Work Text:
Groaning, Kaveh opens his eyes to the harsh light of his room’s lightswitch being flicked on. He’s hot. Too stuffy. The weather nowadays is cool but not cool enough to snuggle with his blankets during the night and it’s a special type of hell for someone like Kaveh who can’t fall asleep without something heavy on him.
That being said—whoever woke him up from his nap is definitely getting it.
And there can only be one person who has access to this house—
Alhaitham.
“Kaveh,” his voice comes from the doorway. A respectable distance away, not intruding on Kaveh’s nest where it’s laid out haphazardly on the floor. “Wake up, you haven’t eaten anything yet.”
Kaveh grumbles out something akin to how would you know and snuggles up tighter into his pillow.
“I have things for you too,” Alhaitham says, and as much as Kaveh hates it, his head perks up in the direction of his voice, because Alhaitham knows Kaveh can’t resist a good gift. Or any type of gift, really, because he’s too much of a hoarder, even to throw away the ugliest mugs Alhaitham gets him from the market because he thinks it’s funny to take pictures of Kaveh’s horrified face when he opens the packages. “Come on. You can eat something and go back to napping afterwards.”
That does sound like a promising offer, especially when Kaveh’s stomach is starting to make itself known in the form of a loud rumble.
Alhaitham, apparently, can hear it even through the distance. He leaves the door open when he goes, and so Kaveh has no choice but to get up to close it, and at that point he might as well just get dinner while he’s at it.
He follows the scent of a delicious chicken and potato curry to the kitchen. It seems Alhaitham’s taken the liberty of cooking tonight, and it doesn’t look too spicy, Kaveh thinks, prodding cautiously at it with a spoon before shrugging and digging in.
“It’s so good,” Kaveh says once he’s done chewing, immediately stuffing his face right afterwards; he hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he actually got something in his stomach, and then he’s absolutely ravenous, not even refusing the offer of more food when Alhaitham gets up to dish out more of the curry for him instead of leaving it for leftovers for the day after. Halfway through eating, Kaveh starts getting the hiccups just because he’s eating too fast and being too hungry at the same time, and Alhaitham dutifully abandons his food to fetch him a glass of water to drink.
“Thanks, you’re the best,” Kaveh says, completely honestly, and then practically inhales the rest of his dinner until there isn’t even a speck of rice left in his bowl. Alhaitham follows along at a more sedate pace, and in thanks, Kaveh takes both of their bowls to wash up and clear away.
When he gets back into the living room, wiping his hands on his shirt to dry them, Alhaitham’s busy with a few packages with his back turned to Kaveh.
“Whatcha got there?”
Alhaitham doesn’t jump. That unflappable bastard.
“Blankets,” Alhaitham says, and he looks strangely pink as he hands the bag out for Kaveh to take, who stumbles slightly under the weight that he wasn’t expecting from such a small package. “If you don’t like them I’ll take them.”
The words automatically make Kaveh hold the package tighter to his chest, and he frowns. What could it be that Alhaitham’s actually nervous about giving it to him when he’s normally all excited for Kaveh to find out what horrendous purchases he’s made in the name of pissing Kaveh off?
Perplexed, Kaveh takes a seat and begins taking it out—only to gasp a little in surprise. It’s an absolutely gorgeous burgundy blanket, thick and heavy, and yet when he presses a hand to it, it’s cool to the touch.
When he looks up at Alhaitham, he’s sure it’s with wonder in his eyes, and the alpha looks a little bashful, not meeting Kaveh’s eyes as he explains, “You’ve been complaining about not sleeping well. So this is just good investment for me to not have to hear you whining about it every day.”
Despite his words, Alhaitham’s scent is fluctuating a little, out of nervousness and hope, and Kaveh’s sensitive nose picks up the changes easily. What a good alpha, his brain purrs, and he doesn’t even have the mental strength to stop the thought from forming, because this—the blanket is the perfect courting gift Alhaitham could have gotten him.
“Thank you,” he says, and then he holds the blanket back out to Alhaitham, who looks between him and it confusedly. Now, it’s Kaveh’s turn to feel embarrassed, even as he forces the words out of his mouth—“Would you—would you mind scenting it for me?”
Alhaitham stares at him for a little too long, and for a moment, Kaveh worries that he’s gone and fucked it all up, that the little gestures Alhaitham’s been doing for him these past few months all came from a place of concern for a friend and not a potential mate.
But he can’t be wrong, can he? The way Alhaitham’s been cooking for him more lately. The way he’ll watch over Kaveh even when he’s just across the room—the way his wrist will brush against Kaveh’s when they’re out in public together. And he’d been reciprocating, pretty well, he’d thought, baring his neck at Alhaitham when he can, pressing as close as he can to him without being downright obvious, taking Alhaitham’s clothes from around the house to use for his nest—did Alhaitham not notice? Did he not know?
But before he can worry himself into an early grave, Alhaitham speaks. “Are you sure?” he says hesitantly, even as he reaches out for the blanket. “That you want me to…?”
“Yes,” Kaveh says, and pretends that his voice didn’t break on one single word. “Unless… you—”
“No,” Alhaitham blurts out, and he looks so wide-eyed and panicked that Kaveh wants to pinch his cheek, “No, I—it’s okay.”
And then he snatches the blanket from Kaveh’s arm and rushes away into his room with it, leaving Kaveh there blinking and with his arms still out from holding the blanket.
Once he realizes what’s happened, Kaveh puts his face into his hands, and laughs helplessly, heart beating much too fast in his chest.
