Archive of Our Own

It was a normal late-night stream on a Friday. Alhaitham is on a discussion with his viewers on what he will be playing next. Everyone is suggesting something different from one another, expressing their preferences on which game would make a good stream.

"There's a new skin coming out in the next patch," He paused. "It looks good, but I think the price is too high. I'm not saying it's bad, but..." He smiled a little and looked at his other screen. More people were joining the stream, making the chat move even faster. He shrugged and made a small sound of amusement.

Alhaitham leaned on his chair, playing with it as he watched the chat room spam their messages in hopes of getting noticed by the streamer.

"Puzzle game? I just played that yesterday, and everyone found it boring." He glanced back at the main monitor and clicked on his mouse, navigating the screen and closing some of the windows that were still open. While busying himself, a loud ding echoed through the stream signaling a donation along with a message.

Have you tried playing with someone? Like playing in co-op?

A monotone, robotic voice was heard reading the message aloud. He let out a snort as he reads the message again before answering, "Not yet, and I'm not planning to. It's unnecessary and time consuming." He looked at the chat room to see the viewers' reaction as he continued, "At least for me. I don't find it fun." Before he could go back to what he was doing, one message grabbed his attention which made his brows furrowed a bit.

"I just don't have anyone to do it with?" The single message made the streamer huff softly, raising his brows at the screen. His reaction amusing the viewers, thrilled with the thought of finally finding something they can tease him with. Seeing the chat room go crazy about it, he sarcastically chuckled.

"This isn't bothering me the way you all think it is. I'm not some lone wolf who lives a tragic life, hoping to get saved." He leaned closer to the screen, blinking slowly as chat spammed the room with teases and jokes. In contrast to what he's showing as a reaction, he can't help but find the situation funny. Despite looking like an anti-social, he knows it's the opposite. He just doesn't share much about it since no one really asks (they actually do).

"You guys are relentless..." He muttered, smiling a little. "Anyway, let's get back to what we were discussing before you all lose your minds entirely." He peeks at the chat room, still at chaos before turning back to scroll for games to play with.

"Keep laughing, chat. You're all getting timed out if you don't drop it." He says, jokingly.

Another donation signal was heard, it was in large amount. Alhaitham doesn't really care about donations, but he appreciates them since he can't do anything about it anyways. The donation was followed by a message, which reads:

Prove you're not anti-social by playing one co-op game

He stared at the amount of money. He sighed, though the look of amusement was visible. "Very well. If you guys insist, then we'll go for it."

The chat cheered, feeling like they achieved something big when he started searching for co-op games he can play. Though, most of the ones being displayed does not pique his interest so he glanced back at the stream chat to see if they could recommend one instead. It was hard to read through each of them, especially the ones that are being dominated by the others who are spamming. It took him a few minutes to finally find one that interests him. The title of the game was quite similar, like a game he's played before.

"A new episode? It has been a long time since they dropped the last one..." He mumbled as he typed on his keyboard to search for the game being recommended. "Alright, we'll play this game tomorrow. Same time or maybe a bit earlier than usual. I'll post an announcement on my socials to update you about it. Good night, everyone!" He said flatly, drowsiness finally creeping into his face. He looked directly into the camera and offered a small smile before clicking the 'end stream' button.

Silence filled the room the moment the stream ended. He pulled off his headphones and rubbed his eyes, thinking of the cold, soft bed waiting for him. It had been a long day after all—going straight from his shift at work into streaming late into the night. Thankfully, tomorrow was his day off. Not that he would've minded being late for work anyway, but a certain someone definitely would have nagged him to death about it. He let out a soft laugh as he tidied his desk and shut down the computer. The random thought made him smile, unable to control the sudden flutter in his chest. And speaking of...

A faint sniffle echoed from the living room, accompanied by the low murmur of the television. Alhaitham stepped out of his streaming room and walked straight toward the sound. On the couch sat a blonde figure, entirely swallowed by a thick comforter and holding a crumpled tissue. Kaveh didn't even notice Alhaitham quietly approaching him from behind. Alhaitham leaned down and buried his face in the crook of Kaveh's neck, making the architect jump in his seat. 

"Why are you not asleep yet?" He muttered, face still buried on Kaveh's neck while his hands slowly make their way around the blonde's chest. Thoughts of sleeping in this kind of position is actually not that bad, he might consider it. Kaveh's scent is comforting enough to lull him off to sleep better than any mattress out there.

