Archive of Our Own

Kaveh stretched his legs over Alhaithams lap, narrowing his eyes. "Are you even listening to me? Is your noise cancelling on?"

"No, I'm not listening," Alhaitham replied, infuriating as ever. "Yes, it's on. I can't hear a word."

Snorting, Kaveh rested his chin on Alhaitham's shoulder to peek at what he was reading. "You're choosing to pay attention to 'linguistic imperialism' instead of your funny, interesting, and brilliant roommate?"

"At least one of those adjectives is arguable," Alhaitham replied disinterestedly, flipping a page.

Kaveh scoffed. He lay down to rest on Alhaitham's pillow, which smelled like the mildly floral expensive shampoo he'd been consistently using ever since he could buy his own toiletries. It was a comforting scent, familiar, and Kaveh let his eyes flutter shut to take it in.

"How soon is your rut coming?"

Frowning, Kaveh opened one eye. "I don't know, I'd have to check my calendar. I think it's… at least a week away."

"A week." Alhaitham snorted as he repeated the word. "Do you mean one day?"

"Do you think I'm in pre-rut?"

Alhaitham finally turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. "You're all over me. You are quite literally lying on my bed. And I never invited you into my room."

Kaveh felt a blush warm up his cheeks as he looked down at their admittedly intimate position. He hated conceding that Alhaitham was right, but this careless contact did point towards his rut approaching in the next day or two. He'd long gotten used to wanting to drape his limbs all over Alhaitham and permeate that nearly scentless skin with his distinctive mix of mourning flowers and wood — being in love does that to you — but it was true that he only ever gave in to these instincts when his rut was upcoming.

"That does explain why I've been having mood swings today," he grumbled.

"You always have mood swings," Alhaitham pointed out.

Kaveh sat up. "Do not!"

"Hm." Alhaitham turned another page. "What's the point of marking your ruts on a calendar if you never check said calendar, pray tell?"

Kaveh gritted his teeth. "I do check my calendar, but it's natural to occasionally forget. Especially when you're someone who has actual work to do and things to stress about. I don't have your hours upon hours of free time, you know."

"Then how come you have the time to snuggle against me while rambling about a collapsed foundation?"

Grunting, Kaveh yanked his legs away from where they were resting over Alhaitham's warm thighs and stood up pointedly. "So you were paying attention, huh? Your book must be boring you to death."

"Or perhaps your voice is excessively loud," Alhaitham replied as he brought the copy up, demonstrating that he was nearing the end.

"It's useful for when I have to call you over from another room," Kaveh retorted, making his way to the door. "Like I will soon, when I'm done preparing a delciious and very liquid soup for our dinner."

The disgruntled look on Alhaitham's face brought him enough satisfaction to make up for the disrespectful jabs unfairly directed at him just moments before. So what if he was in pre-rut? It wasn't like he was the kind of man to get all aggressive and unquenchibly horny for the duration of a cycle. He just got a fever and felt more emotional than usual. Sure, his libido increased and he had to take some medicine in order to not feel dizzily overwhelmed the whole time, but it was nothing more than a temporary inconvenience.

Alhaitham, being a beta, had always thought Kaveh's cycles were a big deal. In fact, when Kaveh had first presented in the Akademiya, Alhaitham had checked out a number of detailed books on alpha physiology in order to understand the phenomenon and help his senior's adaptation — which had been ridiculously cute. He had crinkled his eyes at the idea of going through all of that 'hassle' (in his words), and he probably still held the same opinion.

It was… a little disheartening. One lifetime ago, Kaveh had held onto hope that Alhaitham would subsequently present as an omega and they would be a couple, but that had just been a vain fantasy. After all, Alhaitham was the spitting image of a typical beta, uninterested and unaffected by such matters. Their bodies were incompatible, and that was that.

