Alhaitham X Kaveh - Love and Logic

2. Process Of Elimination

Kaveh took another sip of his wine. Alhaitham was down to his last player card. Mehrak floated next to him and made giddy noises whenever his roommate took a hit. He shouldn't have programmed him to be this petty he thought with a smirk. While he enjoyed the intended functions of his suitcase machine, he came to cherish having a companion of sorts.
"Your pet seems to be enjoying themselves."
Kaveh rolled his eyes before responding to his roommate: "Mehrak is not a pet."
Alhaitham snickered, his next move taking two of the blonde's cards out of the game while healing his own. Kaveh cursed and took another sip of wine. He should have paid attention to the game. Mehrak's little face changed to an upset one. Kaveh smiled at him: "It's ok, I haven't lost yet."
It was Cynos turn next and before he knew it, his last card was beaten too.
"Hey, why didn't you attack Haitham's card?"
Cyno laughed while Alhaitham responded: "Because he wouldn't be able to take it out. His hit would also activate the weapon's healing function. And also you were right, Mehrak cannot be your pet. A pet has to be taken care of."
Kaveh's eyes narrowed as he raised his voice: "ARE you implying I couldn't take care of a pet?"
Tighnari grabbed his hand as Mehrak's upset face switched again, this time to an angry one.
Like father-like machine, Alhaitham thought to himself as Mehrak tried to intimidate him by making angry noises and flying in a zig-zag pattern. He heard Tighnari chuckle as he whispered something to Cyno. When they noticed Alhaitham watching them, they quickly moved away from each other. Was Cyno blushing?
"It's ok Mehrak. Alhaitham is just salty because he knows no pet would ever want to stay with him." Kaveh took another sip of his wine, trying his best to sound as bored as he could. While the other three continued with their game, he took a piece of paper and a pencil out of one of Mehraks many compartments. Alhaitham recognised how impressive of a machine Mehrak was. If their personality wasn't modeled after Kaveh's, they would have been perfect. He shifted his focus back to the game, leaving his roommate to his drawing. About fifteen minutes later, Cyno lost his last active card.
"Well that was a waste of DIE "
Tighnari rolled his eyes while Cyno went on to explain the joke. Alhaitham turned to Kaveh: "Ready to join us?"
Kaveh raised his head, it seems he disrupted his thoughts. For a second they just sat there, staring into each other's eyes. When did Kaveh get so tired? Alhaitham could hear his heartbeat fasten. He could stare at those scarlet eyes for hours, especially when Kaveh was offended. When he realised he was staring, he looked away and started to shuffle the cards. Cyno's mischievous smile told him his staring didn't go unnoticed.
"It would be nice if you tried to use your head this time, TCG being a strategy game and all."
Kaveh glared at him, drinking his whole cup and asking the bartender for another round. He put the piece of paper back into Mehrak's compartment, smiling as the machine's expression changed to a happy one." You can go to sleep now. I will wake you up in case I need you."
Cyno laughed: "In case!"
Tighnari started to shake his head, saying the general was hopeless as Kaveh put Mehrak on his lap. The bartender brought them another round and before he put the last cup down, Kaveh had already drank his. Tighnari and Cyno shared a concerned look but kept quiet. Luckily it was Alhaitham who will have to drag the architect home tonight. While they were preparing their cards and dice, Tighnari ducked and looked under the table. A moment later he sat back whispering to himself: "Interesting."
Alhaitham was curious about what had gotten the forest ranger's attention but decided to wait with the question. They were about to begin. After placing player cards, each of them chose the active one and rolled their die. As the first loser of the previous game, Kaveh began. Alhaitham was waiting for the inevitable attack, Kaveh was always more focused on beating him, more than he was on the actual game. He put down two event cards and used the elemental skill on Tighnari's Abyss water mage, which gave his character three strong shields. The table was quiet, the only sound was the dice being put away. Before any of them could question Kaveh's change of strategy, the bartender came back with another cup of wine. This time Kaveh only drank half of it, before putting it aside. Tighnari looked at Cyno, shrugged, and continued with the game. After three rounds Tighnari lost his last player card, and after two more, Alhaitham defeated Cyno. Kaveh looked up and smiled, realising it was only him and Alhaitham left. Cyno crossed his arms and leaned back, intrigued by Kaveh's sudden change in behaviour. Tighnari took the moment of silence to inquire about Mehrak: "When did he start to keep his facial expressions on during inactivity?"
Kaveh looked up, it looked like he completely spaced out. It took him a second to process the question. He answered, his face lit up: "He started doing it a few weeks ago, after seeing me sleep on the couch. At first, he thought I was hurt, but when I explained what sleep is, he made the connection."
"Do you think he dreams?"
Kaveh looked back to his cards, a smile fading from his lips: "If he does, I hope they are nice."
Alhaitham watched his expression change as he said that. He felt his chest tighten, but he shook his head and started with his attack. He planned to beat him before this round was over. Kaveh's face changed when Alhaitham attacked with the normal skill. He was counting on the overload reaction to change his active card without him using a die. Alhaitham saw how his roommate bit his lip in frustration, squeezing the cards in his hands. The Scribe's chest relaxed. He didn't understand why. The guests that were still in the tavern were harmless. The only person that Alhaitham saw as a possibly difficult opponent was Cyno, whose eyes were focused on his blonde roommate. He saw him furrow his eyebrows at Kaveh's reaction, but he stayed quiet. The table preferred his silence to his jokes at this point. Alhaitham saw something move in the corner of his eye, close to the general's legs. Was that ...? He looked at Tighnari who at that point realised his tail did not go unnoticed. He saw his cheeks turn red when Kaveh finally made his next move. He looked back at his opponent, he used an event card and healed his active one then ended the round. Since when can Kaveh be rational? It took Alhaitham two more rounds to beat him, earning Kaveh a compliment from the TCG fanatic himself: "Congratulations. If you had a bit more luck with your rolls, you would have won."
Kaveh chuckled: "I doubt that." He took the cup and drank the rest of it. Alhaitham saw how hazy his eyes have become and decided to call it a night: "It's late. We should go home."
Kaveh gave him a confused look. He tried to ask him why, but his words came out slurred. Alhaitham rolled his eyes as he helped him stand up. He nodded to Cyno and Tighnari leaving a bag of Mora on the table.
As they were walking to their home Kaveh tripped over his legs, dropping Mehrak in the process. The machine woke up before hitting the floor, hearing Kaveh's curses. Alhaitham sighed: "You were fine a few minutes ago, how are you this drunk now?" Kaveh felt his eyelids getting heavy. The cold floor helped him clear his head. His whole body ached, he spent most of the day cleaning the house and finishing his blueprints. He tried to remember when he last ate when he felt something lift him. He didn't want to fall asleep, but his embrace was too warm and gentle for him to be able to fight. The last thing he saw was Mehrak smiling at him.

