#alhaitham/kaveh

[haikavehzine]

𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐄 ✦ 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓

“Whoa, a Nara... I haven't seen one in so long! Come quick now, I have something to show you!”

Vasileía is a for-profit fanzine project dedicated to Alhaitham and Kaveh from Genshin Impact.

Our zine’s theme is fantasy. Our goal is to include the ship in a variety of high-fantasy universes. Dragons and sirens, myths and folklore, witchcraft and magic, and so much more! We are excited to incorporate all kinds of fantasy AUs in our final production.

Vasileía intends to provide a traditional zine experience, encompassing merchandise and, contingent on the level of interest, an NSFW component. However, to allow each author to contribute a longer piece of writing and help build a rich world for you to read, we have chosen to lower the number of writers. We have been working on preparations behind the scenes for this project for a while, so we are really thrilled to share it with you. We will be announcing our moderators over the duration of this week, after which we will immediately count down towards the start of the upcoming interest check on March 15th.

Got any questions? Find us on Twitter or ask right here on Tumblr.

[starcurtain]

Haikaveh Fanfics I Want to Read (Part 2)

<- Part 1.

Part 3. ->

1. The Palace of Alcarzarzaray might be called Kaveh’s magnum opus, but actually, it was more like a kick-start for his career. Kaveh hasn’t known a moment of peace since, with constant commissioners begging for him to choose their projects. The longer his waiting list gets, the more his fame grows and grows... So when a pair of people come out of the woodwork insisting they’re Kaveh’s long-lost parents, Alhaitham thinks it’s only right to be skeptical.

Kaveh agrees (for once), but... they’re so nice to him, and apparently he’s got siblings, and they haven't asked him for anything; they say they never meant to leave him, and they love him, and--and--how could he just turn them away? What if it’s true?

What if he has a real family?

Of course, when these so-called parents start encouraging Kaveh to move back home with them, Alhaitham becomes determined to unravel the lie and show them for the imposters they (almost) certainly are.

It’s only because it irks him to see people twist the truth and get away with it. It’s only because the logical step is to point out obvious manipulations when you spot them.

It’s got nothing at all to do with how empty the house will feel if Kaveh isn’t in it.

Nothing at all.

  Rest under the read more:

2. Okay, listen. The fact that Kaveh and Alhaitham are both 12s out of 10 does not change the fact that they’re also MASSIVE NERDS. The fic is just silly snippets of them being the graduate school gremlins they most definitely are:

Is it even fighting if all you are doing is reciting academic citations at each other?  

Saturday night, we are both at home doing nothing but debating over the rules to an ancient word game that we’ve mostly pieced together from the barest disconnected snippets of apocrypha and one oblique reference in a single receipt of sale from 1600 years ago, because we are Normal™. The most normal people in Sumeru, even.  

How Althaitham flirts: Practicing his newest language acquisition by translating nothing but obscure ancient love letters (“Well, they could have had romantic intention but we shouldn’t allow modern interpretations to color our perceptions without thorough analysis of their semantic contexts and candid awareness of the moral obligation of the translator to avoid speculation on connotations which might privilege biased readings--”). Then he heaps his transcriptions all over the top of Kaveh’s desk and chair and bed and...  

How Kaveh flirts: “I built you a bookshelf.”   “I take back every uncharitable thing I’ve said about architecture this week.”   “It is both climate-controlled and self-dusting. Also, it will catalog which books are missing after they’re removed from the shelf and remind you when it’s time to put them back in place so that you’re not tempted to leave your moldy tomes all over my--”   “Wait, who is this bookshelf actually for?”  

“See, I’m allowed to criticize his work, but you, peon, are absolutely not. Here is my 50-page rebuttal of your recent article critiquing the architect Kaveh’s research, in which I will outline exactly why you are an incomparable idiot who should be disbarred from publication ever again. Very uncordially, Alhaitham”  

The only time Alhaitham and Kaveh are unequivocally, indisputably, and inseparably a T E A M: Tavern Trivia Night. (The schedule for tavern trivia night is shortly thereafter altered to: “Any time in which Kaveh and Alhaitham are not on the premises. The management apologizes in advance for last minute trivia night cancellations, but asks patrons to please respect the rule that not even a single trivia question be spoken in the presence of the Light of Kshahrewar or the Akademiya’s scribe.”)

In other words, two geniuses live their very best lives together.

  3. When Prince Alhaitham's viziers started nagging about his lack of spouse to ensure an heir, he dismissed them out of hand. But the truth is, he can't inherit the full privileges of his family's throne (including unfettered access to the kingdom's collection of forbidden records) unless he upholds an ancient peace treaty between his country and their most useful trading neighbor: to become king of Haravatat, he has to marry a citizen of Kshahrewar. Alhaitham isn't the type to bow to social or legal pressure, but if it means he might finally be able to further his research, well, he's willing to swear even a marriage oath to get the knowledge he desires.

But he's not willing to marry anyone unworthy. He's not willing to marry anyone boring, or rote, or feeble-minded, or ill-tempered, or shrill, or under-educated, or ambivalent, or weak, or too polite, or--

If Kshahrewar is going to insist on a political marriage, then Alhaitham will insist on accepting only the best.

But now things are starting to look grim. Prince Alhaitham has interviewed and dismissed (in no polite terms), every eligible Kshahrewar maiden and and no small number of their eligible men besides. For Alhaitham, this is but a formality on his way to further reading, but for the Kingdom of Kshahrewar, real fears are stirring--if they can't find an acceptable candidate soon, the peace treaty that has ensured their alliance with Haravatat’s military-might could dissolve, and already the neighboring powers of Vahumana and Spantamad have been testing the boundaries of their borders...

Entirely out of options, the nervous kingdom gives in and sends the last person they'd want to lose: the Light of Kshahrewar, their beloved architect and most renowned scholar.

But it's all right, because Kaveh has a Plan®.

All right, admittedly, the plan was a lot closer to "Be way too beautiful to reject" than "Argue all night and wake up just to argue again," but hey, whatever works?

(Also known as: The Thousand and One Nights AU where Alhaitham's not quite crazy enough to kill the people he rejects but will crush their self-confidence; Kaveh's not great at telling stories but is great at debate; and the ultimate outcome is still the same very cliffhangery happy ever after.)

  4. If you asked Kaveh Kshahrewar, on-call urban planner for the city of Sumeru, he would expound at length and with several melodramatic sighs upon the fact that his life is fraught with a great many challenges and his fortunes are fraught with a great many (obvious in retrospect) mistakes.

To put it simply, Kaveh will tell you he just has rotten luck.

If you were to ask the High Council of Principalities of the Fifth Ring of the Host of Heaven, they would tell you that Kaveh’s luck is actually quite good... for a person in the targets of the dark legions of Hell itself.

There are some exceptional humans upon whom the wheels of fate are hung, whose very existence is destined to bring beautiful things to the world, to tip the balance in the eternal fight between good and evil firmly toward good. Kaveh is one such person, and therefore all his life he’s been a target of unseen forces that would rather see his light snuffed out.

But that last near-death experience was too close. If Kaveh is left to his own devices much longer, he very likely will perish, long before he’s able to achieve his fated great works for the world. Heaven has to do something.

Alhaitham is a very, very efficient Principality. Maybe the most efficient Principality the Host of Heaven has. But he’s never--not once since the beginning of creation--been called on to actually guard a human. Yes, yes, of course he’s read the manual cover to closing, but...

But no one thought to warn him that they were so very emotional.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!”

“I’m your guardian angel. I live here now.”

“911, I need to report a home invasion in progress! Please send help, there is a lunatic eating raw butter out of my fridge!”

(Or: The guardian angel AU where Kaveh is disaster prone because he is Very Cursed, and Alhaitham is even weirder than normal because his frame of reference for humans is still “wears fig leaves.” It’s a tragicomedy in six acts: Kaveh’s going to change the world for the better. His future is already written in stone. And nowhere in that record is there anything about falling in love with an angel, so Alhaitham knows he’s not supposed to be anything more than a bit part in this grand story.

Too bad Kaveh’s always sympathized with the side characters most.)

  5. During an exploratory trip to the desert ruins looking for remnants of the Deshret Script, lone researcher Alhaitham discovers a strange--and, in fact, magical--teapot, containing none other than a beautiful (but rather noisy) djinn.

“My name is Kaveh.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“I’m a djinn.”

“I can tell.”

“I’ll grant you three wishes, if and only if--”

“Five wishes.”

“What?”

“You should grant me five wishes.”

“Why?”

“Because I asked politely.”

“You absolutely did not! Ugh, fine, I’ll grant you five wishes. But only--and I mean only!--if you’ll agree to set me free at the end.”

“All right, I swear.”

But where are they now?! Kaveh is getting desperate. It’s been six months, and Alhaitham hasn’t made a single wish! At this rate, Kaveh will never get free! He’ll be stuck bunking in a house full of tacky furniture, being tricked into doing the laundry and sweeping forever! This is so unfair; how is it even allowed?! Alhaitham is human; he has to have some kind of wish in that stone-thick head of his!

(The truth is, Alhaitham does have a wish. It just can’t be granted.

He swore an oath to set Kaveh free, after all.)

[cavalierious-whim]

It's unusual for Alhaitham to suck Kaveh off.

Read on AO3 for better quality and follow me on Twitter!

It’s for the rent, is an easy excuse if Kaveh is the one on his knees with his mouth around Alhaitham’s cock. 

It makes less sense if Kaveh’s the one pressed against the wall with Alhaitham knelt before him instead, face pressed into his groin. 

A hand skitters along his thigh, knuckles dragging a sweet touch over the skin there that belies Alhaitham’s typical personality. A kiss to the crease there, where his leg meets his thigh. Kaveh struggles to stand, his trousers still hooked around his calves, tangled in both his thoughts and clothing. 

Alhaitham shouldn’t look good like this. He shouldn’t be watching him with a ruddy, half-lidded gaze, eyelashes so long that they ghost his face with every slow blink. Infuriating. Alhaitham fucks a lot of things up but this sort of nonsense makes it feel like their arrangement isn’t just that, but rather, something more. Something that, maybe, he can dream of. 

Kaveh pets his hair, fingers sliding through thick, coarse strands. “Haitham,” he murmurs. 

Alhaitham looks up at him again. A small smirk, like he knows Kaveh’s putty underneath his touch. This time his kiss hits near the base of his cock, then he licks down the entire length as if it’s a normal thing for him to do.

Kaveh’s head snaps back, slamming against the door. He moans, loudly, unable to hide it behind a cleverly placed hand.

