Chapter Text
Drowned beneath the pile of books and articles on the library desk, Kaveh appeared completely worn out and exhausted, an uncharacteristic sight for anyone to witness, considering he usually maintains a composed appearance. The facade he so carefully maintains is stripped away by exhaustion in a similar way to the papers beneath him.
Kaveh's elbows rested against the wooden surface whilst his head lay against his forearms, teetering on the fragile edge of consciousness, barely clinging to wakefulness.
Alhaitham stood silently within the tall aisles of bookshelves; he took upon himself to observe Kaveh quietly for a few moments, slipping a book from its place on the shelf and peering through the crevice it left behind.
He caught glimpses of the man hunched over his work; his eyes briefly scanned over the usual sight of books and papers strewn haphazardly across the desk but clung to the exhaustion etched on Kaveh's face.
He'd long grown used to the mess he'd always managed to make in any space they shared, but this was different. It was obvious that Kaveh was pushing himself far too hard again, close to breaking point, and Alhaitham couldn't help but feel a pang of concern for the man who was murmuring quietly under his breath.
Sleepy murmurs spilt quietly from Kaveh’s lips. Something about deadlines; Alhaitham could only guess. But then, amidst the jumbled words, he heard his own name, catching him off guard, tugging at something he can’t quite name.
Alhaitham's eyebrow quivered in curiosity at being mentioned; his hand hesitated, fluttering away from the dusty book his fingers rested on, not quite reaching for it but not pulling away either. He knew all too well about Kaveh's tendency to overwork himself, but observing just how much such a tendency affected Kaveh firsthand stirred something sour.
Not wanting to startle Kaveh, he approached the table slowly, like he wanted to restrain himself from becoming too close, too involved in the man's life. Yet curiosity, or perhaps selfish desires, got the best of Alhaitham, unable to resist the urge to hear more.
Alhaitham crouched down slightly, now only inches away from his face, enough to catch any further mumbles, but also close enough to notice all of the faint lines of Kaveh's face, the dips and the curves. Kaveh's hair sat sprawled like a blanket against the table; the small braid in his hair was loose and threatened to unwind itself completely if someone weren't to grasp onto it, an oddly endearing sight, one that exhaled a small few soft chuckles from Alhaitham through his nose, finding Kaveh's hair mildly amusing, a fitting metaphor for his current state of disarray.
Unable to resist the impulse, Alhaitham gently smoothed down some tufts of Kaveh's golden blond locks, then carefully untangled the braid to only rebraid the strands, strengthening its position just as his grandmother once taught him. Following the same motions, his fingers gently moved with tender care, weaving the golden strands together meticulously.
It was a task he found oddly soothing, a way to keep his hands occupied while his thoughts wandered.
He had always seen Kaveh as someone to compete with, to prove his intellectual superiority to. But seeing him like this, vulnerable and asleep, he couldn't deny the strange intimacy of the moment, creating an unexpected wave of conflicting emotions within him.
Alhaitham finished the braid, clipping it with the bobby pin and, with a final tug, securing it in place.
Kaveh grumbled whilst the library made its last remaining announcement for closing time, a small attempt to break their moment together. The tangled mess under Alhaitham's fingertips was oblivious to impending closure and perhaps their fleeting togetherness.
Alhaitham remained squatted down at eye level, attention drawn to Kaveh's lips, and he debated what his next step should be. Alhaitham sighed softly, gently shaking Kaveh's shoulder. "Hey, Kaveh. Wake up." Alhaitham softly spoke, trying to rouse him without startling him too much.
“Ugh… huh? Did I submit it?” Kaveh mumbled in question.
Alhaitham tilted his head slightly. "Submit what?" voice low and patient, continuing with, "Your paper on Sumeru's architectural evolution?" "No, you're still holding it in your hand like a death grip." He gently pried the crumpled pages loose of Kaveh's grip, flattening them out against the table, allowing him to return his gaze to Kaveh.
The library lights flickered, a final warning. "Come on," Alhaitham said, standing and offering a hand.
Kaveh took that hand and stumbled with his crumpled papers under his arm. Alhaitham struggled to know if Kaveh was awake enough to register whose hand he had carelessly taken, but this unknowingness calmed his nerves ever so. He could still see the blur in his vision, fog from sleep, whilst Kaveh operated on autopilot, unbeknownst to the world moving around him.
Whilst they continued to walk together, Alhaitham felt a growing pang of concern. Would Kaveh let go of his hand if he knew who it was? Alhaitham assured himself by keeping a steady hold on the disoriented and defenceless version of Kaveh's hand to ground himself more than anything else.
Kaveh, without failure, managed to bump into almost everything in his path whilst his hand was being held. His usual demeanour was replaced by a vulnerability that Alhaitham had never seen before, and it bothered him more than he cared to admit.
As they walked through the quiet and empty halls, aside from the occasional stumble of Kaveh, each time Alhaitham's grip tightened. Silently stabilising him. Kaveh's hands drifted up to his hair, fingers brushing over the braid. “Where’s my feather?” Kaveh jumbled with uncertainty.
Alhaitham glanced at Kaveh, a pang of worry striking him as he noticed the other’s downcast expression. “Wait there,” he said, his voice steady. “I left it; I’ll fetch it for you.” Alhaitham responded softly; with paced steps, he made his way back to the library, concerned about the sleep-dispersed and half-asleep man he left standing alone. He found the table where Kaveh had been working earlier, and sure enough, there it sat.
Kaveh stood there in a daze, his fingers absently exploring the braid in his hair as he tried to process the abrupt departure. The absence of what was missing. The absence of the feather he always wore made the moment feel more than strangely unsettling, exacerbating his disoriented state.
When Alhaitham returned, Kaveh finally lifted his head; the fog departing slowly from his eyes recognised his face. A face to the hands that shared a comfortable silence with him.
Alhaitham approached quietly, the feather held carefully between his fingers. There was warmth in Alhaitham’s eyes, the kind that rarely showed, like sunlight through storm clouds. A faint smile tugged at his shy lips as he reached up without thinking and tucked the feather gently behind Kaveh’s ear.
"Just don’t make a habit of falling asleep in libraries. I won’t always be there to pick up your stray feathers." He said lightly, his voice without its usual edge.
“Did you fix my braid?” Kaveh stammered out, voice rough.
Alhaitham nodded, only to realise they had walked past the corridor leading back to their dorm room.
"...Huh," Kaveh said, noticing Alhaitham's observation. He cleared his throat, refusing to look flustered. "Clearly, one of us is too sleepy for proper navigation. Definitely not me."
Alhaitham tugged Kaveh's wrist gently towards the correct path. "Must’ve been distracted," he murmured, voice low. "By loose feathers."
“Probably.” Kaveh smiled, allowing himself to be led and making no move to pull away either.