"I'm just finishing this movie, it's about to end. Are you done streaming?" He felt the latter's head nodding on his neck, still buried. His hand naturally found the other's grey hair, ruffling it in a slow manner. "You could head back if you want, you look sleepy." He continued, turning back on the movie playing on the screen. He leaned on Alhaitham's head, dropping a kiss on top while his eyes still focused on watching. He felt Alhaitham's hand tighten, his breathing steadying which he find adorable.

It took a few more minutes before the movie finally ended. Kaveh softly tapped Alhaitham's cheek to wake him up. Instead of moving, Alhaitham just wrapped his arms tighter, showing he had no plans of leaving the blonde's neck. The gesture made Kaveh giggle. He continued to tap his cheek and whispered, "You know you can just resume this in bed. It will be much more comfortable than having back pain tomorrow morning."

Alhaitham sighed and pouted a little as he stood up, reaching for Kaveh's hand so they could walk to bed together. Kaveh took the remote to turn off the TV before intertwining his fingers with Alhaitham's. The both of them walked down the hallway toward their bedroom together, and laid on the soft mattress as they entered. Alhaitham wrapped his arms around Kaveh's waist, burying his face in the latter's neck again. Meanwhile, Kaveh ran his right hand through Alhaitham's hair. The gesture relaxed him, and he rested his chin on top of Alhaitham's head.

"Do you have plans for tomorrow?" Alhaitham asked in his sleepy voice.

"No. Why?" Kaveh yawned, fingers twirling the grey locks of hair.

"Well, there's this game that the viewers were suggesting. It's co-op, meaning you need someone to play it with." Alhaitham paused, glancing up to face Kaveh. "I'm thinking of doing it with you, if you're free tomorrow."

"Sure. I mean, I'm not that busy anyway. But I remember you mentioning how you like playing games solo," Kaveh said confusingly.

"Yeah, I do. It's just that," Alhaitham hated to admit it, but the teasing did get to him a little—just a little.

"They were teasing me about my lack of a social life. It's not even like that, I just probably look like it. But wait 'til I tell them that it's completely the opposite." He scoffed, controlling the urge to roll his eyes. Kaveh chuckled at how his boyfriend was acting like a kid ranting to his mother. Alhaitham looked at him and raised his eyebrows, not having a single idea why his 'lack of social life' was a laughing matter.

"You're right. How could they call you antisocial? What a cruel world we live in..." Kaveh shook his head, keeping himself from bursting out laughing. He continued to run his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, avoiding the deadly glare staring directly at him.

"Whatever," Alhaitham grumbled, tightening his grip around Kaveh's waist. "I knew you'd react like this. Maybe I should try to be dishonest sometimes, just for once—" He felt Kaveh pinch his cheek, which made him wince and laugh at the same time. He reached for the hand pinching his cheek and pulled it back to his hair. Kaveh continued playing with his locks, then stopped after a few seconds, which made Alhaitham look up at him confusingly.

"Wait, I forgot to tell you that I'm meeting up with Tighnari tomorrow!" Kaveh clapped a hand over his mouth and looked at him, his eyes wide. "Why don't you just invite Cyno?" he continued.

"But I want to do it with you," Alhaitham muttered. "And besides, we'll be doing it at night. Are you going to hang out for the whole day?" Kaveh looked up thoughtfully before answering.

"Not really. We're just going to catch up along with our other friends. It probably won't take that long since Nilou has a schedule later that day," He said, his hand finding its way back to his boyfriend's hair.

"Alright, then it's settled. I'll adjust the time so you can rest before we start," Alhaitham said. He snuggled closer to Kaveh's neck, inhaling his scent as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Good night, Haitham," Kaveh whispered, planting a kiss on his forehead. Alhaitham hummed in response as they both snuggled closer to each other as silence filled the warm, cozy room.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Alhaitham @AlhaithamOfficial • 1h

Going live tonight at 10 PM instead of the usual time. See you there.

🔗 [Stream link]

💬 7.2k  🔄 15.6k  ‪‪❤️ 51k

      ⤷   Alhaitham Fan @alhaithamfan1 • 59m

           omggg it's finally heree

      ⤷   reii @thammyy • 51m

           wait what are we playing?

                    ⤷   cali ♡ @supercalifr • 48m

                         that new co-op game which just came out

      ⤷   Siraj @Siraj_1 • 55m

           poor guy, def forced to play with ur boring ass

                    ⤷   haithruter @haithruter • 54m

                         block this guy later at stream pls

      ⤷   bread @miniloaf • 29m

           wait you actually managed to find someone to play this with :O

Alhaitham did not need to waste time teaching Kaveh how to play, since Kaveh also played games in his free time. Kaveh was more of a casual gamer who played to relieve stress and pass the time. In fact, Kaveh was the one who had suggested streaming in the first place. Alhaitham had initially disagreed, thinking it was unnecessary and would likely not go well, but since Kaveh kept nagging him about it daily, Alhaitham only agreed to stream a single match to prove a point. He wanted to show Kaveh that his quiet, brutally honest commentary would drive viewers away. To his annoyance, the internet actually loved his blunt personality and the joke turned into a casual hobby that he just kept doing. Of course, most of them also tuned in simply because he was handsome and attractive.