Well, there were obviously betas who chose to be with alphas, but the pairing simply wasn't common. A beta like Alhaitham wouldn't want to sit through Kaveh's 'inconvenient' ruts, or — gods forbid — to be bitten, so it was only natural that he would settle down with someone with less 'mood swings.' That was, if he ever settled down at all; Kaveh didn't know whether romance was something Alhaitham was interested in.

Which was oh-so-promising for Kaveh, who had been desperately pining for the man for years.

Sighing, he opened the cryo box to fetch some vegetable broth. What a foolish, foolish heart he had been born with.

When Alhaitham came home from the Akademiya, even his own nose managed to catch a whiff of a warm, woodsy scent in the corridor, which confirmed his suspicions regarding Kaveh's rut. Making his way to the kitchen, he catalogued the few pita pockets Kaveh had prepared for these twenty-four to forty-eight hours before bringing one to the oven. Their usual dinnertime was soon, and Kaveh was in no condition to be walking around the house.

Alhaitham knocked on the door. A mumbled 'come in' came as a reply.

A water bottle already sat on Kaveh's nightstand, as expected, and Alhaitham placed a cup of iced tea next to it. As he rested the tray with food and napkins on the matress, he analysed Kaveh's sorry state.

"You look like a mess."

Scoffing, Kaveh rolled his eyes that were currently cushioned by impressive eyebags. His entire face was so red that he looked sunburnt, and sweat was glistening on his temples.

Instead of a half-hearted retort, however, Kaveh reacted by sitting up at once. He leaned in close to Alhaitham's neck — unnervingly close — and inhaled as deeply as seemed possible. Alhaitham's heart sped up its pace at the sudden movement.

Kaveh looked up at him with eyes that looked utterly heartbroken, like those of a kicked puppy. "You smell like another alpha."

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Alhaitham rolled his eyes fondly. "You're just overly sensitive to scents right now. A stranger bumped into me when I was getting through Treasures Street, that's all."

"Right." Kaveh's mouth was still set tight, and his eyes kept hovering over Alhaitham's neck as he crinkled his nose in disgust. "I don't like this scent in our house."

"I'll make sure to scrub my skin especially diligently in my next shower," Alhaitham replied, amused.

In truth, regardless of the comedic moments Kaveh's ruts brought with them, this time of the month always left an uneasy sensation in Alhaitham's empty hands, in his underperforming nostrils. Kaveh was aching and not quite in his right mind, yet Alhaitham couldn't help at all. He could usually offer Kaveh a hand in disguised ways, and he could offer him a house when he was in need, but with this sort of basic, biological predicament, there was nothing he could do.

And he would never, in fact, be able to help. One day, Kaveh would choose an omega who could properly and fully soothe his rutting discomfort, and he would once again leave Alhaitham in an empty house. That was always how it was going to end.

When he turned towards the door, lips pursed, a heated hand wrapped softly against his wrist.

"The scent is really bothering me," Kaveh mumbled while his eyes shied away from Alhaitham's. "Can I cover it with mine? Just a little?"

Alhaitham blinked at the request. It sounded perfectly reasonable, but scenting was usually only reserved for partners and children — a roommate should not qualify. An alpha in rut, especially, would only scent-mark his mate for the month, and that was not the case here.

Still, that was just common social practice. If Kaveh scenting him made logical sense in this particular context, there was no need to overthink it.

"Fine," he said, in a tone that hopefully did not betray the myriad of feelings the simple question had brought up within him. "Don't exaggerate. I have work tomorrow, and I'll be asked an excessive number of questions if I reek of a rut."

"You won't reek. You reek right now," Kaveh muttered, kneeling on the bed as he brought his hand to the crook of Alhaitham's neck. "It's making me sick."

"Dramatic as always," Alhaitham murmured, but his tone was less biting than usual, because Kaveh's wrist was pressing carefully against his skin now in gentle circles. It felt exactly like the sort of caress he fantasised about while unable to sleep at night, imagining that Kaveh was by his side on the mattress.

