Chapter Text
Technically, this one didn't even count.
Kaveh doesn't count it, anyways. The experience was unforgettable, of course, in regards to the new scars he had on his hands, but the encounter with Alhaitham is nothing to note.
"Hey, are you busy?" he'd asked Alhaitham one afternoon as he did the dishes.
"That depends, what do you want?" Alhaitham had replied. He hadn't even looked up from his book.
Kaveh had turned off the sink and turned to face Alhaitham with a polite (flattering) smile. "Y'know how Mehrak does our laundry and dishes and cleaning every day, and we can't live without her?"
"You're doing the dishes today."
The architect had refrained from an annoyed snort and eye roll. "Astute observation. No, Mehrak is.. not in the best condition. And I was wondering if I could get some help there," he asked hopefully.
Now Alhaitham had looked up, putting down his book and sitting up. "You need money, then?" he'd asked blankly. Of course, that couldn't be it. Kaveh never asked for money, and they both knew it.
"Ah, no," winced Kaveh, "I need a bodyguard," he'd said, his voice rising with the intonation of a question. "There's an area in the desert and I don't particularly want to go alone. If you can't go, I can ask Cyno or Dehya, I just thought it would be best with you, since..." Kaveh had trailed off as he ran out of things to say.
"Alright."
And that had been that.
Which led them to the current course of events, where Kaveh defends himself from attacking Eremites as Alhaitham fights a rather ill tempered fungus.
Kaveh swings his claymore with an intentional slash to the attacking Eremite's side, not stopping to check if his strike had hit before he whirls around and knocks another assailant in the head. Mehrak, busy observing a flower on a nearby cactus, is absolutely no help in her malfunctioning state. Kaveh had decided it was best to leave her be and revisit the issue once she had her proper code back.
The Greatsword lodges itself in the sand on the next blow, trapping the two Eremites between the blade and a large rock. As they fight to wriggle out of the enclosed position, Kaveh whirls around to assist Alhaitham with the fungus.
"You're supposed to be guarding me," he teases, although quite breathlessly. He hurls a few punches at the fungus before allowing a few Dendro cores to sprout up around him, which Alhaitham quickly utilises.
"I'm only here to watch," chuckles Alhaitham as he deal the finishing blow. He brushes his hands off with an exhale of relief, only to see one of the Eremites popping back up behind Kaveh.
Alhaitham's immediate response is to lunge towards the Eremite. He jumps at her, aiming to grasp her by the shoulders, but she instead trips over a ledge and falls into the nearby den of the Setekh Wenut. Surely she'll make a nice dinner for the next century, no?
Meanwhile, he's still on a full collision course with Kaveh, who had been directly in front of the Eremite. His hands land on the architect's shoulders as they both fall to the ground in a heap of sand and greenery. His pair of swords had been hurled away at his great leap.
And between the piercing rocks that lie underneath the sand and the stabbing pains in Alhaitham's arms, he's fallen over Kaveh. Their faces have clashed together, with Kaveh's teeth gnashing into Alhaitham's lip.
Very briefly, Alhaitham only ha one thought.
I fell for him. Ha ha.
Kaveh finds himself stuck under Alhaitham for a moment with no intentions of moving. A drop of blood fall from Alhaitham's lip onto Kaveh's, and for a moment, it activates an energy in Kaveh he didn't even know he had.
And the next moment, of course, they're scrambling up. Alhaitham's hands are off of Kaveh. Kaveh brushing the blood off his lip. The cast aside swords recovered.
"Are you okay?" mutters Alhaitham, reaching for his own lip, which is wide open with searing pain.
Only a brief mm from Kaveh in response.
Well, at least Mehrak has her parts now.