Maybe it’s a study. Alhaitham’s a scholarly man and he tends to put his theories into action instead of ruminating about them on paper. That must be it with the way that he holds Kaveh’s cock in his hand and how he cradles his balls in the other. 

“Hey,” says Kaveh, pulling his face by the hair. 

Alhaitham’s gaze tips up. “Yes?”

“What—” Kaveh swallows as his voice cracks, “—are you doing?”

“I would think it obvious,” says Alhaitham, sweeping his thumb across the tip of his dick. When he pulls it away, a tacky line of precome chases. Alhaitham’s eyes dart to it. He watches the way that the viscous line drips. Then, he leans forward for a taste.

“Wait—”

Alhaitham does. Another flick of his gaze. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No.” Kaveh’s desperate cry is immediate enough to be embarrassing. He’s flushed red to the chest, he’s sure, tense against the door.

Alhaitham watches with a sharp and calculating gaze. He dips forward again, weighing Kaveh’s cock in his hand, observing it like it’s a fine specimen. Kaveh should hate the scrutiny, but he doesn’t, not if it means that Alhaitham keeps this up. 

His tongue slips out and lips the tip of Kaveh’s cock. He seals his mouth around the head, sucking. Testing the waters. Teasing him, judging by the way his hand slides down the shaft, fingertips dancing over heated flesh. Kaveh isn’t sure if Alhaitham’s done this before, but it’s clear that he watches when Kaveh’s the one swallowing cock.

“Wait.”

“Are you complaining?” Alhaitham kisses the tip, too soft, too caring. Those dangerous eyes flutter up and Kaveh’s heart stutters in his chest, thump-thump, out of beat, trying to find to steady itself because dreaming of something more is far too dangerous.

“I just—” A pause. “Why?”

Alhaitham has the gall to laugh, a short sound breathed against Kaveh’s cock. “Because I want to,” he says simply. “And I know that you want this too.”

He cannot fathom how much. It’s hard enough pretending that all of this is a means to an end, that every time Kaveh bends over in the bed, it’s just to pay for his board. But even there, Alhaitham is kind. Gentle when he presses Kaveh into the sheets and opens him up on those long, dextrous fingers. 

Still. It can’t be. Not for the same reasons. It’s the heat of the moment. 

Alhaitham is hot and cold around him; sweet in the sheets but short everywhere else. Clipped words and far-off glances that graze right over him. Unless Kaveh is underneath his hands, he might as well be furniture in the corner of the room.

“What’s with that look?” 

It takes a moment for Kaveh to realize that Alhaitham’s asked him a question. He still holds his cock, stroking it softly, but he looks up at Kaveh with a questioning gaze. 

“What about that look?” The one Alhaitham is giving him back, lustful and aroused, tinged with the edges of something else. 

A soft snort. An incredulous look as Alhaitham’s gaze tips away, turning back to Kaveh’s length. “So blind,” he mutters. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re rather self-serving when it comes down to it.”

“Pot, meet kettle.”

“I’m the one on my knees, this time.” He nuzzles Kaveh’s cock. Nips the base of it, lips sliding over the length of him back to the head. “I choose to do this because I want.”

“Want what?” Kaveh can’t help but ask. The question hangs in the air, thick and heady like their arousal. 

Alhaitham doesn’t say anything, he just swallows his cock down right into the back of his throat. Kaveh gasps. His fingers curl into his hair and pull tight, trying to tug him off, but Alhaitham refuses to relent. Nails dig into the meat of Kaveh’s thighs, carving divots into the sleek muscle there.

Kaveh’s hips buck forward. He can’t help it. Alhaitham’s mouth is searing hot around him. His tongue slides along the underside, tracing the vein there. 

“Haitham.” Kaveh’s cry is broken and raspy. Alhaitham sinks too far, unpracticed, choking slightly. “Ease off,” murmurs Kaveh, guiding his head back.

It’s sinful, how Alhaitham looks at him, pupils blown wide and nostrils flaring. I want, he’d said earlier. Not wants to, he just wants. Pleasure bleeds through Kaveh’s chest and he cups Alhaitham’s cheek, thumbing across the high arch of it.

“Slower,” he says, pressing the tip of his cock back to Alhaitham’s mouth. His lips part easily, eagerly. Alhaitham hums softly as Kaveh’s length slides into his mouth. “There’s—that’s—yes.”

Alhaitham moans, low, divinely, his throat vibrating as Kaveh’s cock sits snugly in it. Kaveh sighs as his head tips back, knocking against the door. He can’t look. He shouldn’t. But he does, taking in the sight of Alhaitham before him. He shifts, knees cracking against the cold ground, bobbing his head along his length, sucking him dry.

“Gods,” Kaveh hisses. He brushes Alhaitham’s hair back, fingers ghosting through the strands, scratching at his scalp. “Haitham, I’m going to come. If you don’t stop, I’m going to—”

Alhaitham pulls him closer by the thighs. Doubles his efforts as he suckles his cock, his tongue working both wonders and nightmares. Oh, he’s studied. All those nights spent watching Kaveh work his own dick have not only paid off, they’ve come to haunt with a vengeance. 

His mouth, hot and slick. A hand moves to cup Kaveh’s balls, tugging at them slightly. A finger slips back further, tracing his hole. Alhaitham’s hips shift, showing off the tented front of his trousers as he whines around Kaveh’s cock

I want.

Kaveh pulls out of his mouth just in time, spilling all over Alhaitham’s face. Alhaitham’s tongue darts out, tracing his lips, and Kaveh just watches as he swallows a bite. A hand to his face to wipe away the rest, Kaveh’s spend coating his fingers as he rubs them together. 

Alhaitham stands, boxing Kaveh in against the door. He kisses him, the salty tang of Kaveh’s come coating his tongue, and Kaveh swallows it down all the same. They don’t do this, they don’t kiss. Fuck, yes, but never—

Kaveh’s head is tipped back. “I want you,” says Alhaitham then, against his mouth, as if it isn’t obvious in the heavily charged air. A hand curls around Kaveh’s ass, fingers dipping between his cheeks to smear his come over his hole. “Kaveh, please.”

He’s never asked. Alhaitham expects, never requests, but this time, he whispers the soft beg into the crook of his neck. 

“Yeah,” says Kaveh, petting his hair. His fingers yank it back, just this side of rough. Alhaitham’s cheeks are pink and his eyes are glasses. His erection is pressed against Kaveh’s hip, twitching, begging for release. 

This time, when they fall into the bed, it’s with hushed and heated praise, and more begging. This time, Kaveh lets Alhaitham fuck him face-to-face, and they cling together in a way that’s fresh and new. Things have shifted. Alhaitham decided he needed more and asked, and Kaveh gives in so readily because it’s been years he’s wanted this. 

Kaveh watches Alhaitham melt into the sheets, arching up into every roll of his hips. “Fuck,” he curses, his cock sinking in balls deep until it’s nestled deep in Kaveh’s guts. His end comes swiftly too, just like Kaveh when he spilled in his mouth earlier. Feelings are pesky things that often breed trouble, but there are no complaints as Alhaitham’s thrusts become ragged and lose their rhythm so easily. 

They both moan when Alhaitham tips over the edge, filling Kaveh to the brim until his come leaks around his length. 

Kaveh breathes heavily, holding himself up with a hand pressed against his chest. “What—” Was that? He wants to ask even though he already knows the answer. 

“Kaveh,” whispers Alhaitham. 

“I’m here.” Kaveh dips forward and presses their foreheads together, and they just hang there like that as the air settles. 

No more words, just the gentle scrap of Alhaitham’s nails as they scratch down his back. He pulls Kaveh close to rest against his chest, and Kaveh nearly falls asleep listening to his heart. Thump-thump, a solid and steady beat, unlike the silted mess of his own. 

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” 

Kaveh blinks at the sound of Alhaitham’s voice, nodding against his sweaty skin. The kiss on his brow is the last thing he remembers, but it’s nice and grounding. Kaveh dreams of it once he’s pulled right under. 

[pokemonispain]

waking up on the wrong side of the bed-Alhaitham/Kaveh

Summary:  In which the moment Kaveh wakes up he can tell that today is not his day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the aching in his joints and the sharp pain dancing along his skin, the jittery buzzing burn that sits just below his skin that lets Kaveh know that today just isn’t his day when he opens his eyes that morning.

He groans softly, grimacing at the dull ache that streaks across his eyes when the sunlight filtering in from between the curtains feels far too bright.

As Kaveh lies there hoping to drift back off to sleep he slowly becomes more and more aware of a few more things.

For one his head hurts, a slight dull ache settled at the base of his skull as well as his right temple. It’s not horrific but it definitely is slightly noticeable and annoying.

The next thing he notices is that his body feels heavy, especially in his limbs as if a small weight were tied to each.

There’s a slight ache in his stomach as well, not exactly painful but definitely uncomfortable, and he scowled as he shakily placed a hand on his stomach. His scowl only deepens when he finds that his stomach is bloated ever so slightly.

The final thing is the burning sting dancing across his skin, that make even the blankets laying across him feel uncomfortable.

It’s all these things alongside the jittery, almost feverish feeling settled in his body that lets Kaveh know that he’s having a flare-up.

Kaveh was someone who’d been chronically ill since he was a child although he did his best to hide it as he got older, especially when he was studying at the Akademiya.

This often meant him pushing through the pain, the horrible fevers, and nausea, no matter what whenever he was in class or around others, only to return to his dorm room and collapse in bed barely able to move.

Once in bed, he would reach out taking the sketchbook and pencil he kept on his nightstand, and simply sketch. Random doodles, impossible yet wondrous architecture that no human could reliably replicate.

Sketching random doodles like that was one of the few things that let him ignore the world around him.

More often than not he would fall asleep soon afterwards, his quill still clutched in his hand.

The illness wasn’t life-threatening truthfully but that didn’t stop Kaveh from feeling as if it were whenever the flare-ups were at their worst.

Not only that but alongside the regular symptoms Kaveh also often found himself susceptible to getting sick frequently which was rather annoying.

Honestly, he’d felt the oncoming signs of a flare-up all week, the slight nagging queasiness in his stomach that made quite a lot of food seem unappetizing.

The heaviness that lingered in his body each morning which he’d just chalked up to the work he’d been doing the night before.

The dull ache that had settled in his skull which he’d chalked up to eye strain.

Remembering the signs that he’d ignored and brushed off, Kaveh groans loudly his hands covering his face, “Idiot!”