"Bumbing into you," Kaveh grunted, frowning cutely. "What a rude fucking asshole."

Kaveh's contact, now down to Alhaitham's shoulders and arms, was sending warm tingles into his skin, and he bared his neck ever so slightly so Kaveh would keep going.

Unfortunately, the touch receded.

"Rest," Alhaitham told him, a moment too late.

Kaveh huffed as he returned to his pillows. "I'm trying."

The following month, Alhaitham repeated his usual dinner-bringing and tea-brewing. Ruts weren't meant to be spent alone, and he quietly enjoyed being the one to care for Kaveh in these vulnerable moments, even if just a little.

"Do you need more medicine?" he asked, pressing the back of his hand to Kaveh's scorching forehead.

Kaveh shook his head, wincing. "I've already taken extra. It's just especially bad this month."

Nodding, Alhaitham scrutinised the room with narrowed eyes. A heap of sweaters, blankets, and soft clothes covered half of the bed, assumingly all thoroughly scented, and the curtains were fully drawn. The bottle on Kaveh's nightstand was already empty, and his body heat was practically oozing into the stuffy air.

"I'll get you more water," Alhaitham murmured, wishing there was more he could do.

Kaveh's ruts always left Alhaitham a little on edge, small slivers of concern making their way into his mind as he prepared for sleep that evening. He read on the divan as always, but his focus wasn't pristine like usual, because his thoughts kept returning to what was happening behind that closed door. An incessant ache in Kaveh's fangs, probably, and that fever that refused to give way. His sweat would soak the bedsheets and muddle his mind, reducing the Light of Kshahrewar to just a needy mess.

Alhaitham was glad to be a beta. Even still, in moments like this, he wished he could be Kaveh's counterpart biologically, too.

The words on his book blurred into nearly senseless sentences as he forced his eyes back on the pages, but his reading didn't last long.

"Haitham."

He looked up with a frown to find Kaveh meekly stepping into the living room, holding a blanket over himself like a cloak.

What was he doing? The entire house was scented, naturally, but not enough to satisfy his rutting nose. His body required that he stay in his bed, where the supposedly pungent smell from his pores had soaked the sheets and made them bearable to inhale.

"Do you need something?" Alhaitham asked, sitting up.

Kaveh made his way to the divan, steps unsure. Then, as if drained of all his energy, he sat down right next to Alhaitham, their thighs brushing while separated by the blanket.

"Well?" Alhaitham tried once more, turning his head. This wasn't usual behaviour. "You need to go back to your room."

"Don't want to."

Alhaitham didn't suppress the small smile that formed on his lips at Kaveh's adorable stubbornness. "Are you trying to feel even sicker than you already do?"

Throwing his head back, Kaveh let out a heavy sigh. "I hate ruts."

"I know," Alhaitham replied simply. "But there's nothing you can do about that. So go back to bed, or you'll feel worse."

Kaveh groaned as he glared at Alhaitham, shuffling slightly so their shoulders were also brushing. He was emanating a ridiculous amount of heat. "I'm bored."

"And do you have a solution in mind?"

Furtively, Kaveh eyed the book resting on Alhaitham's lap. "You could read to me."

He raised an eyebrow. This was unusual, but if it would help ease Kaveh's discomfort, he couldn't see why not.

"In your room," Alhaitham stated resolutely, standing up with the book in hand. "Not here."

Kaveh followed him cheerfully, dim eyes perking up at the easy acceptance. It was a pretty sight.

When Alhaitham stepped into the room, he coughed quietly at the smell thickening the air. It was intense even for him, and he resolved to leave the door open.

"Do I smell bad?" Kaveh asked, hugging the blanket closer to himself as he dragged his feet to the bed. "Do you not like my scent?"

Alhaitham rolled his eyes as he turned on the lights and the fan. "I like your scent. I don't like stuffy rooms with no ventilation."

"What are you doing?"