After putting Kaveh to bed Alhaitham failed at falling asleep himself. He felt soo light in his arms, it started to worry him. He let out a loud sigh before getting back up and going to the living room to read. As he opened the door he heard voices coming from the kitchen. It was Kaveh, he slept for less than an hour. He quietly approached the door, peeking from around the corner. There was Kaveh, sitting at the kitchen table with what looked like blueprints for a certain library. The design looked like a blend of the House of Daena's elegance mixed with the mysticism of the Sumeru Dessert ruins. Kaveh's suitcase levitated next to him, communicating with an upset facial expression. Kaveh took another sip of coffee, out of what Alhaitham believed to be the ugliest mug in all Teyvat. It was one of the rare things that belonged to his roommate. Mehrak wouldn't stop trying to communicate something to Kaveh. The blonde man sighed and drank the whole mug before rinsing it with water. As he started to dry it off with a towel, it slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor. A green light appeared under it, slowing it enough to prevent damage. Kaveh quickly picked it up and put it back on the shelf. Alhaitham could barely understand his whispers: "Thank you Mehrak. Haitham would be pissed if I woke him up. And... You can go back to sleep. I won't be long. Just a couple more details to work out."
Because his back was turned, he couldn't see his suitcase's surprised expression when the green light appeared. They levitated next to the architect for a bit before leaving the kitchen. In the hallway they turned to Alhaitham, changing their facial expression from sad to scared and back. Alhaitham nodded. He was worried too.

I love Mehrak and their lil facial expressions. I also believe Kaveh created them or at least collaborated with other researchers. Thank you for any comments and if you see any mistakes, please tell me, so I can go back and correct them.
I will probably dive into Kaveh's mental state in the next part, so I will start putting TW in the beginning.
Thank you for reading :)

PS: Am I the only one who loves how obsessed Cyno is with TCG?