"Do I need to turn on my camera, too?" Kaveh asked while entering the room with a towel to dry his hair.

"No need. Most of them are persistent and might flood your socials," Alhaitham paused and turned his head to look at Kaveh. "Especially with that pretty face." He sighed and went back to setting up Kaveh's computer, which was sitting on the other side of the room near the window.

"You... Nevermind. Let's just get this over with." Kaveh walked to his seat, his cheeks covered in pink.

Alhaitham went back to his desk, looking amused. He tapped on his keyboard to adjust some settings before eventually clicking on the 'start stream' button.

"Good evening, everyone. As promised, we're doing the co-op game today. Ignore the noise in the background, my guest is still getting settled," he greeted, controlling his smile after seeing Kaveh turn his head to look at him with annoyance.

"While we wait for everyone to join, say hi to our guest tonight," Alhaitham said. The chat continued to speed up as more viewers entered the stream. Kaveh held his headphones, leaning toward his microphone with a bit of hesitation.

"Uh, hi! I'm Kaveh, nice to meet you all!" He said, waving his hand at the monitor. Alhaitham let out a soft laugh at the sight. It took Kaveh a second to realize that the viewers couldn't actually see him, making the gesture completely useless.

"Someone is having a little too much fun today," Kaveh chided with a playful edge to his voice. "Should we just start the game now?" He grumbled the mock threat, though he couldn't help but glance at his own screen to see the chat currently cheering and greeting him.

"Alright," Alhaitham said, a small smile still visible on his face. He leaned in to launch the game, then adjusted his facecam to position it in the upper corner of the screen. The soundtrack of the game played along with the opening narrative of the story. Soon after, they were prompted to choose their characters. Once they locked in their choices, the game finally started with Alhaitham playing as the boy and Kaveh as the girl. The chat room instantly exploded into chaos upon learning that the two characters they were playing were in a relationship.

"Someone said we should act like our characters. Okay, now everyone is saying it," Kaveh muttered before turning his attention back to the game. "Alright, I mean, that'll make the game much more engaging to watch."

The game had now started. Alhaitham moved his character to meet Kaveh's. The game was programmed realistically, so when they were far from each other, they wouldn't be able to hear each other clearly. Both characters had their own points of view as well. For the viewers, they could only see Alhaitham's POV in the game since Kaveh's POV was not being streamed.

"I think we're moving to a different city," Alhaitham said as he continued playing. Kaveh hummed in response.

"Where are you...?" Kaveh gasped when he finally saw the latter's character. "Babe, what are you doing?" Kaveh couldn't help but laugh when he heard Alhaitham snort. He could see Alhaitham smiling while rubbing his temple.

"Is there something funny, Marcus?" Kaveh continued, enacting his character.

"Nothing, babe. Let's just hurry up so we can leave and get on the road quickly," Alhaitham acted out, a smile still creeping onto his face.

The viewers were currently amused by whatever they were doing. Several minutes passed, and they were now driving on an unfamiliar road surrounded by trees, with barely any other cars around. Alhaitham was currently driving the car up ahead when suddenly a tree fell down, blocking the whole road. As they went back to their vehicle after moving the tree, Alhaitham saw a figure running away from their car.

"I think someone went to open our trailer," he said, going toward where the figure had run.

"Someone what?!" Kaveh hissed, starting to get freaked out by whatever was happening. "Haitham, wait up. Why are you running toward it? Let's go, quickly!"

"Who's Haitham? Are you cheating on me?" Alhaitham said in a playful tone, as he started to drive again.

"Oh, did I mention someone? You're probably hearing things, babe," Kaveh played along, and thanks to that, he calmed down a bit.

"I certainly did," Alhaitham replied, a corner of his mouth tugging upward.

An hour later, the two were nearing the end of the game. Kaveh's heart was pounding louder than before as they were chased by the killers. The chat sped up, the viewers freaking out as well while watching the intense moment the two were caught in.

At the final minute before the game finished, their characters started expressing their love for each other while facing their most critical moment. The chat noticed Alhaitham's gaze lingering on Kaveh, who was currently dead quiet for someone who had been so loud just seconds ago. Kaveh might not have been visible to the public, but Alhaitham knew he was on the verge of tears. As much as Alhaitham found it amusing, his lips displayed a fond smile instead.