Alhaitham paused halfway through sitting on an armchair by the window. "Am I supposed to stand up the entire time? That's not very hospitable of you."

"No, I…" Kaveh trailed off, eyes sheepishly glancing away. "Never mind. What's the book about?"

Flipping to the first page, Alhaitham crossed his legs. "A needy alpha ordering his roommate around."

Kaveh scoffed, lying on the very edge of the bed where he could be closest to the armchair.

As Alhaitham started softly murmuring the words, his voice surprisingly soothed his own self. His mind was more at ease with Kaveh nearby, with his pout and his strong smell of sweat.

"Can I scent the book?" Kaveh asked after ten pages.

Scent… the book. His rut was probably ridiculously intense if he felt possessive towards a book. But then again, it was an object near his bed, and maybe books smelled more intense when you weren't a beta.

Alhaitham snorted. "Go on."

Kaveh narrowed his eyes at him in displeasure, but eagerly hopped off the bed to scrub the hardcover with his wrist. His movements were diligent, rubbing his scent all over the spine and the open pages before he pulled his hand back in satisfaction.

"Anything else you need to scent?" Alhaitham asked, amused. "The slippers on my feet? My skin cells?"

"You're insufferable," Kaveh protested, collapsing back on the bed. "No empathy whatsoever."

"Isn't my reading helping your boredom?"

"Well, I can't really focus," Kaveh mumbled against the pillow as he curled around himself. "But you being here helps."

Alhaitham's chest felt warm upon hearing that.

"I don't like being alone when I'm like this," Kaveh added, muffled.

Then I'll make sure you're never alone, Alhaitham wanted to say, but he didn't. "I'm here. Try to get some rest."

Kaveh nodded. It was silent for a while inside the room except for his soft breathing, until he whispered, roughly an hour later, "thanks."

"You're welcome," Alhaitham replied softly.

It became a habit.

Kaveh didn't understand why Alhaitham's usually-limited benevolence now extended to making him company during his rut, but he wasn't about to complain. His instincts seemed to calm down when Alhaitham's mild scent wafted through the room as he stepped in with his reading of the day, the sweetness of his shampoo adding to the warm scent permeating the bedsheets. It's almost like it's our nest, Kaveh found himself thinking.

He instantly shook that thought away from his rut-addled alpha brain.

"What are you reading today?" he asked, trying to channel all his energy into paying attention to Alhaitham's words.

"An In-Depth Dive into the Science of Ruts," Alhaitham read out. "Quite a relevant topic."

Kaveh scoffed, fluffing his pillow as if that would solve the issue of his unyielding discomfort. "I can tell you all about it already. It fucking sucks."

"It would suck less if you had a balanced diet and a regular sleeping schedule," Alhaitham murmured, unfazed.

No shit. What a brilliant roommate he had. Kaveh wasn't going to grace that with a response.

"The book also suggests keeping track of your ruts," Alhaitham quipped.

"And does your book have any solutions for how I could make my fever go away?" Kaveh retorted, wiping the sweat away from his brow. "You know, immediate, feasible solutions, not useless recommendations."

"Medicine. Water. Staying in your bed where it smells like you. Skin-to-skin contact."

Kaveh glanced up at once. "Are you offering?"

Alhaitham frowned slightly, pausing before replying, and Kaveh was instantly hit with embarrassment over his ridiculous assumption.

"Never mind," he rushed to say, hiding his face in a pillow. "I didn't… You know."

"Skin-to-skin contact, you mean?" Alhaitham asked, and Kaveh wanted to disappear from the face of Teyvat. "You would like me to be offering?"

Silence stretched for a moment. What was that supposed to mean? Of course Kaveh wanted it. His body was desperate to stick to Alhaitham like a barnacle and never let go.

"I mean, yes," he mumbled. "But I know you wouldn't…"

He trailed off at the sound of footsteps, heart speeding up.

