Work Text:
People who work hard deserve a nice break, right? Every Saturday, Alhaitham, Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari always meet up in the same tavern, although they didn’t really visit every Saturday due to how busy they were, but still they tried to make an effort in their schedule to meet up.
Naturally it’s the weekend so numerous people are in the tavern just relaxing and hanging out but don’t worry, the noise wasn’t that loud. Alhaitam, Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari are at their usual table, far at the corner and at the 2nd floor, not that many people go to the 2nd floor which is great for the four of them to talk about work without anyone overhearing them. I mean people are too busy talking about their own lives to even notice the four of them.
“So none of us have any exes?” Cyno asked while placing down a tcg card (yes they are playing tcg).
“It’s not like we are capable of gaining love.” Tighnari speaks, his hand moving to pick a card, Cyno tries to take a small peak but Tighnari moves away.
“Duh, clearly someone here is more incapable of love than all of us.” Kaveh spoke in a mocking tone as he glanced at Alhaitham.
“Can’t say the same for you.” Alhaitham glances back at Kaveh.
Cyno and Tighnari both looked at each other with the same look and thought, ‘they are both definitely more than roommates.’
Before Kaveh could explode with a comeback, Cyno interrupted him. “Okay okay focus on the game” Cyno looked back at Kaveh and Alhaitham, now waiting for them to place their card down.
Kaveh placed his cards on the table and played it “Although I think I might have one…”
Alhaitham, Cyno, Tighnari all looked at Kaveh with a confused but curious expression, they were clearly interested by this new discussion as they didn’t think that Kaveh could even have a love life.
“What did they look like?” Tighnari tries to sound interested in the topic.
“He had light blue hair and red eyes…” Kaveh started describing, trying to remember the features of probably his past lover.
‘Light blue and red eyes’ Tighnari shakes the feeling off his head, there is no way that it is HIM right? I mean he’s all the way in Sneznayeah so of course he can't be in Sumeru… Right?
Cyno raised an eyebrow, already thinking what Tighnari is thinking but it’s probably just a coincidence… Right?
Kaveh snapped his fingers as the name came into mind. “Oh right! I remember now! I think his name was… Zandik?” The other three snapped their heads at Kaveh.
Zandik? It can’t be right— Right? Zandik is banned from Sumeru! He couldn’t— unless…
Kaveh looks at all of them with a confused expression and a raised eyebrow. “What? Did I say something?” Kaveh asked with a confused tone as the other three stared at Kaveh.
Tighnari coughed causing to gain the others attention, he shook his and tried to put on a nonchalant facade as he looked Kaveh eye-to-eye. He did try to smile but it’s hard to smile when Kaveh just revealed the fact he once dated Zandik!
Alhaitham and Cyno both looked at Tighnari expecting him to answer as Tighnari is the only one who can answer without cracking up a joke or sound too nonchalantly– well Cyno might not crack up a joke or a pun considering how serious this is.
“Well-” Tighnari starts, trying to figure out how to word it without making Kaveh too shocked or in disbelief. “The thing is…” Tighnari’s ears folded as he looked at Cyno asking him to help him explain to Kaveh.
Cyno looked at Tighnari with the look saying ‘What do you even want me to say???’ Both looked at Alhaitham as Alhaitham is closest to Kaveh but even he doesn’t know what to say to Kaveh as not even him knew about this.
Kaveh raised an eyebrow as he looked at the three of them who were silently talking through glares and facial expressions, quite hilarious really. Kaveh puts his tcg cards down and looks at them.
“Zandik is Dottore? Yeah I know.” Kaveh spoke so matter-of-fact which shocked the trio… Kaveh knew and didn’t even tell them!? Yup this conversation is getting too serious now.
Tighnari coughs again, trying to break the shock and tension. “Kaveh how about you tell us the story? I mean it’s quite… Interesting to know that you’ve met and dated him before…” Tighnari put his hands together and gave a somewhat forced-nervous smile.
Cyno has his eyes fully locked on Kaveh, despite his love for tcg he can be intimidating and serious when it comes to negotiations and serious topics like the involvement of the Fatui– ESPECIALLY if it’s number 2 of the Fatui Harbingers.
Alhaitham placed his book down and looked at Kaveh, quite a rare sight as Alhaitham never sets his book down… Must’ve been very important that whatever story Kaveh has gained Alhaitham’s full attention.
Kaveh took a sip of his wine. “I guess it started before the Traveler came to Sumeru?”
A simple regular day in Sumeru, everyone was doing their work as always, scribes worked under Azar, the forest rangers are patrolling the forest, the matra’s patrolled the streets, the eremites being eremites; Overall a pretty normal day in Sumeru I mean nothing could ruin this day… Right?
