged between their bodies. Alhaitham’s chest seized and on reflex his grip tightened, drawing Kaveh back to him.
Kaveh felt tense in his grip. His voice still addled by sleep Alhaitham mumbled “are you sure you’re well?”
He hoped intensely that Kaveh would say no, that he’d melt back into the bed with him, that he’d return the embrace in full.
A heavy sigh left Kaveh and Alhaitham tensed, suddenly very awake at the sound preparing for the letdown.
“Yes” Kaveh said quietly, he sounded resolved.
Alhaitham’s arms went limp at that, aware that he no longer had no reason to hold on. Kaveh extricated himself from Alhaitham and he felt something sink in his chest, a heavy feeling coming to rest over where his heart sat in his ribcage. He rolled over onto his back and massaged feeling back into his arm as he watched Kaveh get up. Kaveh’s blouse slipped off a shoulder, exposing more of his slender back and the spine Alhaitham had pictured trailing kisses down too many times.
A flush rose up Alhaitham’s neck, but Kaveh wasn’t looking.
Alhaitham hadn’t touched Kaveh’s flowers, but he felt affected by the need to touch Kaveh. Perhaps the effect of the flowers was contagious and just by being in contact with Kaveh he’d contracted the same ailment his roommate had recovered from. That would explain the desperate pull in his chest, to touch Kaveh and pull him back to his chest like the pressure of his body could ease the building pressure in his ribs.
It couldn’t be though. Alhaitham was far too logical to entertain such a thought, he’d seen Kaveh’s symptoms firsthand; the way his body had begun to shut down at a lack of human contact. Unlike Kaveh last night, Alhaitham knew from experience he could survive with this feeling, that it would fade without receiving Kaveh’s touch. But the idea of waiting for it to pass was as unpleasant as the idea of a return to normalcy, going back to never holding Kaveh again. He was disturbingly hooked on the memory of his roommate in his arms.
Left alone in Kaveh’s bed, Alhaitham quickly got up to follow him out into the living area.
“You should drink some water” Alhaitham urged.
Kaveh turned to look at him “thanks mother” derision laid heavy on his tongue.
“And take some allergy medication too, just to be sure” he persisted.
A scowl flickered across Kaveh’s face “I’m sorry helping me was such an ordeal but you can stop now. You shouldn’t have even followed me to my room in the first place.”
Just like that they were back to their arguing and Alhaitham hardly knew anything else, he didn’t know what to say to bring Kaveh closer rather than keep pushing him like he always did.
“Just do it Kaveh, are you so incapable of caring for yourself?”
“You’re insufferable” Kaveh grumbled bitterly.
Alhaitham followed him into the kitchen and began preparing food while Kaveh tracked down medication and water. He smiled to himself as he watched Kaveh begrudgingly follow his instructions.
“No need to be so smug” Kaveh griped, catching Alhaitham’s expression.
“Are you hungry?” Alhaitham asked, ignoring Kaveh’s complaints.
“No” Kaveh sat down on a stool at the counter.
“Don’t be petulant. I’m making you breakfast.”
“I don’t want your pity or help or whatever you want to call it” Kaveh crossed his arms across his chest. Alhaitham hastily looked away from where the blouse gaped away from his chest.
“So don’t take my pity, just take my food” Alhaitham’s voice was pathetically raspy. He could only hope Kaveh didn’t notice.
It was then that the front door burst open and Tighnari whirled into the house calling after Kaveh. “Kaveh, oh thank the archons you look alive at least.”
“Do you not know how to knock?” Alhaitham grumbled. The two men ignored him.
“I’m fine Nari” Kaveh reassured the ranger.
“When I got home this morning and Collei told me about the flowers I was worried. You didn’t touch them, did you?”
“I don’t think s-“
“Good because you would’ve been curled up in agony all night otherwise. I honestly thought I might find you half dead on the floor this morning” Tighnari cut in, he was talking fast now.
Alhaitham’s eyes narrowed “those flowers can kill?”
“Oh” Tighnari stood up straighter “not technically no, that was a slight exaggeration, but Kaveh definitely would’ve been worse for wear if he’d come into contact with any of the pollen.”
Alhaitham wanted to wrap his hands around the neck of the client that had so ignorantly given those flowers to Kaveh. Thank the archons he’d been home last night when Kaveh had stumbled through the door.
“What does the pollen do?” Kaveh piped up.
“It causes a fever like reaction in those affected but accompanied by a bone deep feeling of coldness. Symptoms would include severe spasms, loss of control, mobility and a fogged mental state, this is due to the way the pollen reacts with the immune system when absorbed through skin contact…”
Tighnari continued on his tirade, running his mouth on the scientific deconstruction of the flower’s properties while Alhaitham tuned him out in favour of observing Kaveh. His roommate seemed discomfited by this information but despite everything hadn’t yet tried to correct Tighnari in saying he’d very much been affected. Why?
“So how would you treat it?” Kaveh interrupted.
Tighnari’s lecture faltered for only a moment before he changed trajectory “well there are medicines that generate warmth in a patient that can help with the fever-like symptoms but that won’t stop the need for human contact. In cases where there is no one available to soothe the patient with contact we simply give a sleeping draught so the body can rid the pollen from the system with minimal discomfort.”
“I see” Kaveh’s gaze flicked to where Alhaitham was plating up the breakfast he’d cooked on top of Kaveh’s favourite sourdough he’d acquired from the bazaar yesterday morning.
“Thankfully all is well, thank you for checking in on me” Kaveh reassured Tighnari.
“You’re welcome, I couldn’t trust that you would be alive if left in Alhaitham’s care” Tighnari jested “so of course I had to visit myself.”
Kaveh’s smile slipped at that comment. Alhaitham slid Kaveh’s breakfast across the counter to him, holding eye contact with Tighnari as he did so.
“Of course,” he agreed with a knowing smile on his face.
Tighnari glanced between Alhaitham and the dish in front of Kaveh and quirked an eyebrow. “Very well, I have places to be. Let me know if you need me and take care of yourself, though archons know you won’t.”
Amid the silence left in Tighnari’s wake, Alhaitham circled the counter to take the stool beside Kaveh and eat his breakfast.
Kaveh sat motionless and Alhaitham couldn’t help but dig “trust you to get afflicted by cuddle pollen of all things.”
A deep sigh escaped Kaveh, and he slumped in his seat, head falling in his hands where he dragged them down his face. He groaned into his hands and Alhaitham regretted teasing him as guilt crept its way into his gut.
“I’m sorry for last night. Please don’t tell anyone about it.” Kaveh looked at him imploringly and Alhaitham noticed the pink flush at the tips of his ears.
“Stop apologising, I chose to stay” Alhaitham’s response was perhaps too brusque.
Kaveh flushed and pushed the food around his plate with his fork. “I hardly gave you a choice, just dragged you into my bed and latched on, forcing you to sleep with me.”
“Well next time, there’s no need to force me. You need only ask” Alhaitham looked away, unable to watch Kaveh’s reaction to his words as he felt his own face warm.
When Alhaitham finally looked up Kaveh was busy shovelling food in his mouth, his cheeks and ears stained a revealing shade of pink.