"I'm already here anyway," Alhaitham said evenly, crawling onto the bed and lying next to Kaveh.

Warm joy replaced the uncomfortable heat that had been clinging to Kaveh's bones on the inside at the sight of Alhaitham sharing a rut with him, in his bed, within reach. His headache subdued within the second.

"Thank you," he said with a smile, before he could remind himself that they didn't say things like that. "Can I…?"

"Do whatever, as long as we're clothed. I'll be reading."

And so, unceremoniously, he opened his book again and fixed his eyes on the page.

Well. Okay. This wasn't how it usually went in Kaveh's fantasies, but it was already more than he had ever expected. Scooting closer, he wrapped both his arms around Alhaitham's torso while tangling their legs together. A sigh of contentment escaped his throat as he rested his cheek on Alhaitham's chest.

"You'll smell just like me," he murmured happily.

Perhaps it could have just been his excitable mind's incorrect impression, but he felt Alhaitham's heart rate speed up at that.

By August, Alhaitham had grown used to sleeping in Kaveh's arms during his ruts. His grip was surprisingly firm even when he was sound asleep, ensuring Alhaitham wouldn't leave without his knowledge, and the contact was soothing. Alhaitham felt grounded when Kaveh rested his entire body weight on him, covering his body with his own in probably some sort of protective instinct.

The warmth on his skin was delicious. It was like a heated blanket.

Unfortunately, work got in the way of good things — as always. Alhaitham tried to detach himself from Kaveh's soft skin as slowly as possible, but it was to no avail.

"Kaveh," he said gently, running a thumb over Kaveh's knuckles. "I have to go to the Akademiya."

Kaveh frowned wildly at that, blinking open his drowsy eyes. "Why?"

Alhaitham raised an eyebrow. "Because it's a Wednesday."

For a moment, Kaveh looked so disoriented he might have forgotten about the concept of Wednesdays. He squinted his pretty eyes at the bits of sunlight escaping through the corners of the curtains, then pursed his lips.

Gently, he ran a warm hand over Alhaitham's chest in a movement so intimate it made Alhaitham's breath hitch. "Can't you take the day off?" he asked sweetly, with large, expecting eyes.

Yes, Alhaitham thought instantly. Obviously. He already didn't want to go to work on a regular day, much less one which promised endless cuddles with Kaveh.

Alhaitham hummed, intertwining his fingers with Kaveh's to pull them away from his chest. He was almost uncharacteristically docile when in rut. "Will you convince Lord Kusanali yourself?"

"She'll understand," Kaveh replied, nuzzling his face in the crook of Alhaitham's neck. "You're already here. It would stress me out if you left."

Alhaitham could feel his grasp on his own self-control dwindling. "I can come home early. I just have one meeting which would be invonvenient to miss."

"It's just one meeting," Kaveh argued petulantly, swinging his legs over to straddle Alhaitham's lap and effectively trap him. Then, leaning his face in a little closer, "please?"

Alhaitham's mind, so often referred to as 'brilliant' and 'unshakeable,' was rendered ultimately blank by the situation. Kaveh's hips against his, Kaveh's heat pressing against him, Kaveh's lips so close, Kaveh's voice in that gentle tone. Kaveh asking him to stay.

He parted his lips to reply, but nothing came out. His head was in the process of exploding into flames.

"Fine," he whispered at last, swallowing down his heart which was currently lodged in his throat.

Shoulders slumping, Kaveh smiled at him. A genuine smile, the kind that was rarely ever directed at Alhaitham.

"Let me get up to get us breakfast, at least," Alhaitham muttered, looking away from Kaveh's glittering eyes.

"I'll go with you," Kaveh replied. And then, uncermoniously, he wrapped his legs around Alhaitham's waist and his arms around Alhaitham's neck.

Alhaitham was going to die.

Sighing, he stood up with the blonde monkey still clinging to him. "I'll take a picture of this predicament and frame it. We'll see what Tighnari thinks."