Unfortunately Kaveh was running late to a meeting with a client, he spent most of his time cleaning Alhaitham’s house that he forgot about the meeting. Kaveh kept on running, not really looking around as he’s mostly focused on the location of the meeting he was supposed to have.
Apparently he was too focused on the road to not notice the person in front of him- and they crashed…
Kaveh blinks and sees the person that he crashed into, that person had light blue and dark crimson red eyes. “Oh I’m so sorry!” Kaveh exclaimed as he picked up his papers while also glancing at the person he collided with.
The red eyes blinked and he narrowed his eyes at Kaveh. “Yeah It’s…. Fine…” His gaze landed on the papers and widened before going back to its normal shape “Such machinery… Tell me, did you draw this?” He asked while picking up a paper with a smirk on his face.
Kaveh looked at the guy, he seemed quite interested with his projects which made him a little happy. “Oh– Thank you! I drew them myself.” Kaveh spoke with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice.
The guy nods and gets up without even helping Kaveh. “This is truly a masterpiece… Kshahrewar right?”
Kaveh got up with the papers in hand. “Oh yes! Are you also from Kshahrewar?” Kaveh asked with a curious gaze while looking at the man.
“Ah I’m still picking.” He smiles sweetly… A bit too sweetly, he reached out his hand to Kaveh. “I’m Zandik by the way.”
Kaveh shakes his hand. “I’m Kaveh! If you are really interested in machinery you should join Kshahrewar!” Kaveh gave his business card to Zandik, he took it and stashed it in his pocket.
“How wonderful, let’s work together in the near future then.” His red eyes looked at Kaveh’s own red eyes before turning away without even saying goodbye.
“Oh alright then…” Kaveh looks at Zandik as he walks away. “Right the meeting!” Kaveh remembered and started running to the meeting place of his client.
“That’s it?” Cyno asked with a skeptical look, his hands folded together on the table, not really looking at the tcg cards now.
Kaveh thinks for a moment before shrugging. “Well that’s how I first met him?” His voice sounded unsure whether to continue or not.
“You gave him your business card.” Alhaitham spoke, not a question, a fact, his fingers slowly tapping the table to send morse code to Cyno.
-..- ..-. / .. -... .-- ..-. / ..- .--. / .--- --- ..- ..-. ... ... .--. .... -... ..- ..-. / .. .--- -.
Cyno heard this sound and replied back with his own morse code.
--- / .-.. --- .--. -..- --..-- / .--- / .-.. --- .--. -..- --..-- / .--- / -... -. / .--- --- ..- ..-. ... ... .--. .... -... ..- .--- --- .... / .. .--- -. .-.-.-.
Kaveh raised an eyebrow at the somewhat silent conversation between, he knows morse code as he worked with machinery that uses morse code but whatever the hell they are saying sounds gibberish. “You know I can understand morse code right?” Kaveh asked as he raised an eyebrow.
“Mhm.” That’s the only sound that came out of Alhaitham’s mouth.
“How about you tell us about how you became lovers?” Tighnari asked, trying to sound calm with the tension that’s surrounding them.
Kaveh takes another sip of his wine “Hm… When did it start again…? Oh right!”
Kaveh and Zandik knew each other for a few months now; from those few months both grew a pretty nice bond, Kaveh creates whatever machinery that Zandik wants and in return Zandik teaches Kaveh some tricks he has learned to create a higher quality of machines. Zandik never asked Kaveh to hurry up any of the projects, and he never asked for much, pretty much a client that Kaveh wants-
“Wait, wait, wait. YOU made things for Dottore!?” Tighnari asked with a shocked expression, he’s done pretending to be nonchalant when his own close friend is getting tricked by Dottore! Well he thinks Kaveh is getting tricked.
Kaveh looks away not wanting to see whatever expression they have right now. “Well… He did pay me so….”
“It doesn’t justify the fact you made something for the Doctor!” Cyno spoke with a horrified expression on his face, he knows how good Kaveh is when it comes to machinery with the only problem being the aesthetics.
Alhaitham looks at Cyno, despite being very nonchalant and hiding his emotions with a straight face he cannot help but get worried that his ‘roommate’ is being used by whatever plan Dottore has. Alhaitham tapped his finger on the table creating morse code.
-... ..- / ..- .. .--- - / --.- .--. .--- --- ..- / -..- ..-. / --- ..-. ..-. . / ..- .--. / --. ...- -- -- --.. / .--- --- .-- ..-. - ..- .--- .... -... ..- ..-. / .-.. -... .-- ..-. .. / -... --- . / .... ..-. ..- / -... -- -- / ..- .. ..-. / .--- --- --. .--. ... -. -... ..- .--- .--. --- / --. ... .--. -. / .. .--- -. .-.-.-
Cyno looked at Alhaitham with an expression that basically says that he agrees with Alhaitham while still having that serious expression on his face; he tapped on the counter to again use morse code.
