Work Text:
Two roommates sat at a dinner table. One was happy. The other was not.
"We've only had two consultations, but this client is already one of my most difficult," Kaveh lamented, pushing rice around his plate. "This is going to be a nightmare."
"You said that after the first consultation," Alhaitham pointed out around a healthy spoonful of food.
"And he has major changes! Major! And he wants them done before tomorrow afternoon. It's-it feels like it's barely even my design anymore." Kaveh's spoon danced after a chickpea. "And I have a lecture to give in the morning that I wanted to practice for, then I'm meeting a different client for coffee after. I never have the time."
The spoon clattered against the bowl, having been dropped in favor of the cup of wine. Alhaitham hadn't seen Kaveh this desperate in some time.
Alhaitham stopped eating to give his roommate his full attention. "Drop the client. If he doesn't want your ideas, he's not worth your time."
Kaveh stared into his cup. "I... can't."
Oh. So this was about money. Kaveh's rent was supposed to be due next week. Alhaitham had never hounded him for it, but Kaveh's morality never let him go for too long without paying something. After two months with no commissions (the money he made lecturing went directly to pay off his debt), he was probably feeling very guilty.
"I think you have three options. One, keep on the client. Two, take on more teaching, lecturing, or other academic work that will maintain your reputation and act as an alternate source of income. Three, marry me and we consolidate finances."
Cup and bowl were nearly pushed off the table when Kaveh jumped to his feet in shock. "Wh-what? Alhaitham you can't just say things like that! People will think you're serious."
Alhaitham looked up at Kaveh, expression neutral. "They are all logical solutions--"
"I'm not about to get married just because it's logical." Kaveh paced a moment, then downed the rest of his wine. "Since you're not being helpful, I'll get to work."
The owner of the house watched the other hasten to the study and sat for a moment to think. Kaveh had seemed flustered. Maybe he would come around to it.
An hour later, Alhaitham presented Kaveh's barely-touched dinner to him again. The architect grumbled a thank you and dove back into his work without a second glance.
***
Kaveh was dissatisfied.
Actually, he was jealous, but he would die before admitting that out loud.
A Haravatat scholar had surfaced after years of being buried by sand and old tomes alike to present a new research at an exclusive lecture held by the darshan. Only the top Haravatat scholars and a handful of students were invited to hear her insights and offer critiques on her paper.
And Kaveh needed to be in that room. And of course, Alhaitham was attending.
"I assume you'll be out next week for the lecture," Kaveh brought up stiffly at dinner.
"Yes, it should prove to be very interesting."
"Oh I wouldn't know, seeing as only Haravatat scholars can offer critiques."
Alhaitham leaned back in his chair. "You want to attend."
"Or course I want to attend!" Kaveh threw his hands up in the air. "It's connected to our research after all."
"Yes, I wonder which of our papers she'll cite."
"You wonder?!" Kaveh let out an exasperated sigh. "Can't you invite me?"
Alhaitham crossed his arms. "The event is being held by the darshan. Inviting you myself would be an abuse of power."
"Ah, what good is it to live with the Acting Grand Sage when he won't do anything for you," the architect grumbled, slumping down in his chair.
"Hmm. There is another way," Alhaitham mused. Kaveh perked up immediately. "As my husband, you'd be a natural plus one. No one would think twice with you being by my side."
"I--you--" Kaveh scrambled to sit up and point a finger at his roommate. For some reason, he found himself blushing just a little. "That joke was not funnier the second time. You'll just have to fill me in, I suppose."
"Three days is plenty of time to get the paperwork done--"
"Ooo-kay, I'm going to read now and try to forget you thought me so base as to marry you just for a lecture invitation." Kaveh started clearing the table.
Alhaitham crossed his arms. His lips also twitched, and Kaveh took that to mean he was laughing on the inside. "There are many other benefits to marriage--"
A very loud clatter of plates in the sink cut off the owner of the house yet again. The only other words spoken that night were two short but warm wishes of a good night.