"Don't you dare," Kaveh grunted.

Unfortunately for Kaveh's clinginess, it was physically impossible to prepare breakfast with a fully-grown man wrapped around you, so he was forced to get down (while sulking). And then, stubborn as ever, he insisted that he was the one who should be cooking for Alhaitham, and opened the pantry to pull out the coffee beans.

"Why are you so far away?" he asked in a mutter, looking over at Alhaitham as he took the hummus out of the cryo box. "Come closer, I can't smell you."

"You're becoming chemically dependent on me," Alhaitham teased, poking Kaveh's side and holding back the pleased smile that threatened to take hold of his lips. "Remember not to bite my neck when we're back in bed."

Though Kaveh's face had already been red before, it somehow reached a surreal shade of vivid scarlet at those words. Spluttering, he kept his eyes locked on the flatbread.

Once they were back in Kaveh's room, he stopped Alhaitham from climbing back onto the mattress with a poised hand. Then, with a frown, he fiddled with the arrangement of the pillows for minutes on end while re-folding and he-stretching the several blankets strewn over the bedsheets, muttering something about colour theory.

"How does it look?" he asked expectantly, biting on his bottom lip as he looked sheepishly towards Alhaitham.

Alhaitham blinked. "Are you trying to… nest?"

Scratching the nape of his neck, Kaveh nodded meekly. "I don't know if I'm doing it right. But I thought… cycles should be spent in a nest. I should be with you in a nest. It keeps bothering me that we're not in our nest."

Our nest. He said the words so casually, as if it were a genuine possibility in his mind. Alhaitham felt a seedling of hope grow in the depths of his ribcage.

"It looks good to me," he replied, as if it mattered to him what the bed looked like. "It looks like a good nest."

"No." Kaveh shook his head fiercely. "It's missing… a lot. It smells too much like me."

"Who else would it smell like?"

The bitterness of the coffee still lingered on Alhaitham's tongue. He wouldn't be able to scent their sheets and make it how Kaveh wanted it.

"You," Kaveh replied, stepping towards him to deeply inhale from the crook of his neck. "This liitle bit of scent you have. It's like perfume."

Alhaitham snorted mirthlessly.

"Can I use your clothes?" Kaveh asked against his skin, licking at Alhaitham's small scent gland.

The request, so mundane on a basal level, toyed with Alhaitham's heartstrings, tugging at the hope rooting up inside his chest. It was what mates did. It was what couples did.

"Sure," he said, willing his voice to not betray his desire.

Kaveh pulled on his hand as he ventured into the corridor with a spring in his heels. His fingers roved excitedly over Alhaitham's drawers, pulling out an excessive variety of fabrics and piling them on Alhaitham's quietly overjoyed hands. He mumbled something about 'too little colour,' but seemed pleased with his findings regardless.

Back in his bedroom, he destroyed all his meticulous work from earlier by baring the mattress and adding an additional pillowcase to each pillow, straight from Alhaitham's own bed. He braided the clothes together and rested them against the headboard before straightening the blankets. He curled one of them into a cocoon, then reached grandiosely for the pièce de résistance: Alhaitham's custom-made black-and-green cape.

"No," Alhaitham said, amused. "I'm wearing that outside tomorrow."

Kaveh put on a heart-wrenching pout as he carressed Alhaitham's hair. "We need it. It smells like you, and it's so pretty."

"You can use any of my other clothes."

"None of them smell this much like you," Kaveh protested.

Alhaitham took the cape in his hands. "And what am I supposed to wear tomorrow?"

"Your regular outfit without the cape?" Kaveh deadpanned. "You never even… wear it properly, anyway."

Alhaitham crossed his arms.

"Please?" Kaveh asked again, wrapping his arms around Alhaitham's neck. "I just know it'll make the perfect nest for us."

Alhaitham was a weak, weak man to that kind of statement. And so, sighing, he handed the cape over.

