Work Text:
Kaveh’s work life balance was questionable to say the least. This was because work was so much more than just a client’s request. It built on Kaveh’s artistry and passion, requiring delicate care to be held in a high regard in his mind. He was willing to go into debt to finish his projects. He also pulled all nighters, much to the disdain of his roommate, driven to perfect his outlines.
He had gotten a request to redesign an old building on the outskirts of the Avidya Forest into a shop for adventurers. Naturally, before beginning he wanted to go take a look at the place for himself.
When he had arrived, everything was going amazing. Just looking at the space gave him ideas for the project. The floating dust in the sunset’s light and ocasional scurrying animal did unsettle him, but he was used to exploring places like these.
Mehrak accompanied him as it scanned and recorded the layout of the place. With its help, an about an hour he was already planning to head back home. With the inspection going smoothly, he obviously had to go and mess up as soon as he left.
While spacing out thinking of possible renovations, Kaveh tripped over a piece of an old desk in the building. He fought to regain his balance, only to accidentally back up into a sharp piece of metal hanging on the wall.
“Are we serious right now…?” He winced as his hand reached up to lightly touch the stinging area on his back near his shoulder. His fingertips came back slightly stained with blood. It hurt, but Kaveh didn’t think it should be too bad…
Mehrak beeped in alarm as it flew around him, as if telling him that it would accompany him to get aid. Kaveh waved it off and shook his head.
“No it’s already late, let’s just go home.” He said. Sunset was not too long ago and it was already pretty dark outside. He’d rather not go around hassling when he could just treat himself at home. He had grown accustomed to encountering danger as some inspection places, so he had medical aid stuff in his room. Though seriously? He would regularly encounter bandits or aggravated fungi. The one time he gets hurt is because he tripped over some old table.
With this in mind, he really hoped Alhaitham had gone to bed or something. This was too embarrassing. Ignoring to light burn, he made his way back to Sumeru City with a frantic mehrak in tow. Thankfully, his red clothing was able to cover the wound well enough so he wasn’t scaring anybody walking in the streets.
Eventually after traveling for a while he was able to make his way back home safely. The lights seemed to still be on, allowing a dim glow to spread across the living room. Kaveh quietly stepped around just in case Alhaitham was around and made his way to his room to set down his supplies and Mehrak.
It was only till then he remembered he was still injured. Kaveh sighed and took off some accessories to slide his shirt off. Taking care of his own wounds actually made him quite queasy, though he supposed he had no other choice. Grabbing a few things, he made his way to the bathroom.
In the mirror he was able to more clearly see his wound. The gash wasn’t extremely deep and just had some developing bruising around the area. He reached up after drenching some cloth in alcohol to dab at the wound. Not only did it sting, but Kaveh’s arm was hardly flexible enough to precisely reach that far back. His eyebrows furrowed in a growing frustration that prevented him from noticing the figure near the bathroom door.
“You’re back late…and that doesn’t seem very practical.” said a familiar voice.
Kaveh froze. He looked over and saw Alhaitham looking very unimpressed, which just looked funny since he was in his sleepwear. He wasn’t sure why he was so surprised to see Alhaitham staring him down. This was literally Alhaitham’s house. However he supposed being caught cleaning a wound shirtless left him a bit flustered. He lowered the stained cloth and stood up straight.
Kaveh sighed “I’m sure your commentary would make it much more efficient then?” He was tired and hurt, not really in the mood for Alhaitham’s mockery.
Alhaitham’s gaze traveled from Kaveh’s face to the wound on his back. “Weren’t you just doing an inspection?”
Kaveh could feel his ears heat up when he recalled the cause of his injury. He refused to tell Alhaitham he tripped. The teasing would be endless.
“I was! It’s nothing!” He said.
“ ‘Nothing’ except you sneaking around in your own home to hide it” Alhaitham almost laughed at Kaveh’s secrecy. The blonde would always come home everyday by bursting through the door complaining about clients, rambling about his projects, or nagging Alhaitham for something.