After he washes up—because waking up made him realize he was clammy and sticky from sweating while sleeping—Kaveh retreats to his room and sets about rearranging his nest after his impromptu nap earlier. He hadn’t meant to, in all actuality, but he’d just had an exhausting day. Meetings with two clients, and yet they had managed to be just as aggravating as the other, keeping Kaveh way past their allotted time together and making him miss lunch. And by the time he'd reached home, the sun had set and Kaveh barely had the time to scarf down a wafer snack he'd found lying around before immediately collapsing into his nest. He’d only meant to rest his eyes for a few minutes, but it turns out that he was more exhausted than he realized, because he’d been out like a light until Alhaitham interrupted.
And—he hates to say it, but he does feel much better after eating and washing up, and his heart flutters with excitement when he remembers that Alhaitham’s supposed to be bringing him his newly scented blanket anytime soon.
Like his thoughts have summoned him, Kaveh jumps when there’s a knock on his door.
“Come in,” he calls, sitting up on his nest where he’s fluffing a pillow and setting it up just right against the wall, and watches his door swing open slowly, and there Alhaitham stands, a bundle of the blanket in his arms, and Kaveh doesn’t get up, just raises his arms and makes grabby hands for the blanket.
Alhaitham’s sigh is inaudible, but Kaveh knows that he does it anyways, and laughs lightly when Alhaitham takes a tentative step into his room to come and safely deposit the blanket at the feet of Kaveh’s nest.
“Alright?” he asks quietly, when Kaveh buries his nose into the thick material. It’s so good, Kaveh almost moans. Alhaitham smells of ink and metal usually, a cool scent that soothes his ruffled feathers as much as Alhaitham’s words aggravate him, but there’s a so very slight undertone of oranges underneath all that, which means—which means Alhaitham was happy, when he scented this, and it’s not hard to figure out why.
“It’s great,” Kaveh says truthfully, smiling up at Alhaitham, who smiles in return and makes to leave—and Kaveh doesn’t want him to go. It’s a thought he’s been having anytime Alhaitham enters his room lately, and though he’s tamped down on the urge for a few weeks now for fear of going too fast, having the blanket in his arms and Alhaitham’s scent surrounding him makes him far braver than he would normally be.
“Alhaitham,” he says, and the alpha freezes in place.
“Yes?” he says carefully.
Oh, Archons, he’s going to do it—he has to ask—“Will you stay?”
At that, Alhaitham spins around on his heels. He’s excited—the sharp jolt of his scent gives him away—even as he asks, “stay?”
“In my nest,” Kaveh says, bulldozing straight ahead with the thought that he might as well just go all in—“If—if you want to. Don’t—feel obligated, I just thought I’d ask—!” Alright, maybe not that all in.
“Kaveh,” Alhaitham interrupts, “I’d love to.”
“Really?” Kaveh squeaks.
“Yes,” his—the alpha confirms, “Let me just, go grab a book?”
Kaveh nods so fast his neck cracks, and graciously ignores Alhaitham’s choked laughter as he rushes out of the room.
In the sudden silence, Kaveh has a good few seconds to panic about the state of his nest, completely unprepared for anyone to be in it, much less the alpha he’s being courted by. He moves quickly, adjusting all the clothes and blankets strewn about in the next to ensure maximum comfort, which he knows Alhaitham prefers over aesthetics. Anxiously, he shuffles to the side to leave a space for Alhaitham and fluffs up a few more pillows for good measure.
Fortunately, Alhaitham returns before Kaveh has the opportunity to work himself into a proper panic.
“May I?” he says gently, always so gentle, and it’s only when Kaveh gives an affirming nod that he crawls into Kaveh’s nest. He’s changed out of his work clothes, much like Kaveh, and is now dressed in a light sleep tunic and trousers. It makes him look so much softer than his usual wear, and Kaveh’s heart squeezes with fondness.
“Do you want to sleep?” Alhaitham says quietly, when he’s settled in. He hasn’t opened his book yet, and is, instead, running his fingers through the nest materials, fingers slowly taking in all the materials and clothes Kaveh’s gathered from around the house. He has some of his friends’ clothes in here too, most of Cyno and Tighnari’s, but there’s a shawl from Candace and Dehya and a scarf from Nilou, tucked near the sides so their scents are subtly intertwined into the main attraction of his nest: his own scent, and now, Alhaitham’s.
Alhaitham takes the time to lay the blanket over Kaveh, smoothing the edges out. Kaveh looks at him focusing so hard on this little task and feels something like his heart is beating straight out of his chest. He’s sure Alhaitham can feel it where they’re pressed up shoulder to shoulder against each other.
“Would you like me to read this?” Alhaitham asks, waving his book. “It’s about botany, so it’s not very engaging.”
“Don’t tell Tighnari that,” Kaveh jokes, and yawns. “It would be nice. Put me to sleep faster.”
Alhaitham nods, and shimmies down the nest until he’s only half propped up against the pillow. When Kaveh raises an eyebrow at him, he says, “You can sleep on me,” and it’s with a red face that Kaveh slowly takes his own place on Alhaitham, shifting for a few minutes until he finds the perfect position to stay in and listen to Alhaitham’s low voice talking about some kind of insect-eating flower.
He falls asleep like that, head pillowed on Alhaitham’s shoulder, hand pressed to Alhaitham’s chest, where his alpha’s heart beats a steady rhythm underneath his fingertips.