After gleefully adjusting the fabric onto the soft cocoon, Kaveh lay on his back and pulled Alhaitham to him by the waist.

"An alpha who nests," Alhaitham murmured fondly, adjusting himself to lie comfortably on Kaveh's chest. "You've never been very conventional."

"Mm." Kaveh caressed Alhaitham's cheek with his wrist. "Who doesn't want a comfortable bed?"

When the morning rose them again with its wisps of gentle sunlight, Alhaitham was in the comfort of Kaveh's now-softened grip. Blonde hair was sprawled over the crook of Alhaitham's neck and the faint woodsy-floral scent clung to the pillowcase, weighing down Alhaitham's eyelids.

Kaveh's skin, though deliciously warm from the fluffiness of the blankets, was no longer close to feverish. Alhaitham detangled their legs and quietly stood up with a stretch.

Shuffling, Kaveh mumbled something unintelligible. Only because his eyes were closed, Alhaitham smiled softly at the sight.

"I'm going to work," he whispered, reaching for the cape jumbled with the covers.

He was late, but it didn't matter. No one paid attention to when he clocked into or out of work, all long used to his escapades during business hours.

Or at least, no one usually paid attention to him. Today, however, two pairs of eyes instantly locked on him the moment he stepped into the Akademiya, and other thinly-veiled glances followed him all the way to his office.

Odd. He passed by the bathroom to check whether anything was out of place. Surely no one would gossip about the fact that he'd taken an arbitrary day off, considering that he technically still had the right to many this year.

It was only when he arrived home that the mystery solved itself. As he opened the door, Kaveh greeted him with crinkled eyes before leeting his jaw drop.

"Please tell me you didn't— walk around like that!"

Alhaitham looked down at his body, which looked the exact same as usual, then crossed his arms. "Care to be more specific?"

"Alhaitham," Kaveh groaned, cheeks flushed red. "I told you not to go out with that cape."

Alhaitham sniffed the cape once more, and it didn't smell like anything at all. "I cleaned it with wet wipes this morning. You didn't even scent it."

"It was in our nest the whole day," Kaveh deadpanned, sighing as he stepped forwards to pull the cape away from Alhaitham's frame. "I know you can't smell it, but you should know not to go around like this! You have no idea how strong the scent coming from you is."

"That explains the looks I was getting."

Kaveh emitted a sound between a chuckle and a scoff while taking the cape to their laundry room. Alhaitham followed him closely. "I can assure you that every single alpha and omega you passed now knows you spent a rut with someone."

That brought Alhaitham a secret sort of pleasure.

"And, I mean, in the Akademiya, I'm sure there are people who can recognise my scent." Kaveh bit down on his lip as he blushed further, but oddly, his voice lacked its expected irritation. "Gods, gossip is gonna get around."

A certain smugness caught hold of Alhaitham's chest at the thought, and he leaned against the doorframe. "First I saved Sumeru, then I did it again, and now I bag the Light of Kshahrewar. Has there been a more accomplished man in the history of Sumeru?"

Kaveh slapped his face with the cape, evidently suppressing a smile. "Yes, me."

September brought with it more commissions piled on Kaveh's desk, and the days on the calendar flew past. Seeing 'rut' marked on the page didn't really bring out his frustration anymore, but rather a barely-concealed excitement.

"I'll get started on our nest," he told Alhaitham unceremoniously while walking into his room, as if this was normal. As if his heart didn't skip a beat every time his pre-rut started to stir his gut.

Hormones always muddled up his mind when this time of the month came around, even after he'd swallowed down the medication that kept its worst effects from manifesting. The jittery heat within him filled his entire self with thoughts of nesting with Alhaitham, nesting with Alhaitham, until he could focus on nothing else and had to resign himself to making his way to the mattress.

"Are you ready for bed?" he asked, placing a self-indulgent hand on Alhaitham's neck from behind. It fit nicely in Kaveh's fingers, and his skin felt refreshingly cool to the touch.