A second later he scowls, pausing for a moment to try and listen intently in the hopes that Alhaitham hadn’t heard his near scream of frustration.

He’d been living with Alhaitham for a little while now, with the younger man extending the offer for Kaveh to live with him a while ago.

Although they’d been rather close during their time studying at the Akademiya together, despite the fact that they attended under different years and different

Darshans.

Kaveh was Alhaitham’s senior however the two had grown rather close forming something of an odd friendship, this friendship had drifted apart due to their differences, but eventually when they’d met once more later into their adulthood, and began living together.

They bickered and argued rather frequently, pushing each other’s buttons and responding in kind to the point where Kaveh wouldn’t have been surprised if all of Sumeru city were aware of it.

Alhaitham could often read Kaveh like an open book, something that the younger man used to his advantage to irritate Kaveh.

That is also why Kaveh often did his best to hide his illness thoroughly. The medications he often took to ease and calm the flare-ups were hidden in a lockbox in the lowest cabinet of the nightstand.

Admittedly Kaveh did occasionally overwork himself but it had been a while since he had a flare up thankfully. The last thing he wanted was for Alhaitham to find out about his illness for multiple reasons, the main one being Kaveh’s pride more than anything else.

Kaveh was someone who deeply valued his self-image, the way people saw him especially. He hated people pitying him like he was just some poor fool who didn’t know any better.

Having grown up the way he had, he had heard many comments such as this. Although it was in the Akaidemyia was where the hushed whispers were the worst, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have friends but even when the ‘eccentric weirdo’ became the genius and light of the Kshahrewar those hushed whispers never stopped.

Kaveh hated people pitying him, and although he knew when to swallow his pride when backed into a corner that didn’t make the feeling any less bitter. Hell, when Alhaitham had offered to allow him to move in with him it had taken a bit of contemplation.

It had been his only option at the time when he’d gotten into debt. The hushed whispers of people gossiping had seemed overbearing at that time.

Kaveh bites his lip lightly as his eyes glance over to his bedroom door nervously. The flare-up was annoying at the moment and slightly painful but the pain hadn’t reached crippling levels this time. Hopefully, he could keep Alhaitham from finding out until it passed.

Taking a deep breath Kaveh slowly sits up so that he can get ready for the day. Almost instantly a wave of dizziness washes over him at the movement, as the dull ache that had been throbbing in his skull seems to dart along the side of it.

Kaveh brings a hand to his head with a soft groan as he closes his eyes, his ears are filled with a loud ringing noise drowning out every other sound.

His other hand goes to his stomach when nausea stirs in the pit of it, still groaning and feeling as if the room is spinning around him he lightly rubs at his stomach noting the low growl that came from it.

Kaveh takes a few deep breaths through gritted teeth. Careful, all he had to do was be careful and maybe just maybe Alhaitham wouldn’t find out. It takes Kaveh a few deep breaths before he could open his eyes without feeling as if he were going to pass out.

It takes him another moment to shakily get to his feet, the normally soft sensation of shifting blankets feeling as if they were scraping against his too-sensitive skin.

His body feels far too slow and heavy as if filled with lead, each brush of clothing against his skin sending a sharp burning sting spiderwebbing across his body. When he’s finally finished getting dressed Kaveh feels worse than when he woke up.

Exhaustion covers him like a large blanket, tugging a yawn free from his lips. His head is pounding in time with his heartbeat, the sunlight filtering in through the curtains feeling as if it’s trying to stab him through the eye.

Kaveh feels uncomfortably warm as well as though he’d gotten a full workout from simply getting dressed. Each ragged breath he takes makes his chest and backache, that burn darting and dancing across the expanse of the skin there.

He feels a bit dizzy, the queasiness settled in his stomach becoming a bit more noticeable as if on cue he could hear the soft clang of pots and pans in the kitchen letting him know that Alhaitham was awake and fixing himself breakfast.

Tonight would be Kaveh’s turn to cook dinner, although they often switched this one specific chore due to Kaveh complaining that it was unfair that he should be stuck cooking each day for the two of them. Especially considering how messy Alhaitham already left the house.

Kaveh looked over towards his bed for a moment, he knows he should just climb back in bed and rest until this passed especially considering how exhausted he felt at the moment as if his energy had been drained.

And yet he doesn’t, his gaze going to the unfinished designs sitting on his worktable still on the planning stage, then going to the door where he could hear Alhaitham still moving around the kitchen.

“It’ll be fine. I just need to hold it together for a bit,” Kaveh tried to convince himself before he stands up straight, takes a deep breath, and stretched ignoring the ache that darts across his skin.

Once he believes that he looks presentable Kaveh leaves his bedroom and ventures into the kitchen.

~~~

Alhaitham senses Kaveh’s familiar presence in the kitchen rather than heads him at first, although soon enough he can just faintly hear Kaveh’s usual grumbling through the noise cancellation function of his headphones.

After cooking breakfast Alhaitham had chosen to read as he ate considering he had free time before work as usual.

Kaveh huffed looking at Alhaitham with narrow eyes when the younger man doesn’t answer his question in regards to the banging of pots and pans Kaveh had heard this morning.

“Of course, you’re ignoring me again, you and your books,” Kaveh grumbled as he walked over to where the freshly made pot of coffee sat.

The rich scent of coffee and heavy scent of spice drifted through the house almost lazily, filling it with a familiar cozy warmth.

Normally Kaveh didn’t mind the scent and even found it comforting after living with Alhaitham for a while, but at the moment it felt far far too harsh.

The queasiness in his stomach seems to stir a bit more, as pain darts across his skull. His nerves feel as if they’re completely fried, sitting on a razor’s edge, he can only hope that Alhaitham thinks that the heaviness in his steps is due to him just waking up.

Kaveh is so focused on grumbling under his breath as he’s fixing his plate of food that he doesn’t notice Alhaitham reach up and turn off the noise-canceling function of his headphones.

“Honestly making so much noise so early in the morning I swear,” Kaveh huffed as he sat down across from Alhaitham with his plate of food.

Kaveh is just picking up his fork when Alhaitham finally speaks, making him freeze.

A soft snort leaves Alhaitham’s mouth, “Racket? I don’t want to hear that from the person who spends all night usually hammering away at nonsense. Besides, this is my house in the first place.”

As Kaveh looked at him with narrowed eyes, irritation clearly appearing on his face, Alhaitham couldn’t help noticing that Kaveh looked slightly pale.

Kaveh was truthfully always a bit pale, which Alhaitham chalked up to many things for one Kaveh’s erratic work schedule and sleepless nights.

Even last night Kaveh had been working away in an effort to meet a deadline, obviously sacrificing his sleep as usual in an effort to get it done.

Alhaitham looked at Kaveh briefly, turquoise meeting carmine. Kaveh as usual doesn’t have a hair seemingly out of place, although Alhaitham does note the faint circles beneath his eyes which pointed to Kaveh clearly not getting enough sleep lately.

And yet despite him finding nothing particularly out of place, Alhaitham can’t help but feel as if something is off for some reason.

“I was not hammering away on nonsense! I was working on my project not to mention fixing up your horrible excuse of decor,” Kaveh snapped, an all too familiar scowl tugging at his lips. “Honestly I thought I told you not to go furniture shopping without me.”

Kaveh quickly takes a sip of his coffee once he stops speaking, feeling that familiar irritating tickle flaring to life in the back of his throat alongside that familiar soreness.

It helps just a tiny bit although it does nothing but make the nausea lurking in the pit of his stomach intensify for a moment, and Kaveh swallows thickly from behind his mug still raised to his lips.

He tries to ignore the way his clothes feel far too rough on his skin. Abnormally scratchy, each movement no matter how small had a sharp sting dancing along his skin.

Kaveh glances down at his food, unsurprisingly it looks unappetizing to him at the moment. Even though he had only tentatively sipped on his coffee this morning his stomach feels far too full.

Kaveh hadn’t realized he’d zoned out, his mind wandering as he stared at the food trying his best to prepare himself but when he eventually does look up he finds Alhaitham looking at him as if waiting for Kaveh’s response.

“What is it Haitham,” Kaveh asked with a slight scowl. He resisted the urge to fidget beneath Alhaitham’s gaze, although that doesn’t stop the fear and nervousness from writhing in his chest.

Did Alhaitham notice something that Kaveh missed when getting ready today? Did he know Kaveh was sick?

So many of these questions circled Kaveh’s exhausted mind at such a speed it almost feels as if they were making the dizziness worse.

Eventually, Alhaitham speaks, dragging Kaveh out of his swirling thoughts. “If you plan on going out, be sure to lock the door,” Alhaitham told him.

Kaveh gave a soft huff. “You better not take my key,” the words are grumbled under his breath as he picked up his fork.

While Alhaitham was used to Kaveh zoning out from time to time, it is the fact that Kaveh is strangely quiet only occasionally speaking up rather than aimlessly chatting and complaining to fill the silence that has Alhaitham taking a bit more notice.

Kaveh was someone who wasn’t a quiet person, whether it be working on his projects, complaining, or merely talking about whatever random thought that popped into his head, Kaveh was never quiet.

He was always talking, his eyes bright with excitement. For Kaveh to be quiet…well Alhaitham found it rather odd.

When Kaveh picks up his fork and begins eating is when Alhaitham notices that Kaveh’s usually steady hand had the slightest tremble to it. Kaveh didn’t seem to even be aware of it himself either.

For a few moments, it’s quiet, allowing Kaveh to focus on doing his best to force down the food, each bite sitting heavily like a weight in his already sore stomach. He has to repeatedly bite the inside of his cheek to keep from grimacing as cramps twist at his stomach.

This was fine, not good but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t experienced before.

Suddenly Alhaitham speaks, causing Kaveh to look up at the other man.

“You should try and see if you can get an extension for-“

Alhaitham is cut off suddenly when a rather loud growl comes from Kaveh’s stomach, causing both of them to jump slightly.

Kaveh freezes his eyes wide as his face flushed red, and he catches sight of the slightest hint of surprise on Alhaitham’s face if only for a second.

“Stop staring at me,” Kaveh huffed as he glanced away feeling almost pinned under Alhaitham’s gaze at the moment.

It felt a bit oppressive honestly, Alhaitham had very piercing eyes which always seemed to scrutinize whatever subject he laid them on. So it was no surprise that whenever he directed that gaze towards Kaveh, that Kaveh couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.

The familiarity they had with each other rarely made it any better either, if anything Kaveh felt as if Alhaitham could see every chink in his metaphorical armor.

Did Alhaitham know something was wrong? After all, before Kaveh’s stomach had interrupted Alhaitham he’d seemingly been about to say something about Kaveh getting an extension.

“How can I not stare when you’re clearly making a spectacle of yourself,” Alhaitham said drawing Kaveh out of his swirling thoughts.

Between the fog blanketing his mind and the pounding headache, it takes him a moment or two to process Alhaitham’s words, but when he does as usual irritation wells up within him.

His eyes narrowed once more as he glared at Alhaitham eventually Kaveh looked away though, clicking his tongue and he mumbled soft curses under his breath.

Alhaitham finishes eating first, getting to his feet as he glanced at the nearby clock. He can hear Kaveh muttering something under his breath, although Alhaitham can’t understand the language due to it not being in the Sumerian tongue he does recognize the usual tone Kaveh usually has when he’s throwing a fit.

The language Kaveh was using was the language of the desert dwellers, with the other man having told Alhaitham that he grew up there for a bit as a child.

Alhaitham had heard Kaveh speak it many times, sometimes purposely during an argument or when drunk, or discreetly when he didn’t realize Alhaitham was present.

“Make sure you lock the door if you leave the house,” Alhaitham said as he grabbed his key off of the hook beside the door.

“Just don’t take my key,” Kaveh called out.

It is only when Kaveh hears the front door close shut, letting him know that Alhaitham had left for work that he slumped forward in his chair. Resting his head down for a moment as his hand went to his stomach, cringing when he feels it gurgling and shifting with each cramp that twisted at it.

Now that he’s allowed himself to relax, the nausea and dizziness slams into him with such ferocity that it leaves him breathless and panting.

A grimace tugs at his lips as pain blossoms along his entire body, a horrible weight settling in his arms, back, and chest.

A sharp stinging burn dancing across the surface of his skin leaving a buzzing jitteriness in its wake, as if he were being subjected to a constant electro attack.

His clothes feel far too rough on his skin, almost as if they were made of sandpaper.

For a few moments all Kaveh can do is sit there, his arms wrapped around his stomach cursing every archon he can think of as well as Celestia itself as he does his best to ride out the waves of pain and nausea.

It takes him a good few minutes of taking shuddering breaths in through his mouth, his eyes squeezed shut as they sting with tears.

Slowly but surely the pain and nausea slowly begins to dull bit by bit till it’s settled as something of a background annoyance.

Sniffling and lifting his head Kaveh wipes at his eyes with trembling hands, he truly really does hate this. “Fuck…”

Kaveh glances at his plate of half-finished food but glances away when his stomach makes a loud gurgling noise as if warning him to not even entertain the idea of trying to eat any more of it.

Kaveh really hated wasting food, something that he'd learned and had been practically drilled into him as a child. Food in the desert could be hard to come by although many desert dwellers did their damnedest to scrape by to survive not everyone was so lucky.

Which often made times like this when the flare-ups made it difficult for him to eat that irritated Kaveh more than anything.

“Pisses me off,” he huffed under his breath as he got to his feet and quickly put the leftovers inside the mist flower box.

It would keep the food cool and somewhat preserved for a day or so at least.

With that taken care of, and a small apology whispered to Lesser Lord Kusanali, Kaveh returned to his room, his hand lingering on his stomach which was practically throwing a tantrum at the moment. The dull cramps leave him feeling as if someone was pinching his insides.

His steps are heavy with exhaustion and yet he doesn’t lay down to take a nap and stay in bed like he should truthfully.

He had some work to do and designs to go over, he was just thankful that he wouldn’t need to leave the house today because just the thought of doing so has his head spinning.

It wasn’t Kaveh’s first time working through a flare-up, and as he goes over the all too familiar tools on his workstation he’s reminded of his time in the Akademiya.

And despite the pain tugging at every inch of his body Kaveh can’t help the small smile that crawls across his face as he picks up one of the nearby pencils.

His hands are still trembling ever so slightly as they had been when he’d been eating earlier, however, it doesn’t bother him after all Kaveh is used to it.

As Kaveh works, he can’t help but find his mind turning to his time as a student. The many long sleepless nights he’d spend studying, gathering references for his classes, going to the tavern with friends occasionally, simply sitting somewhere and sketching.

Kaveh also finds his mind wandering to when he and Alhaitham had been closer when younger. The times Kaveh would find himself sick due to lack of sleep and Alhaitham would come by to see him after class, carrying a book or three in hand as usual.

He’d chastise Kaveh openly all while keeping him company, although even back then Alhaitham had been blunt, his words had lacked the almost vicious bite they’d gained in later years after he and Kaveh’s falling out.

Surprisingly while he’d had flare-ups more frequently back then he was always able to keep Alhaitham from finding out, just as he did now.

Making sure his medicine was hidden out of sight of Alhaitham’s critical eye. Never speaking a word about the doctors appointments to anyone.

He was nearly living a double life at this point. Which again wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to.

Time seems to pass in a blur as Kaveh worked and for a little while he was able to ignore everything, the pain, the nausea, the fever, all of it.

As frustrating and infuriating as it could be sometimes Kaveh would be dead in the ground before he admitted that he truly hated art.

Placing his quill and ink aside for a moment Kaveh scrutinized his progress with a careful eye.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was no longer focused, that his concentration had been broken to some extent that suddenly everything seemed to hit him all at once.

Kaveh slumped forward slightly with a groan, bringing a hand to his face. It felt as if someone was trying to crack his skull open, his vision wavering as pain sparked and lashed across his skin.

“Need…to lay down…” Kaveh murmured to himself his words slurring slightly whether it was the exhaustion or the dizziness he wasn’t sure.

He shakily gets to his feet, honestly though trying to walk at all in his current state is a mistake. The moment he stands up the room seems to rapidly sway and tilt before his eyes, wave after wave of dizzying nausea churning in his stomach and pulling a sickly-sounding hiccup from his lips.

Kaveh attempts to take a step, in what he thinks is the direction of the bed but he doesn’t make it, the ground feels as if it disappears from beneath his feet and Kaveh is unconscious before he hits the ground.