Alhaitham’s criticizing gaze under this dim lighting began to make Kaveh feel nervous for some reason. He felt like a child caught stealing candy, except this had nothing to do with his roommate??? Kaveh quickly looked back in the mirror and raised the cloth to distract himself.
Kaveh heard a sighed and saw Alhaitham in the mirror walk past him into the bathroom. He tried to ignore him but couldn’t when Alhaitham spoke up.
“Come sit. Watching your efficiency is painful.”
What?
Kaveh expected teasing or just a shrug from Alhaitham before he disappeared into his room. Now he was offering to help? Something was definitely up. Alhaitham definitely saw his confused expression, but he was surprisingly patient as he waited for him.
“It’s fine I can do it myself.” Kaveh protested.
“I highly doubt you even believe that yourself Kaveh.”
. . .
“You’re being dramatic.”
“I’m the dramatic one?” Alhaitham had to fight starting a whole argument over that comment. They both knew it wasn’t true. He added “you can either come or you can keep bleeding all over the sink.”
Kaveh’s past attempt at doing this alone did make a mess.
Warily, Kaveh made his way to sit on the closed toilet lid. He watched as Alhaitham moved to wash his hands and grab some of the supplies Kaveh had already taken out.
Walking behind him again, Alhaitham lightly pushed Kaveh’s hair away from the side his wound was on. The light brush of his fingers ghosted on the back of Kaveh’s neck. He seemed to inspect the wound more carefully to see if it was serious. Kaveh couldn’t help the slight rise in his heartbeat at this. He couldn’t help it. In the mirror he could see Alhaitham’s focused look at he stared at Kaveh’s bare shoulder and back.
He felt exposed. But he also felt that he was seeing a softness in his roommate that he never really saw before. The only other time he really believed Alhaitham could be worried for him was the Interdarshan Competition. Even that was just intuition (delusion).
He began to lightly dab at Kaveh’s wound with greater efficiency than Kaveh’s desperate attempts could. Kaveh winced as the disinfectant reached his wound.
“Don’t move.” Alhaitham said sharply as he used his free hand to hold Kaveh’s shoulder down.
The silence was painful. This normally wasn’t their dynamic.
“The area was actually decent. Once I came home I was going to plan out everything but now…” Kaveh tried to distract himself by talking about anything but their proximity.
It was late, and he didn’t expect Alhaitham to entertain the conversation. However he kept disinfecting as he replied
“I highly doubt a small cut is going to finally stop you from pulling all nighters.” He said bluntly.
“Some of us are actually passionate about our work.” Kaveh felt a bit defensive. Alhaitham constantly critiqued his all nighters, as if sleeping more would suddenly make all the work go away.
“Is that what you call demonstrating passion..?”
Kaveh scoffed “As if you could relate. You clock out immediately and let everybody else figure it out until the next day!”
“Perhaps you’re not used to a ‘healthy work-life balance’”
“Are you here to lecture me about my life again or help?” Kaveh said in desperation. He wound already hurt, he was sore, and now he was being lectured again?
Alhaitham seemed to pause for a second after that. He set the cloth down after cleaning the wound properly.
Kaveh realized that recently this became a new habit of Alhaitham. In the past, they would bicker and argue till one couldn’t stand being in the same room. Now, Alhaitham stopped pushing the limits more frequently, as if he had a silent fear of seriously hurting each other.
Alhaitham leaned over Kaveh to grab some medicine to apply to the wound. He got some on his finger and carefully dabbed it on Kaveh’s back.
“Whatever it was that happened, you’re lucky you didn’t hit your shoulder directly. Then it’d be impossible to draw efficiently.” Alhaitham said looking at the wound. Now clean, it looked way better. Kaveh would be able to move his shoulder just fine. “Though maybe that would’ve taught you a lesson.”
Kaveh rolled his eyes “I’m sure you would’ve loved to see that” he said but with no real harshness in his voice. He was actually pretty grateful Alhaitham was helping him.
The short bickering has distracted him before, but now feeling the unfamiliar touch of Alhaitham’s fingers on his back made him shiver. He hoped he could finish faster so he could get out of this awkward predicament.