When the game finally ended, Kaveh let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he managed to control his tears, because he didn't want the whole internet to hear his sniffles and sobs. "That was way too stressful," he complained in a cracked voice, trying to sound angry but failing completely.

"It was just a story, babe," Alhaitham said, deliberately using his character's pet name to tease him one last time. Kaveh slowly turned his head to look at Alhaitham with narrowed eyes.

Despite the teasing being witnessed by everyone, the viewers couldn't help but notice the genuine smile that had stayed on Alhaitham's lips the entire game. They knew they were being purposefully ignored, especially with the majority asking the same question all over the chat. However, as soon as donation messages were finally allowed, the regular chat spam began to subside. In the middle of the remaining jokes, a donation alert rang out, catching both of their attention.

Are you guys really friends or boyfriends? Pls answer, we're about to go insane. Thx.

"Were we being too subtle about it?" Alhaitham asked with a playful smile.

"And here I thought my actions were obvious enough to hint at it." He raised his eyebrow when he heard Kaveh giggling in the background, watching the chat display a mix of confusion and people immediately catching on.

"Since you've all been very kind to me throughout the stream, I guess an honest answer would suffice?"

The chat room exploded into complete chaos as more viewers flooded the stream. Alhaitham noticed his viewer count skyrocketing by the second. The entire screen was a massive blur of emojis and capitalized 'YES' messages. Alhaitham leaned back in his chair, watching Kaveh prepare to answer their questions.

"Yes, we've been dating for three years already," Kaveh answered, looking directly at the chat with his chin resting on his palm.

Before Kaveh could say anything, Alhaitham cut him off by answering, "I simply don't like sharing things, especially those I cherish the most," he said flatly. It was a good thing Kaveh's camera was off, because he could feel his entire face heating up.

"Why haven't you proposed yet? Well, I'm about to, soon," Alhaitham confidently said, sneaking a glance at Kaveh, who was now too flushed to even say anything. The chat room immediately pointed out Kaveh's sudden quietness, while other viewers jokingly doubted the streamer, typing out their own 'what ifs' just like this donation message:

AI getting a bit too real nowadays lol

The comment made Kaveh laugh, in contrast to Alhaitham's reaction. Alhaitham raised his eyebrow and stared directly at his webcam. Suddenly, he stood up and walked straight over to Kaveh's side of the room. The blonde giggled when he saw him approaching, offering a defeated smile. With barely any energy left to resist, Kaveh didn't bother holding back and just let his boyfriend guide him along.

Alhaitham sat back down in his own chair. The webcam captured Kaveh's hand, which was being held tightly by Alhaitham, along with a small glimpse of his blonde locks. The chat went completely crazy, with not a single soul expecting this to happen. Kaveh, still a bit hesitant, looked at Alhaitham to make sure he was certain.

"Well, if you don't want to, then we won't," Alhaitham answered in almost a whisper, gently rubbing his thumb over Kaveh's hand. Kaveh snorted in response as if it were a confirmation, before he settled onto Alhaitham's lap, acting as if it were just another ordinary Tuesday.

"Hello again, you guys," Kaveh said, waving his hand and smiling brightly into the camera. "Do I still need to introduce myself?" he whispered, tilting his head a bit while still facing the lens. Alhaitham couldn't help but chuckle at how adorable his boyfriend looked.

"No need. They can figure it out themselves," Alhaitham muttered, planting a soft kiss on Kaveh's neck. Kaveh pinched his forearm in retaliation, trying to act normal on camera, but it was already too late as the chat room went absolutely feral.

"So, uh, pretend that didn't happen..." Kaveh cleared his throat, blushing. "What do you mean 'pretty'? I literally look like a sad wet cat right now."

"Someone said I'm a paid actor," Kaveh added, unable to help but chuckle at the comment. Alhaitham peeked at the chat with furrowed brows.

"Ban that user," Alhaitham said with a deadpan expression, which made Kaveh's eyes widen. Kaveh smacked Alhaitham's arms wrapped around his waist.

"Archons, please don't listen to him. They didn't even do anything bad!" Kaveh turned to him angrily. Alhaitham rolled his eyes and instead buried his face in Kaveh's nape.

"Anyway, I think we'll wrap this up now since it's getting late. Thank you for joining us! Good night!" Kaveh waved his hand while nudging Alhaitham with his other arm. Alhaitham lazily moved his head to look at the camera before smiling and waving his hand as well.