~~~

Alhaitham arrives home early having taken the first opportunity offered to him to head home. Surprisingly the house is quiet as he opens the door and at first he believes Kaveh has left the house and gone out considering it wasn’t unusual.

However, he quickly disregards that thought when he notices Kaveh’s key on the hook by the front door.

It wouldn’t have been the first time Kaveh had forgotten his key and gone out though,  which was a habit Alhaitham found annoying.

At the moment though he only finds himself comfortable embracing the silence and temporary calm in the house.

Alhaitham makes his way through the house, stretching ever so slightly when he noticed that his shoulders felt a bit stiff from sitting down at his desk most of the day going over paperwork, just as usual.

He almost reaches his room, passing by the door to Kaveh’s room when he hears a loud crash from inside, as if someone had tripped over something and fallen.

At the noise Alhaitham pauses, sighing. And just like that, his chance to embrace the peaceful silence in the house had disappeared.

It wasn’t uncommon for Kaveh to trip over things, after all his room was a mess of scarcely organized chaos something Alhaitham never failed to bring up whenever Kaveh threw a fit over him leaving his books out.

For a moment Alhaitham finds himself waiting, listening to see if he would hear the usual sounds of Kaveh scrambling to get up or even soft cursing in the Sumerian tongue or the desert dweller's language.

And yet, there’s nothing. Just more silence…

Sighing softly, Alhaitham turns to Kaveh’s door and knocks.

“Kaveh?”

He listens again for a moment, adjusting his headphones slightly so that he could keep an open ear.

Alhaitham had rather sensitive hearing, and wearing the headphones helped ease that alongside the fact that they were soundproof and had a noise-canceling function.

For a moment the house is almost eerily silent as if it were holding its breath in anticipation. Then Alhaitham hears something, a weak groan followed by a whimper of pain.

“Kaveh,” he called out again as he placed his hand on the doorknob, it turned slightly beneath his hand and he scowled, noting that it was unlocked.

Alhaitham opens the door and in the next moment freezes when he sees Kaveh collapsed on the floor, curled into a ball.

It wasn’t the first time Alhaitham had found Kaveh collapsed seemingly due to lack of sleep from overworking himself, he should be well acquainted with it considering it was a sight he’d even seen in the Akademiya, it was logical really.

And yet that familiarity does not stop him from rushing to Kaveh’s side, his eyes wide, nor does that stop the uncomfortable, almost painful twisting sensation in his chest.

He drops down to his knees beside Kaveh, now that he was closer he could see that Kaveh was writhing weakly in pain soft almost inaudible whimpers leaving his lips. His skin was worryingly pale, and his clothes were soaked with sweat.

There was blood trickling from beneath his nose, another thing Alhaitham had seen before when Kaveh had collapsed due to overworking himself while sick.

And yet it makes the current situation no less frightening and… infuriating .

Alhaitham quickly reaches out but pauses when Kaveh groans loudly, his body jolting with a soft yet wet-sounding hiccup.

“Kaveh,” Alhaitham said when he saw Kaveh’s eyes flutter open slightly.

Kaveh groans again, murmuring something that Alhaitham struggles to understand as his words slur between a mix of broken Sumerian and desert dweller's tongue.

Another hiccup jolts Kaveh’s body, sounding absolutely nauseating, in the very next moment his body shudders as a rumbling gurgling noise pries itself free of his throat right alongside a surge of pale greenish slightly watery vomit.

The slimy sludge-like mixture poured from his mouth almost lazily with a consistency of oil paint.

Kaveh coughed and spluttered harshly, his eyes going wide as more awareness crept into them. He whimpers loudly, a pathetic noise of misery right before another surge of pale vomit gurgles up his throat, the food that had been sitting so heavily in his stomach earlier coming up only semi-digested.

It has an almost slimy paste-like consistency as it congeals and cools on the hardwood floor.

“Easy, now. Just let it out," Alhaitham whispered quietly, as he brushed Kaveh’s hair back from his face, noting that Kaveh’s skin felt more than a little warm.

As Kaveh chokes up another wave of lumpy semi-digested vomit onto the floor, Alhaitham glances up towards Kaveh’s workstation from the looks of things Kaveh had been working on before he collapsed.

It takes a moment for Kaveh’s retching to taper off, threads of bile and drool dripping from his lips into the mess almost lazily, as he lays there panting soft hiccups and weak empty gags leaving his lips.

Kaveh whimpered as he blinked slowly in an effort to clear the tears from his eyes. Everything hurts, every inch of his skin feels as if it’s stinging and burning, his head is throbbing viscously to the point that he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d cracked it open when he’d fallen to the floor.