***
Alhaitham sat, a crooked finger resting against his chin indicating that he was deep in thought. His hair, Kaveh observed, was still damp from the shower he had taken while dinner was being prepared. Despite being short, his hair was thick and didnt dry as easily as other's. It looked nice.
The architect's subject moved and ruined the mental portrait he had been painting of the poignant pose.
"Your turn," Alhaitham said, gently knocking one of Kaveh's pawns off the chess board. He glanced at the clock. "I'll have to stop there. I planned on finishing the comparative literature book tonight."
"Ah, but we were just getting to the juicy part of the game!" Kaveh exclaimed dramatically. "You're abandoning me for a book?"
"As the top scholar in my field, I must keep up with new research."
"At the cost of hurting my feelings?" Kaveh pouted. It wasn't like he didn't have work to do, but he was enjoying himself. "I'll start thinking that you like books more than me."
"Don't make baseless assertions."
"It's not baseless! Friendships require time and attention to maintain. What am I supposed to think when you don't give me either?" Kaveh moved his bishop.
"How much attention would you say you require, in hours, per week?" Alhaitham moved his rook.
"At least two hours a day: one for dinner and at least one afterwards," Kaveh stated, moving his knight and then crossing his arms.
"Fine, then that's what I would add to the marriage contract," Alhaitham said with a hint of a smile. "To guarantee your needs are met."
Kaveh chuckled. "Oh I see. Is that the only way to get your time, nowadays? The Acting Grand Sage has to pencil in time even for his hypothetical husband?" He knocked a bishop off the board. "Check."
Alhaitham grimaced. "Once I go back to being Scribe, I will have more than two hours at my disposal." He sent his king to retreat.
"You don't have time now? We're playing chess, aren't we?" Kaveh sent his queen to chase the opposing king.
"Your two hours are up," Alhaitham said, moving his knight. "Mate."
He got up and moved to the couch to pick up his book. Kaveh sat dumbfounded for a moment, looking at the game board, then got up and returned to work.
***
Alhaitham's schedule was as regular as clockwork. Not uneventful or banal, but predictable and dependable. Barring the few weeks around his ascent to Acting Grand Sage, Kaveh had never seen him work a single minute of overtime. He ate lunch at twelve and dinner at six, but on days he worked-out there were pre-portioned packets of nuts for him to grab in between. He read at least ten books a month. One weeknight a week he would either go to a lecture or concert at the Akademiya or take Kaveh to the pub. If it were his week to shop, he would go on Saturday morning but sometimes pick up fresh fruit on his way home from work. Even if an opportunity arose spontaneously, somehow Alhaitham's actions always seemed perfectly natural.
Kaveh's schedule was practically all spontaneity, which, Kaveh freely admitted to himself, was only sustainable because Alhaitham's was so regular.
So when the linguist didn't return home for dinner, and no one told him to stop working at 1am, Kaveh started to worry. Which was silly because Alhaitham was a grown man with many demands on his time and self-defense skills that put many Matra to shame, so there were many good reasons for him to be out and about and many good reasons to believe he could take care of himself.
But. The last time he had deviated from his schedule, he had come back with a concussion and a brand new position at the head of the nation.
Kaveh lept out of his chair, pencil clattering to the floor. He would have to get Cyno to launch a search party--or better yet Lesser Lord Kusenali would be able to find him even without the Akasha, right?
Suddenly he was rushing to grab his keys and coat, flinging open the front door and--!
"Hey!"
Kaveh collided with a nearly rock-solid abdomen.
"In a hurry?" Kaveh took a step back and was met with Alhaitham's expression of mild confusion.
"Haitham! You--you--is that blood?!"
"Yes," came the dry answer. The Acting Grand Sage brushed past his roommate. "Shall we sit?"
Like Kaveh could sit after seeing that.
While Alhaitham reclined on the sofa with a Cryo pack against his bicep, the other gathered their first aid kit and a fresh glass of water.
"It was very rude of you to leave me to eat dinner alone without prior notice," Kaveh sniffed as he disinfected the long but shallow gash going down Alhaitham's forearm.