.--- / ..- .. .--- --- .-.. / .--- / --- ..-. ..-. . / ..- .--. / --.- ...- ..- / .-.. -... .-- ..-. .. / .--- --- ..- .--. / -.. ...- - ..- .--. . --.. .-.-.-
Kaveh looked at them with a raised eyebrow but before he could say anything the owner of the bar walked up to their table with a polite smile on his face. He sees the tension between all of them and tries to calm things down despite not knowing what happened.
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“Boys, I appreciate your stay but I’m afraid it’s closing time.”
The group all looked at each other and started packing their things, Alhaitham paid because of a bet he lost a day before. Cyno and Tighnari looked at each other with concern for their friend as who knows what Dottore would do with the devices that Kaveh made.
“Thank you.” Tighnari replied with a smile as the group left the bar together.
The night was silent, most of the people were asleep by now as it’s already midnight. The only thing being heard is the footsteps of the group as they exit the bar. They usually continue on their topic but now… Their minds are filled with all kinds of possibilities of what could Dottore do with all those machines that Kaveh made.
Cyno sighed loudly to break the heavy tension, he does want to crack up a joke but he can’t when this is too serious. “I’m afraid I have to take you into negotiation.” Cyno spoke as he looked at Kaveh with a serious expression.
Kaveh looked back at Cyno and gulped, Cyno can joke and be not serious from time to time but he is called the ‘General Mahamatra’ for a reason and there is a clear reason on why Cyno hasn’t lost his title. “How about I tell you about the full story?” Kaveh spoke nervously but the others already turned away.
“I want to believe you are good, I really do but…” Tighnari paused to let Kaveh wonder what Tighnari was trying to say.
Out of everyone, Tighnari is the only person that can explain things without needing to leave out information… And yet Tighnari doesn’t really have the words to explain the situation that Kaveh is in.
Kaveh nods, already understanding what Tighnari means, he is concerned that whatever Dottore has planned isn’t good, especially when he is talking to the light of Kshahrewar. The trio looked at each other and sighed.
“Meet me in my office tomorrow, 8am sharp.” Cyno spoke with a harsh yet gentle tone, although he wants to talk to Kaveh now, it's too late at night and he doesn’t want to talk to Kaveh when Kaveh looks drunk.
Kaveh turned to Alhaitham but Alhaitham turned away, there’s something within Alhaitham that is wishing- no- begging that Kaveh is just drunk and is mistaking his ex for Dottore. Despite only having a few cups of wine, Alhaitham is silently begging that Kaveh is just drunk and probably stupid and probably making all of this up for… I don’t know, maybe attention!?
Kaveh saw the expression on Alhaitham’s face, Alhaitham is good at putting on a stoic expression to make it seem like he doesn’t care but this time… He can’t even put that facade on. The tension between the four is so thick that it’s almost impossible to talk with one another; each of them looked at each other, it’s getting late so they nodded in agreement that they should all go back home.
Currently in Alhaitham’s house, Kaveh and Alhaitham are sitting at opposite sides between one another, Kaveh wants to talk or at least explain to Alhaitham but Alhaitham pulls himself away, further distancing himself from Kaveh. Of course this breaks Kaveh’s heart as even if their arguments are bad, they would just ignore each other.
Just seeing Alhaitham back away feels like he is at fault. I mean he isn’t wrong as Kaveh once dated Dottore and never told Alhaitham despite knowing that Zandik is Dottore the whole time! Before Kaveh could reach out his hand or at least try to communicate to Alhaitham and explain everything… Alhaitham has already left and went to his room…
Kaveh looks down at his lap… Why didn't he tell them sooner! Dottore is a villain! He could’ve told Cyno or heck even the Dendro Archon about Dottore! Why didn’t he speak up sooner!? Sumeru is in danger, the Doctor had planned something… Something that he is now involved in! He could’ve said something but he couldn’t! He-
“Kaveh?”
Kaveh snapped his head to look up. It was Alhaitham looking at him, Kaveh couldn’t read his expression since Kaveh’s mind was already running with a million thoughts. He quickly got up as fast as he could.
“Alhaitham!” Kaveh’s voice sounds so desperate- almost begging. He stepped closer but Alhaitham backed up.
“Please just listen to me!” Kaveh raised his voice, his tone even more desperate than before, he tried to reach his hand out to Alhaitham but Alhaitham didn’t have that worried expression on his face anymore, he looked… Scared.
The moment Kaveh’s hand reached out… Alhaitham acted in pure instinct.
…
His dendro vision flickered.