Cramps continue to twist at his stomach despite the fact that he’s sure he’s brought up every single bit of his breakfast.

Tears continue to well in his eyes despite his best efforts to blink them away, each ragged breath he takes makes his chest ache.

“Are you finished,” Alhaitham asked as he tried to ignore the way his heart seemed to twist uncomfortably at Kaveh’s current state.

Kaveh’s nose had stopped bleeding soon after he’d stopped retching, leaving a trail of red to stand out on his far too-pale skin.

Although he seemed awake and aware his eyes were glazed over and glistening with tears.

Instead of responding to Alhaitham he simply lays there trembling which is even more worrying if Alhaitham was honest.

Kaveh typically acted one of two ways when he was sick, either he would whine and complain as Alhaitham tended to him sometimes being rather dramatic about it or he would be strangely quiet and docile, often simply wanting to sleep and wordlessly cling to Alhaitham.

The latter was more worrying because from what Alhaitham knew about Kaveh alongside the times he tended to him when sick, Kaveh only became quiet and docile when his fever was incredibly high.

But strangely enough, while Kaveh definitely had a fever, it wasn’t enough where his behavior would be altered like it was at the moment.

“Let’s get you up, and then I’ll contact Tighnari,” Alhaitham said as he laid a hand on Kaveh’s back.

However, the moment he does Kaveh screeches in pain causing Alhaitham to jump back slightly startled.

For a moment he can only sit there with his eyes wide, perhaps if Kaveh wasn’t feeling like his body was trying to destroy him, he may have chuckled or laughed telling Alhaitham that he looked like a startled cat.

After a moment or two Alhaitham eventually speaks glancing towards the door then the bed, and makes a decision.

“Okay, alright I’ll take you to the Bimarstan,” he said quickly.

That has Kaveh jolting into awareness and he grits his teeth when he feels Alhaitham’s hands hesitantly touch him once more clearly worried about hurting him, and yet that does nothing to stop Kaveh from flinching at the sting that dances along his skin where Alhaitham lays his hands.

Kaveh’s thoughts seem as if they’re swirling in a panic. He couldn’t go to the Bimarstan, this wasn’t good.

“No,” Kaveh all but manages to shout, as he flinches away from Alhaitham’s touch.

“No,” Alhaitham echoed as he froze for a moment, and even through his pain and nausea-fueled haze, Kaveh can hear the incredulous tone coating his voice.

Kaveh cracks one eye open slightly, his breath shuddering as he swallowed thickly. “N-No hospital, d-don’t need one,” he told him, his voice a trembling, rasp.

“You’re delirious,” Alhaitham said almost immediately as he moved to grab Kaveh.

Kaveh speaks again and it’s the weak, pleading tone that his voice has that makes Alhaitham pause. “T-there’s medicine…in the nightstand. A lock box…please Haitham.”

For a few seconds, Alhaitham is silent, his teeth clenched as Kaveh’s words dawned on him.

Kaveh can just about make out the realization, in Alhaitham’s gaze and so he closes his own eyes to spare himself the sight of all his hard work and careful preparation he’d done over the years going down the drain in an instant.

If Kaveh wasn’t already crying from the pain he’d be wailing in frustration truthfully.

He feels Alhaitham’s hands on him after a few moments, they’re soft, containing very few callouses, but most importantly they’re cold and feel amazing on his too-hot skin and he doesn’t even realize he’s leaned into his touch until he whimpers softly.

“Bare with me.” He hears Alhaitham murmur although Kaveh still says nothing even as he feels himself being lifted up into Alhaitham’s arms.

He bites his lip doing his best to keep from crying out, he’d already made such a fool of himself. It was just his luck truthfully that Alhaitham of all people would see him like this, he didn’t know if it was the flare-up making his face feel as if it were burning or the sheer shame and embarrassment.

He feels Alhaitham carrying him across the room, before eventually feeling the familiar sensation of the bed beneath him.

Kaveh shakily places his arm over his eyes, doing his best to keep his breath under control. The last thing he needed was a panic attack on top of everything thing else going wrong at the moment.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

He can hear the sound of Alhaitham retrieving the medicine in the lockbox, the soft familiar clip of the lock being opened.

The soft rattle of the pill bottles being removed and the soft thump as they’re placed down on the nightstand. Kaveh hears it all until suddenly there’s silence.

Kaveh can feel Alhaitham staring at him, and hear those gears turning in his head.

“How long has this been going on Kaveh?”

Alhaitham’s voice sounded nearly as monotone as usual, however, Kaveh does catch the familiar edge to Alhaitham’s voice. A mingling mix of frustration, worry, and surprise.

The faintest hint of a tired smile tugs at Kaveh’s lips, he truly was at the end of his rope if he thought Alhaitham was worried about him. Or perhaps Kaveh just truly looked that horrible enough that Alhaitham pitied him.

Both options left a sour taste in his mouth. A blow to his pride that he despised.

The nervousness and fear is doing nothing for his still churning stomach, and he can’t help but give a soft hiccup, swallowing thickly before he answers. “Since…a little while before I entered the Akademiya,” he murmured hesitantly, glancing at Alhaitham.

He quickly glanced away, however, his face burning with shame beneath Alhaitham’s critical gaze.

For once Alhaitham’s expression isn’t blank, a deep scowl on his face as he crossed his arms staring at Kaveh. A multitude of questions springing to the forefront of his mind as he remembered the many times Kaveh had been sick during their Akademiya years.

It was something that Alhaitham always chalked up to Kaveh overworking himself, in combination with not getting enough sleep and skipping meals. It was a habit that Kaveh had even now.

Alhaitham had never thought to question it truthfully, especially as it would get dismissed by Kaveh as just a cold or the flu.

Now though he realizes he should’ve been more thorough in regards to this matter.

Alhaitham paused, pursing his lips as he closed his eyes as though he were steeling himself and Kaveh has a good idea of what Alhaitham may be about to ask.

Alhaitham took a few deep breaths, and finally, he asked, as he slowly opened his eyes, “Is it eleazar?”

While eleazar was technically eliminated by Lesser Lord Kusanali alongside the Traveler rather recently that didn’t mean that the toll it took on a person simply disappeared.

Kaveh gives him a look of confusion but shakes his head. His flinches in the next moment, curling into a ball as a whimper slips from between his lips.

“N-not eleazar…just a bad flare up…” Kaveh forced out his words slurring between the desert dweller’s tongue and Sumerian.

Kaveh squeezes his eyes shut, his nails practically digging into the skin of his upper arm as he tries to ride out the unrelenting waves of pain.

The room feels as if it’s spinning around him, despite the fact that he knows that he’s pretty much laying completely still and Kaveh can’t help but cringe when his stomach makes a low gurgling noise.

A harsh cramp twisting at his stomach has him cringing as a wave of nausea rolls over him. Despite the fact that he was pretty sure he’d brought up the entirety of the breakfast he’d forced down earlier, his stomach still felt too tight and heavy.

Exhaustion sits heavily in his body like a weight, and he doesn’t even realize that he was beginning to drift off to sleep until he felt Alhaitham’s hand on his shoulder.

It’s a strange feeling truthfully, Alhaitham’s touches being so featherlight and hesitant. Clearly worried about hurting Kaveh and making him feel worse.

It was always like this between the two of them, despite the fact that they argued and bickered frequently, the actions they performed for each other always spoke the loudest.

“Here, wake up and take the medication or I’ll have to take you to the Bimarstan,” Alhaitham told Kaveh as the other man looked at him with slightly glazed-over eyes.

That brings more awareness to Kaveh’s eyes, and he huffed softly as Alhaitham handed him the medicine. “Fine, fine,” Kaveh mumbled, knowing by Alhaitham’s tone that the word ‘no’ wasn’t an option. Kaveh had pleaded with him after all.

It takes Kaveh a moment to actually take the medicine, but that’s simply because of the nausea licking at the back of his throat making the thought of putting anything in his stomach an unpleasant one.

Once Alhaitham is sure that Kaveh has taken the medicine he turns his attention to the mess on the floor. He’s making a mental checklist of the cleaning supplies he needs to grab as well as anything Kaveh may need when Kaveh suddenly speaks.

“S…sorry bout the floor…Haitham,” he said his words slurring heavily with exhaustion.

“It’s fine. The cleanup will be simple really,” Alhaitham reassured him. He turned to Kaveh, noting that the other man was staring at him with half-lidded eyes, clearly trying to stay awake for a few moments more. “Get some rest for now. You’re exhausted and sick.”

Kaveh gives a soft hum scowling. "Sorry..for making you...do all this... take care of me and stuff..." Kaveh mumbled his words slurring as his mind drifts in and out of

consciousness. It’s a struggle to make sure he’s still talking in the Sumerian language.

Kaveh feels Alhaitham’s hand on his forehead for a moment, likely checking to see if Kaveh’s fever had risen at all.

He hears Alhaitham speak just before he falls asleep.

“If you have time to feel guilty, then use it to focus on getting better and taking better care of yourself.”

As Alhaitham gently strokes Kaveh’s hair until the man drifted off to sleep he can’t help but notice the fact that his hand is trembling slightly. A testament to just how worried he’d been and still was.

Whenever Alhaitham and Kaveh interacted, many things seemed to fly out the window. Each invisible rule they had for themselves being torn down by the other with an often irritating ease.

Whenever they were around one another Alhaitham made new discoveries about himself. The one he has now though as he stares at Kaveh’s face as he sleeps is well…

“What an annoying discovery,” Alhaitham murmured.