"I didn't realize I was expected."
Kaveh gaped at his companion. "You usually have dinner scheduled down to the second. Of course I expected you. Furthermore--" Kaveh was letting off steam now "--when you don't tell me where you're going, how will I know you're safe?
"This," he gestured to the wound with his chin as he bandaged it, "wherever this came from, could have been much worse. What if you had ended up in Bimarstan? I would never have know! I was ready to send the matra out to find you." Kaveh let out a strangled sigh as he tied off the bandage.
"You know," Alhaitham said serenely. "If we were married, then you would be the first one they contact."
"Ugh! That's not a solution for poor communication. Good night." Kaveh stood and marched off to his room. After slamming the door he paused and wondered if he should say something more. Instead, he flopped down on the bed and tried to stop thinking.
***
Two roommates sat across from one another with a short stack of papers on the coffee table between them.
"We're done, Kaveh. We've revised this five times. What can you possibly want to ask?"
Kaveh started, lowering the finger tapping his chin. Of course Alhaitham could read his anxiety as easily as an ancient rune. He looked up sheepishly and was met with a raised eyebrow and a sharp look. He felt his face flush just a little and was compelled to say something. "We never discussed authorship, but it's fine--"
"Tell me," Alhaitham cut him off in a rather more inviting way that Kaveh had expected.
"You're listed as first author." Kaveh pointed to the front page of their joint paper. The first one they had published together since their days as students.
"It's alphabetical."
Kaveh put his head in his hands for a moment with a groan. "Yes, thank you for enlightening me. I mean that first authors are always the ones who contribute the most."
Alhaitham cocked his head. "We put 'All authors contributed equally' at the bottom, as is standard."
"Nobody actually believes that 'Haitham," Kaveh said. "And they'd have to get to the bottom to find that out."
"Ah." The former Acting Grand Sage said. "You need the boost in reputation more than I do."
Kaveh cringed. "You don't have to put it like that, but yes. It would be nice."
Alhaitham thought for a moment, wisps of hair bobbing up and down with the tilt of his head to and fro. It was unlike him to think for so long. Trepidation started to build in Kaveh's chest.
"We can take turns. Next time our names are published together, mine will go first."
"Don't tell me," Kaveh said dryly. "This includes the marriage license too."
"It would." Alhaitham said simply.
Kaveh almost instantly let out a peel of nervous laughter, releasing the tension that had built up inside his chest.
Their eyes met and the sincerity behind Alhaitham's irises left no room for doubt.
Kaveh gulped. "You--you we never joking."
"No, I wasn't. I didn't want to push it either."
The architect's arms hung limply over his knees and mouth hung open. "But what would you get out of it? Certainly not money or reputation, and we already spend time with one another."
"At the least, nothing. Giving those things to you would be satisfactory. At the most," his fingers brushed over the shallow scar he had gotten despite the first aid Kaveh had administered. "Continued reciprocal love and care."
It took Kaveh another moment to process. "Continued? Reciprocal?" he cried out incredulously.
"I make your favorite dinner when you've had a bad week; even if you've had two hours of sleep, you drag yourself out of bed just to have breakfast with me every day. I track your sleep schedule, and you track my day schedule; if either one is amiss, we try to help the other. There are many examples of how we already care for one another."
He was right. They had always been caring for each other--Kaveh just hadn't realized what it meant. It had been natural and nothing more.
Maybe that was the point.
Abruptly, Kaveh stood. "Alhaitham, let's get married."
He rose. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!" The mock indignation that often colored their banter returned to Kaveh's response. "You've already asked so many times, it would be improper now to equivocate."
Alhaitham smiled. "Then, shall we publish this paper before or after the wedding?"
Kaveh scoffed. "Before. Our marriage announcement would eclipse any good press I get from the paper."
"Ah, is that really all you care about?" Alhaitham leaned across the table.
"Don't you care about having your name first on the license, hmm?" Kaveh playfully teased, leaning in as well.
"Touché." Alhaitham's eyes sparkled their brilliant green, and they kissed.