"Yes," Alhaitham replied, closing his book. "I let the Akademiya know I'm taking the day off tomorrow."

Oh. That was sweet, and Kaveh felt even warmer upon hearing it. A silly smile curved his lips as he pulled on Alhaitham's hand, too rut-consumed to worry about the usual things, like, won't this get in the way of his holidays? They were going to spend the day drowning in each other's scents, and in that moment, nothing else could compare to that.

They fell onto the mattress with a giggle from Kaveh's lips and an eyeroll from Alhaitham — it looked almost fond, but Kaveh didn't give it much thought. His mind was focused solely on fluffing up the pillows and making Alhaitham comfortable.

Ruts spent with Alhaitham were lazy, soft. It was a cozy bed with fluffy blankets, sleepy cuddles, and the occasional conversation in murmured words. It was intimate in a way that felt like everything he'd ever wanted.

He'd spent ruts with omegas before, back when he thought that would be the best way of dealing with this fever. But the cloyingly sweet scents from their bare necks nearly gave him a headache with their intensity, and his crotch was constantly on fire with orgasms that weren't relieving, and it was a sweaty, passionate frenzy that made him feel almost out of control. His fangs would ache, itch to bite someone he didn't even have feelings for, and the sensation was uncomfortable. His understanding of his own self was incompatible with that kind of animalistic instinct.

With Alhaitham, however, ruts were peaceful. The coolness of his skin balanced Kaveh's fever, and he could think somewhat clearly the entire time. Alhaitham's gentle carresses eased his symptoms, and he could allow his limbs to relax in the warm cocoon of their nest.

Their nest. On usual days, Kaveh would repeat to himself: We're just roommates. He's just helping me. It's just convenient. (Even though it was not convenient in the slightest for Alhaitham, who was wasting away his precious hours to serve as a huggable plushie and little else. Kaveh didn't know what to make of this.)

But when his heart and his mind were made confused and vulnerable by the rutting hormones pumping in his veins, he didn't have the energy to think beyond he's spending my rut with me. He's in my nest. We're mates. Deep inside, he knew it wasn't true, except that perhaps it was. Alhaitham was spending his rut with him. Alhaitham was in his nest.

"Can I live with you forever?" he asked into the crook of Alhaitham's neck.

Alhaitham was carressing his hair with his fingers that were always cold to the touch. "If you want."

That was enough of a response for Kaveh, at least for that night.

When his fever finally gave way, the sun hadn't yet risen. He blinked, trying to adjust to the little light, then turned his gaze to Alhaitham. He took in the fluffy grey curls messed up by the pillow, the long eyelashes curved elegantly, and the gentle movement on Alhaitham's chest as he breathed softly. Like this, he looked nothing like the silver-tongued menace throwing curt jabs around Sumeru. He was simply a man, at home, asleep.

The domestic intimacy of the moment hit Kaveh so sharply that his breath nearly hitched.

Alhaitham leaned into him, eyes still closed. "Stop staring."

Kaveh chuckled quietly. "How did you know?"

"I know everything."

He let his eyes flutter shut, and the two of them just held each other for a long, peaceful moment.

"Alhaitham," he whispered, swallowing down his own reticence.

"Mm?"

Kaveh's heart sprung back to life, clutching itself in preparation for a rejection that Kaveh had always known would come. "Are we… mates?"

The hushed question hung heavily in the air, disturbing their easy peace, and Kaveh almost took it back.

"I would like us to be," came the soft response.

And everything, for once, seemed… right. Kaveh was exactly where he wanted to be, and for the first time, he believed that Alhaitham was too. A jumble of questions and insecurities sat somewhere within him, waiting to be addressed, but not here, not tonight. Right now, he was warm, and Alhaitham's skin was soft, and they were in their nest, and he was never going to move out.

"Me too," he confessed, pressing a featherlight kiss to Alhaitham's cheek.