Love truly was a strange thing.

~~~

Alhaitham can’t help but stare at Kaveh as he sleeps instead of reading his book like he’d intended to, finding that it was rather hard to focus.

Kaveh has been asleep for a few hours truthfully, his exhausted body doing its best to catch up on the rest it’d missed and desperately needed.

Kaveh surprisingly doesn’t snore in his sleep, although he does occasionally sleep-talk soft murmurs in the desert dweller language that Alhaitham can’t understand. But he can recognize the tone Kaveh is using, pleading.

Despite being from Haravatat, learning the desert dweller language was a difficult task, with many different dialects to the point where even someone native to the desert could become confused.

Kaveh often reminded Alhaitham of the very sandstorms that swirled through the desert honestly. Loud and chaotic, never giving Alhaitham a moment's peace even when they weren’t in the same place, either occupying his mind in some facet or coming to bother him.

And yet Alhaitham had at some point once more gotten used to the way Kaveh intruded into his life again. Just as he had when they’d grown close during their time at the Akademiya.

He’d never know peace when in Kaveh’s vicinity.

Alhaitham gets to his feet when Kaveh begins to stir in his sleep, his eyes flutter open and he flinches, squeezing them tight for a moment with a soft hiss, letting Alhaitham know that his head was still hurting.

Kaveh’s eyes open a bit more hesitantly this time, and he slowly looks around, tired red eyes roving around the room confused.

As Alhaitham calmly waits for him he pours a glass of water from the pitcher he placed on the nightstand earlier.

Eventually, Kaveh gives a soft humorless chuckle. “It would seem like what happened wasn’t just a horrifying nightmare.”

Kaveh runs a hand over his face ignoring the aches and pains dancing along his skin.

“Here. Can you drink this,” Alhaitham asked as he held out the glass of water for Kaveh to take.

Kaveh glances at him and then at the water, the sight of it has a slight queasiness stirring in his still aching stomach. However the fact that his throat feels as dry as the desert wins out.

“Hmmm,” Kaveh murmured as he sipped on the water. It is only when he’d moved and sat up ever so slightly that he realized that he was wearing different clothes.

“Did you…did you change my clothes Haitham,” Kaveh spluttered only to wince when pain rippled across his chest.

Alhaitham sighed, crossing his arms, “Who else would have done it Kaveh? Besides, you were a mess.”

“I think I can be forgiven for not looking my best when I’m sick,” he snapped with a soft huff and as he glanced away he missed the slightest hint of a smile on Alhaitham’s face.

If Kaveh was arguing back and putting up his usual fight this was good, it meant he was probably feeling a bit better.

“You need to eat something,” Alhaitham said as took the cup when Kaveh had finished with it.

Kaveh scowled at Alhaitham’s words, the thought of eating anything made his stomach churn as cramps continued to twist at it relentlessly.

A low growl coming from it as the water sloshed slightly in his gut. As a wave of nausea rolled over him Kaveh laid back down with a sigh. “I don’t think I can,” he told Alhaitham, glancing away his cheeks flushing a slight pink with embarrassment when his stomach gave another growl.

Kaveh closes his eyes for a few moments taking slow careful breaths in an attempt to calm it.

A moment or two later Kaveh feels the bed dip ever so slightly as Alhaitham sits down on the edge of it.

Kaveh can’t help but jump slightly, the motion sending his stomach sloshing and sending an acidic hiccup bubbling up his throat when Alhaitham places a careful hand on his stomach.

Alhaitham frowns as his hand moves carefully along the expanse of Kaveh’s stomach, and truthfully he isn’t surprised that Kaveh feels as hesitant to eat as he was.

Alhaitham can feel Kaveh’s stomach cramping and twisting beneath his hand, the upset organ writhing like a ball of snakes beneath Alhaitham’s fingers as low gurgling noises came from it.

Kaveh flinched, whimpering and burying his face in his arms slightly when a low, almost liquidy-sounding growl comes from his stomach, and Alhaitham feels the faint rumbling beneath his fingertips.

Another hiccup jolts Kaveh’s body slightly, followed by a soft groan. Kaveh mumbles something that Alhaitham can’t make out due to Kaveh’s words slurring together.

“What is it,” Alhaitham asked as he tilted his head a bit in an attempt to see Kaveh’s face. “Did you want something to drink?”

Kaveh took a deep shuddering breath, shaking his head slightly although he doesn’t look up, his face still buried in his arm. “N-no…it’s the water…” Kaveh said, swallowing thickly in between his shuddering breathing. “It-it’s…not sitting well. It hurts.”

Alhaitham couldn’t help but cringe slightly when he felt a particular bad cramp ripple through Kaveh’s stomach eliciting a low whine from the blonde.

“Do you think you can keep it down,” Alhaitham asked quickly as he looked over to where the trashcan was, in the area where he left it when he’d finished cleaning.

Kaveh curled further into a ball as he gave a trembling shake of his head, practically panting at this point. Kaveh gives an audible swallow before speaking his voice barely above a trembling whisper, “No.”

A wet, sickly gurgling belch rumbles up Kaveh’s throat in the very next second sending a surge of bile-tinged water splattering onto the blankets sounding like rainfall on a tarp.

Kaveh shakily raises his head, his eyes burning with tears as a violent retch rakes its way across his already sore throat.

As the gush of water tapers off, Kaveh is left coughing and sniffling, doing his best to force back his retching and gagging.

He absolutely despised this, these flare-ups, getting sick like this, he absolutely hated it and as he feels Alhaitham’s hand on his back carefully rubbing it he can’t help the sob that leaves his mouth.

Kaveh was so used to suffering through these flare-ups alone so just Alhaitham’s presence is something that Kaveh is thankful for.

“Let it out Kaveh, holding it in like that’ll hurt worse,” Alhaitham told him as his hand ran carefully along Kaveh’s back.

Kaveh whines loudly but does open his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut and panting, tears welling up on his eyelashes as a thread of drool drips almost lazily from his lips.

Thankfully Kaveh doesn’t need to wait long a wet, hiccup has a small trickle of water tinged cloudy with bile splattering onto the mess already soaking into the sheets.

As his gagging tapers off, Kaveh is left sobbing from the exhaustion, frustration, and pain.

Alhaitham continues to rub his back, gently shushing the man. “It’s fine, the blankets are easy to wash after all. You can sleep in my bed for now.”

Under any other circumstances, Kaveh may have protested, may have turned Alhaitham down. But after today Kaveh wants nothing more than to climb into bed and sleep, hopefully through the duration of this flare-up.

[dear-wormwood]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alhaitham/Kaveh (Genshin Impact) Characters: Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Kaveh (Genshin Impact) Additional Tags: Break Up, Breaking Up & Making Up, Make up sex, Anal Sex, Tender Sex, Tenderness, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anal Fingering, Soft Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Soft Alhaitham/Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Alhaitham is Soft for Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Kaveh is Not Okay (Genshin Impact), Kaveh is a Mess (Genshin Impact), Bottom Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Top Alhaitham/Bottom Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Top Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Praise Kink, Body Worship, Hurt Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Emotional Hurt, Insecure Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Insecurity, Miscommunication, (minor at that) Summary:

Kaveh’s fingers are cold. That’s all he can think about, as he clasps his hands together to try and disguise the shake in them. He tries not to think about the feeling of tears streaking down his cheeks, or the pain that is becoming a solid weight in his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Kaveh whispers, hoarse, and he doesn’t look up at Alhaitham. He can’t bear to. Of all the ways that he has imagined how this would go, this wasn’t it. He always expected for it to be a big fight, hateful words screamed at each other through tears. Not this. Not Kaveh, giving in to his weaknesses and insecurities, sitting at the kitchen table as Alhaitham stands in the hallway, silently watching him. “I just don’t… I just don’t think it’s going to work out. You deserve better.”

For once, Kaveh and Alhaitham don't fight.

[writinginavacuum]

the way your makeup stains my pillowcase (I'll never be the same)

. . .

“Your eyes,” Kaveh said, and Alhaitham had one moment of butterflies, one bright second of excitement when Kaveh took him by the chin and turned him until Alhaitham was eye-to-eye with trishiraite and singular intensity. He swallowed and prayed Kaveh wouldn’t notice the movement.

Then Kaveh continued to speak and ruined everything.

“What have you done to them? It looks awful.”

---

Kaveh helps Alhaitham with his eyeliner, because what else are artist friends for if not to add a little more beauty to the world?

. . .

Tags!

The Innately Homoerotic Experience of Someone Else Doing Your Makeup

Alhaitham is Stubborn but also Down Bad

Accidental Lapsitting

(It's Not an Accident Kaveh Just Doesn't Think Things Through)

Takes Place While They're In the Akademiya

Read it now on AO3!

[timexarch]

ABO Kavetham + Twins???

I thought about them having twins a little too much. I just have so many feels about these two emotionally constipated fools.

Kaveh and Alhaitham have a “drunken” one night stand (haitham wasn't drunk lmao)

Alhaitham starts babying Kaveh apropos of nothing.

Kaveh starts feeling sick after a few weeks, oops bun in the oven.

Angsty omega Kaveh decides to get it terminated without telling the other but Alpha Alhaitham could smell the change weeks ago

Haitham is bad at words. Drags Kaveh away from the doctors office. Big fight ensues.

Alhaitham just drops to his knees and hugs Kavehs stomach. “Please don't”

Kaveh: “You want children… with me?”

Alhaitham: “More than anything”

9 months later, twins were born

Kaveh: “I just had the baby… What do you mean keep pushing?????”

Doctor: “Theres another baby coming out sir”

Kaveh: “THERES A WHAT”

Alhaitham almost faints. Kaveh cusses him out for putting twins in him.

Malek and Mariam are born. Paternal boy & girl twins.

Couple months later Kaveh and Alhaitham get married. Kaveh refused to get married while he was pregnant until he was slim again and looked good in a suit.

Malek is the boys name, it means king. Mariam is the girls name, it means beloved.

[zombie-honeymoon]

Writers Month 2023 Masterpost

Here's everything I wrote this year for @writersmonth

Day 9 - Prompt: Warmth Warmth Ship: Hashirama/Kakuzu Word Count: 390

Day 11 - Prompt: Sweat The One Where Hidan is Sweaty, and Itachi Takes Notice Ship: Itachi/Hidan Word Count: 552

Day 15 - Prompt: Blue Blue Ship: Childe/Thoma Word Count: 1,162

Day 23 - Prompt: Storm Storm Ship: Kakuzu/Hidan Word Count: 433

Day 25 - Prompt: Relax Day Off Ship: Alhaitham/Kaveh Word Count: 423

Day 31 - Prompt: Fall & At a Hotel Wrong Number Ship: Zhongli/Childe Word Count: 1,313

[teyvatdivision]

Frustration

Rating: E || Words: 2,676

Pairing: Alhaitham/Kaveh

Summary: Like a gazelle trapped by a lion, he tries to look for an escape but it's too late because the moment he spots the opening the lion pounces, Alhaitham catching him in another searing kiss.