His nerves also made him anxiously speak instead of keeping quiet like he wanted to. “This is so weird…” Kaveh said glancing up at the mirror.
“What is?” Alhaitham asked as if taking care of Kaveh this way was just a regular occurrence. Did it not affect him too?
“You. You being…” Kaveh tried to think of a word. “Gentle?” He doubted if that was the right word. He also worried that it was too much, too forward. “It’s uncanny.”
Alhaitham raised an eyebrow slightly at that as he looked up at Kaveh’s face in mirror, pausing. “Do you want me to be rough? Would that be more in character?”
Kaveh’s face burned as he met his gaze. He didn’t mean in that way. He fumbled “N-No?! I just- I didn’t think that- “
“That I’m someone that would do these type of things? That’s a fair assumption. You’re partially correct.” Alhaitham smiled very subtly as he looked back down to do the last appliances.
Only by seeing that slight smile did Kaveh realize that Alhaitham was now teasing him. He seemed to be in a good mood despite how late it was.
“Partially correct? What’s that supposed to mean?” Kaveh asked as his cheeks cooled down a bit.
“I’m not someone who usually does these things. But I’d rather not hear you complain while I try to sleep.” He joked.
“Why do I even try to hold a conversation with you!?” Kaveh stood up and turned his head around suddenly to face him, seeing Alhaitham already had some bandages in his hand for his wound. Kaveh did not measure the distance right, so he was far closer to Alhaitham than he had thought.
He had never been this close to Alhaitham before. Kaveh could actually see the red in his eyes and how it slowly faded to teal green. Seeing a slight surprise in Alhaitham’s own gaze was unfamiliar, but also strangely attractive? Saying a single word would accentuate the lack of distance between them. As soon as his thoughts drifted, he lowered his gaze and leaned back slightly. Kaveh could have sworn he saw a light pink tinge on Alhaitham’s cheeks.
He couldn’t confirm as Alhaitham used his hands to grab Kaveh’s bare shoulders and turn him around again. “…it’s not done.” He said, completely glazing over whatever just happened.
“Ah right.” Kaveh was a bit dazed, he could not stop the heat from rushing to his cheeks again.
He heard Alhaitham adjust the bandage size before gently placing it over the wound. The wound having finally been taken care of, Kaveh reached to grab the shirt he had brought and put it on.
He was finally dressed and felt slightly more comfortable in this oddly tense atmosphere. Kaveh turned slowly to face Alhaitham again.
“Thanks…it would have taken me forever.” Kaveh said, unfamiliar words of gratitude leaving him.
Alhaitham seemed to have composed himself fairly quickly. “It was worth seeing you strain a thank you.” He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly at Kaveh’s awkwardness.
So snarky at this late in the day? Kaveh couldn’t stand this man, nor the almost gentle gaze he was being given right now.
“You just love pissing me off don’t you!?”
Kaveh regretted speaking immediately. Alhaitham did not continue the back and forth. Instead, he actually smiled. That was very uncharacteristic in Kaveh’s eyes.
They were still standing pretty close. If he didn’t know Alhaitham any better, he’d think the man was drunk from how teasing his gaze looked right now. Instead of challenging him, Kaveh grew increasingly flustered. He could see some sort of mutual understanding in Alhaitham’s eyes.
Their relationship had grown so complicated. Kaveh didn’t even know if they were even friends at this point. They would bicker one day, and then suddenly subtly soften around each other. It wasn’t uncomfortable…just confusing, perhaps a bit intimidating.
“Thank. You.” Kaveh emphasized stubbornly. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He looked away quickly as he headed out “I’m going to bed.”
Alhaitham was amused by his pride. “Now you care about your sleep schedule?” He deadpanned as Kaveh disappeared from his sight. Always the avoidant type.
Kaveh would never admit he went to sleep unable to forget the feeling of Alhaitham’s fingers on his back. The image of Alhaitham’s oddly gently gaze was engraved in his mind every time he closed his eyes.