[battleonthebigbridge]

A Martyr on the Altar of Ideals - A Kaveh Birthday Fic (link here)

" Kaveh had always been able to see the color of other’s spirits. Their aura, as he liked to call it. It was a useful tool in his pursuit of the arts, it allowed him to see the world as its own canvas, laying itself out before him in a delicate dance of harmonies and contrasts. Until Kaveh had seen a man completely devoid of an aura. " A story where Kaveh can see the color of souls and the tale of the ups and downs of his relationship with the man whose soul he struggles to see.

Chapters: 2/2

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

[the-damnedest-creature]

Shards of Your Affection ( by Nexus_NoiR )

Fandom: Genshin Impact Alhaitham/Kaveh Rating: Teen and Up No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 3,850

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort | Wound Care | Mild Injury | Alhaitham is Bad at Feelings | Kaveh is too oblivious to realize | Not Actually Unrequited Love | It is mutually requited they are just stupid | Kaveh POV | Light Angst

Summary: Kaveh clumsily cuts up his hands on a broken vase. Alhaitham helps patch him up.

[starcurtain]

Haikaveh Fanfics I Want to Read (Part 3)

<- Part 1.

<- Part 2.

1. The magical surrealist one that’s just for me: As a basic fact of reality, parallel timelines are being created and collapsing into each other constantly; every nanosecond, billions upon billions of possibilities split and converge on each other without anyone’s notice--except for perhaps a flicker of deja vu, a flash of something strange caught in the corner of your eye... But when you turn your head, there’s nothing there. You shrug, and the infinite rivers of time move on in their constant, unknowable flow...

Alhaitham and Kaveh exist in parallel timelines of the same universe, with no knowledge of the other time’s existence. They shouldn’t ever be able to meet. But when a single moment of resonance gives them a glimpse into each other’s worlds, their refusal to simply forget or shrug off that fleeting look sends both their timelines and their destinies hurtling toward collision.

On a frigid Tuesday in January, Alhaitham meets eyes with a beautiful stranger who disappears into thin air a second later, and his world falls apart after that. Now he’s walking through doors that open to nothing, finding someone else’s handwriting in the margins of his books, receiving mail for a person who doesn’t exist, losing his way down streets whose names aren’t on any Sumeru map, hearing a voice, a laugh, a cry when no one’s there... Are ghosts real? Is Alhaitham going mad?

Who are you, Kaveh? 

Where are you?

(Or: The exact vibe of a Makoto Shinkai movie but it’s a Haikaveh fanfic instead.)

  Rest under the read more:

2. “Alhaitham... by the time you read this, I’ll be gone. I’m sorry about all the things I’m leaving behind. At least keep the painting of the port in the hall, won’t you? I really liked that one...” 

Crushed by the weight of his debt and the endless meaningless commissions he’s been forced to take to satisfy it, Kaveh decides the only way forward is to cease being Kaveh, Light of the Kshahrewar, at all. If it means he can dodge his financial crisis and the crushing blow to his public reputation both, isn’t it better to just wander the world as a nameless traveling designer, pursuing his aesthetic free of... everything...?

Alhaitham isn’t the kind of person to intervene unlooked for. If it doesn’t directly impact his life, then why should he try to change other people’s minds or dictate how they live? If Kaveh is the kind of coward to run from his problems even after Alhaitham went Out Of His Way™ to help, well then, fine. That’s his choice. Dori can repossess all his things, for all Alhaitham cares. (“No, not that painting in the hall. He paid for that with my money.”)

But the thing is... Kaveh’s absence is directly affecting Alhaitham’s life, actually. There’s no coffee in the morning. It’s harder to find the books he wants to read because Kaveh isn’t there to return them to the shelves. When he comes home from work, no one says “Welcome back!” When Alhaitham wants to go the tavern, he doesn’t have Kaveh to distract everyone else, so people keep trying to make--ugh--small talk with him. When he debates a point from his newest book out loud, no one debates back. It turns out that the house looked different when Kaveh was there because he was the one remembering to open the curtains every day to let the sun in.

There’s a lot of things Alhaitham is willing to do to secure the exact life he desires to live. Sometimes, that even includes taking a leave of absence from his cushy job, locking up his cushy house, and chasing his erstwhile roommate... not-friend... person... across literally every major country in the world.

Or: Alhaitham goes on the road trip from hell, meets way more people than he ever wanted to meet in his entire life, and manages to just miss Kaveh everywhere he searches. The fic is a compilation of the awkward messes Alhaitham keeps finding himself in (despite his own best attempts) and the (admittedly) melodramatic, mourning message board letters Kaveh keeps leaving behind, giving rise to the sweetest yet most inconvenient distance romance Teyvat has ever seen.

   3. Kaveh’s the Sumeru equivalent of an A-list celebrity. There is a column in the nation’s most popular magazine specifically for gossiping about him. There are paparazzi showing up to every one of his build sites. He’s been voted Sumeru’s most eligible bachelor three years in a row. And Alhaitham... hasn’t bothered to notice. The scribe does not read gossip magazines or join celebrity-hunting message board chats. He’s been forbidden from showing up to Kaveh’s builds. When crowds pop up after them in the markets and start in with their annoying, high-pitched chatter, Alhaitham just turns on his noise-cancelling headphones.

Kaveh, who wouldn’t mind the attention if he wasn’t, you know, trying to hide that he’s actually flat broke and bumming off his junior, is living in a constant state of anxiety. Having all these people following his every move is sure to reveal his secret if he trips up even the slightest amount (which, when he’s two cups into a bottle, is less of a likelihood and more of an inevitability). Not to mention the fact that Alhaitham hates attention; if more people start following them or figure out where Kaveh lives and show up on their doorstep, they could irritate Alhaitham enough into throwing him right back out...

But when word does start to spread, as rumors always do, it’s much, much worse than Kaveh ever expected: somehow the gossip messengers are convinced that Althaiham isn’t his roommate, but his secret boyfriend. Of course Kaveh wants to set the record straight (before Alhaitham finds out!) but--if he reveals that they’re not dating, then what reason can he give for them living together?! He can’t let his real secret get out!

Welcome to the rift between the rock and the hard place, Kaveh of Kshahrewar.

(Or: Kaveh has to convince his paparazzi stalkers that he is in a relationship with his roommate yet also convince Alhaitham that nothing out of the ordinary is going on [Alhaitham is not convinced], all while keeping the very real secret of his bankruptcy from leaking out to the public and making a permanent wreck of his career. The archons always give their hardest trials to their most gorgeous soldiers.)

  4. Given his status as a penniless, orphaned student whose grades were his only ticket into the Akademiya, there are plenty of things Kaveh of Sumeru is used to going without. Wearing colored glass in place of jewels and skipping the sumptuous meals of his fellow classmates doesn’t even register as a drawback anymore, so long as he can keep pursuing his dream of graduating from the Kshahrewar. But there is one major disadvantage of his status putting his dream at risk: no matter how hard he saves, Kaveh will never be able to afford an Akasha Android Unit.

Everyone at the Akademiya has one: a lovely robotic doll with a direct data link to the sum total of all of Sumeru’s knowledge. So long as you have an Akasha, you barely need to think--any question you could ask, any reading you forgot to do, any mathematical problem you need solved, your pretty android is on hand to solve it for you. Kaveh is... just going to get really, really good at doing math in his head, maybe... maybe? It doesn’t help that Akasha are great housekeepers, study buddies, and designated escorts home from the bar, either... Kaveh is definitely not seething with jealousy at Tighnari’s cute little unit or its terrible jokes, okay??

But just when it looks like his lack of funds for an Akasha might actually cost Kaveh his place in the Kshahrewar, fortune finally smiles upon him: Kaveh discovers what appears to be a decommissioned custom Akasha unit in an abandoned building he is surveying. It’s not in too bad of shape (read as: wow, what a nice shape) and there’s no one around to claim it, so... With a little spit, polish, and power, Kaveh can definitely get this android up and running again!

“And you’re back online! We’re in business! All right, Mr. Super Computer, what’s your designation?”

“I’m... Alhaitham.”

“Never heard of that model before, but nice to see your vocal data bank’s operational. Let’s try something basic first. What’s the square root of three?”

“Solve your own problems.”

“Wait... what?!”

Which is worse: being without an Akasha or being stuck with one that won’t follow a single order? Are Akasha units even supposed to be able to ignore commands?! What the heck is up with this “Alhaitham” who keeps insisting he’s not an android at all, and just how the heck is Kaveh going to deal with what definitely is a human-sized robot that doesn’t agree with him on anything?

(It’s vaguely a Chobits AU where Alhaitham is an android unit with free will, a mysterious past, and a lovely face that Kaveh should probably spend a lot less time thinking about.)

  5. “I think... I think there’s been a terrible misunderstanding!”

When Kaveh is kidnapped by a band of Eremites he’s never met before and told he needs to build them “something important,” he’s honestly not that worried. Rough handling aside, Kaveh’s heart is definitely bigger than his common sense sometimes, and if there are people in need, people that his talents can help, well of course it makes sense that they’d seek out the best!

But this...

This isn’t just outside his wheelhouse, it’s outside of humanly possible, too.

“You want me to build you a city? And not just any city--you want me to rebuild Ay-Khanoum?!”

The city of the gods, born from the sacred garden of the Lord of Flowers. Kaveh’s good, but he’s no Nabu Malikata!

Except that’s exactly who this fanatic band of Eremites think he is, actually: a literal reincarnation of the goddess of the oases, and they’re determined to repeat history by forcing him to rebuild the gods’ famous ancient city. Then, and only then, they claim, will King Deshret awaken and return to his throne as the rightful god of Sumeru.

At swordpoint, Kaveh begins the staggering task of rebuilding an entire holy city, and his hope of a rescue dwindles day by day. It’s only when he’s truly lost himself in the task--when he dreams each night of unearthly flowers, graceful stairs, the beautiful etched stones of a realm he’s never seen and then, without explanation, manages to bring them to life in the light of day--that Alhaitham finally deigns to appear.

But why is he talking in that weird language? Why is he wearing red? And why are the Eremites so happy to see him?

Alhaitham is never going to let anyone talk shit about Haravatat’s language requirement ever again. If learning something as obscure as the Deshret Script is what lets him convince the cult who kidnapped his roommate that Alhaitham is actually the second coming of their long-awaited god and very much wants his missing... goddess... back, well, he’ll do what he has to, as he always does.

(Of course, in the end, the joke is on everyone but the Eremites, because it turns out that Alhaitham and Kaveh very much are the reincarnations of King Deshret and Nabu Malikata, and the reunion of Sumeru’s three god-kings in the reborn sacred city was a promise more than a thousand years in the making. King Alhaitham would still just like to go home, though, if anyone cares...)

I couldn’t resist a Deshret and Malikata AU, okay? I couldn’t!!

[cavalierious-whim]

Alhaitham fucks Kaveh because that's what roommates do, he guesses.

Read on AO3 for better quality and follow me on Twitter!

“Gods, you’re insufferable.”

Kaveh smirks back with a half-lidded gaze. “Funny, coming from you. You’re the one who always comes back for more.”

He’s right, of course. Alhaitham has him laid out in his bed, half-dressed, chest on display. His legs are spread. He lays back, casually, gaze lined with lust. Kaveh knows. He exploits this weakness of Alhaitham’s, this inability to turn a blind eye. Alhaitham falls deeper and deeper every time they fuck. He sinks into the sinful line of Kaveh’s body or those husky, deep moans that spill from his mouth.

Artist’s hands, he thinks. Hands that aren’t calloused from weapons, but pens and pencils instead. Alhaitham might be a scholar but there are many things out of his depth, and to say that it’s nothing but research is a flimsy excuse in the end. 

“It’s not as though you’re paying rent.”

Kaveh rolls his eyes and gives a mocking gasp. “Are you calling me a who—” He gasps for real this time, back arching against Alhaitham’s hand as he pinches a nipple. “Fuck.”

Alhaitham is a quick study. He’s learned what Kaveh likes and what leaves him nothing but a mindless puddle in the sheets. He circles Kaveh’s nipple with his thumb, smoothing the sting. That touch drags down Kaveh’s side, parting the silk of his damnable sleep clothes. 

“What’s the point of dressing if I’m just going to find you in my bed?”

“Mhmn, there’s something nice about being undressed.” A pause as Kaveh’s gaze slides over him. “Speaking of, you’re too clothed.”

Alhaitham leans back and takes in the sight of him. Nothing but lean, smooth muscle. Rounder edges and soft sides. “Oh? Is that what you were thinking about when I found you fucking your fingers in my bed?”

Kaveh snorts. “You wish.” 

Yeah, he kind of does. Not that Alhaitham would admit it. They’re better as roommates than partners due to their bickering. He can overlook the attachment as long as he reminds himself that it’s mostly intolerable. 

Kaveh’s gaze turns cat-like. He presses a hand to his collarbone and traces the line of it with his finger. Down his sternum and over a nipple. Alhaitham watches it pebble under the touch, stiff in the cool air. Then further, across his belly, sweeping over his groin until it settles against the obvious erection tenting his robe. 

“Sure do love to stare for a man so disinterested.” Kaveh’s words are sharp. They sting, needling Alhaitham as he just watches. Kaveh parts the silk of his robe and spreads his legs wider. Alhaitham’s gaze turns immediately onto his cock where it rests against Kaveh’s thigh, leaking from the tip and twitching.

“I have eyes,” says Alhaitham, his resolve beginning to crumble. “And, as infuriating as you are, you aren’t ugly.”

Kaveh sniffs, mildly offended. “‘Aren’t ugly,’ he says. Hah! I’m like finely chiseled marble, I’ll have you know!”

Yes, cut from the finest grade, every angle marked by an expert hand. Like his drawings and his buildings, artistic by nature, Kaveh is the sort of man that bards would spin songs about. Masculine, handsome and beautiful with observant eyes that see more than most would want.

Like now. He watches Alhaitham intensely through a half-slitted glare. And this is why Alhaitham wants to further his study—whatever he feels isn’t isolated. Kaveh talks a big game but he’s the one who lays in his sheets, willing and wanton. He doesn’t fuck other people, it’s either his hand, or Alhaitham’s cock, and they both know which he prefers.

Kaveh moves then, turning over and stretching over the sheets like a cat. He reaches back, palming over his ass, tugging his robe up until his backside is on display. Then he tugs, pulling an asscheek to the side, spreading himself on display.

His hole, slick and loose. Kaveh leans on his chest as his other hand joins, fingers ghosting over his rim and petting it. “Do you see?” he asks, face turned to the side, half muffled by a pillow. Two fingers sink inside easily and he moans.

Alhaitham stares, rooted to the spot. Watches as Kaveh spreads those fingers as he fucks himself lazily. His rim spreads eagerly, pink, stretched wide around those digits. Alhaitham’s throat dries up as he imagines his cock instead. 

He moves quickly. It’s embarrassing how quickly he sheds his clothing. Alhaitham is hasty, undoing his trousers enough to just let his cock slip free. He scrambles over the bed, tied up but uncaring, slotting against Kaveh’s ass as if he belongs there. 

“Here.” Kaveh tosses him a jar. Alhaitham pours a generous amount and strokes his cock. Kaveh’s eyes are trained on him from where he’s twisted in the sheets. “What, no fingers?”

“You’ve managed that on your own.” Alhaitham tugs at his wrist with surprising gentleness, tugging those fingers free. Kaveh’s hole twitches as he presses the tip of his cock to it and just sinks right in.

They both moan. Kaveh is already moving, already trying to fuck back against him, desperate to take his cock deeper. “Come on,” he mutters. “Just—Fuck me, I know you want to.”

Alhaitham’s hands wrap around the curve of Kaveh’s hips and he yanks. Kaveh gasps as his cock punches deep, sliding through his insides and right over his prostate. “Oh, oh—”

“Fuck,” hisses Alhaitham. He pulls Kaveh into every thrust. Kaveh is hot and tight, and the sounds that he makes—moaning and mewling in the bed as he writhes in the sheets.

“Alhaitham!”

Alhaitham grunts. He should look anywhere else because watching instead is a recipe for disaster, but he can’t help it. Kaveh is blissed out in the sheets, his face red and ruddy. He keens with every slap of skin, ass against Alhaitham’s hips with every rolling thrust. 

Beautiful. Handsome, other terribly divine words. He’s studied Kaveh for years and despite knowing him like the back of his hand, there’s always something new. 

Kaveh cries out. His fingers curl into the sheets and tug, and he just says his name, over and over. “Alhaitham, Alhaitham—”

He was a vision earlier, too, face-first in the sheets, fucking three fingers into his ass. Always in Alhaitham’s bed, claiming the sheets are better. But, in moments like this, Alhaitham knows—it’s likely more. The way that Kaveh whines his name, how he eagerly meets his thrusts; there’s something to be said about the romance of it all.

Alhaitham leans forward and plasters himself against Kaveh’s back. The angle changes, forcing a cry from Kaveh’s throat. “Oh, oh fuck. There, there—” Kaveh’s hips grind against the sheets. He lifts himself to meet every single thrust. 

And he watches—oh, he watches, staring back at Alhaitham, cheek smushed by the pillow, eyes half-lidded with arousal. Alhaitham slides a hand down his spine and listens to his moan. Dips forward and kisses the top of it before resting his forehead there.

His thrusts turn longer and slower, driving into Kaveh with force until he’s sliding along the sheets. “Yes, yes—” he cries, tears leaking at the corners of his eyes. Kaveh chokes on a gasp and comes into the sheets, entirely untouched and only from Alhaitham fucking right into his prostate.

Kaveh’s thighs tense. His toes curl and his ass clenches tight, and Alhaitham ruts into that slick heat until he’s barreling over the edge too, coming deep inside. Paints Kaveh’s insides thick with his spend until there’s nothing left. “Kaveh,” he murmurs, into his ear. 

“Gods—” Kaveh’s voice is wrecked, hoarse from his cries. “Gods.”

Alhaitham leans back and looks, pressing a thumb to where Kaveh’s rim is stretched wide around his cock. He slips out and Kaveh whines, hole clenching around nothing, slick with his come that leaks out. Divine, Alhaitham thinks. If he believed in gods—which he doesn’t.

But Kaveh in his bed is a close enough picture.

He is not cruel. Alhaitham has enough decency to wipe Kaveh down. It’s courteous to let him stay the night as well when Kaveh complains that he’s too sore to trip back across the hall. 

Alhaitham snorts at the thought, and it comes out rusty because he is unused to genuine laughter. Kaveh sits up in the bed and gives him a shrewd look. Alhaitham blinks. “What?”

Kaveh says nothing as he slips back into the sheets and slots against his side. Alhaitham lifts an arm and Kaveh fits there so easily. 

“You’re annoying,” says Kaveh in a huff. “With your fancy dick—”

“Fancy?”

“Decently sized, hits all the right spots, yada yada. Annoying.”

“Do you think I can sleep with you yapping?”

“Would you rather me go back into my room?”

“No—” Kaveh gives him a crooked grin. Alhaitham slaps a hand against his face. “Just—bedtime,” he finishes as if scolding a child.

Kaveh hums but settles in.

And, if Alhaitham settles in as well, it’s because he likes the warmth. Easier to excuse and less to ponder. Totally normal, human reaction. But, if it’s something more than he supposes further study is required.

[inavagrant-a]

Genshin has really up'd the ship baiting as of late damn.

[dear-wormwood]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alhaitham/Kaveh (Genshin Impact) Characters: Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Background & Cameo Characters Additional Tags: Trapped, Blood, Blood and Injury, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Injury, Love Confessions, Hurt Alhaitham (Genshin Impact), Alhaitham Whump (Genshin Impact), Worried Kaveh (Genshin Impact), Pining, Mutual Pining, Literal Sleeping Together Summary:

There are another loud series of beeps, and Alhaitham’s eyebrows are pinched together, his mouth set in a tight line as he turns to look towards the construct, before he looks back at Kaveh, expression pained and tight. “I’m sorry,” he says, voice trembling with strain, and no, please don’t leave me, please don’t let me go-

Kaveh and Alhaitham get trapped in a cavern together.

[writinginavacuum]

sunshine of my lifetime

The Alhaitham that had worn robes of green and cream would have never dared to ask. His senior had looked as untouchable as marble, as immovable as the distant mountaintops of the Chasm. Surely he would not bow his head for Alhaitham. Alhaitham had stood aside, a silent observer, as Kaveh’s long hair had knotted and frayed. He stood sentinel to golden strands snagging and matting, turning flaxen and ashen and fraying at the seams.

And he alone bore witness to that night-gone-morning, lit by lamps and moonlight through gauzy curtains, as Kaveh took shears to the snarled mass and cut it all away. 

The memory of Kaveh, silhouetted in silver and shaking, with gold turned straw dangling from a fist closed bone-white, sometimes returned to visit Alhaitham’s newly rediscovered dreams when the moon shone full. 

He had not believed in his confidence, then. Not when it came to Kaveh. He, who could stand and stare down any master of their craft. He, who had corrected a visiting lecturer on an incorrect translation when he was still new and untested, when the people around him did not speak of him in hushed voices and stolen glances. 

Kaveh had always been his exception. 

- - -

Tags!

Hair Brushing as Acts of Service

Alhaitham Takes Care of Kaveh

Knots in Hair as a Metaphor

Domestic Fluff

Read it on AO3!