farewell - kavetham / haikaveh

04 | the game of cards

it was two days after kaveh's "depressing episode". ever since that day, alhaitham became a bit more caring towards him and kaveh really appreciated that. though, it was rather silly seeing alhaitham trying to be so careful around him, but kaveh could definitely get used to it.

it was currently noon and alhaitham was sat in the living room, reading a book. kaveh on the other hand was in his room, gathering a few mora and placed them in his pockets. he wanted to go outside to try and fix his mind.

"where are you going?" alhaitham looked up from reading his book as he saw kaveh looking for his key.

"i'm going outside," kaveh mumbled.

"where to?" alhaitham continued as he got up from his seat to stand closer to the blonde head who was trying to go outside.

"i just want to clear my mind off of things," kaveh shrugged. "i'll just wander around the city, nothing much."

"you still have things that were unsaid, huh," alhaitham muttered. "well, no, you're not going anywhere."

"what?!" kaveh exclaimed. "why? since when were you allowed to boss me around?!"

"it's not the right time for you to go out," alhaitham looked dead serious, but kaveh didn't blink at all. "you're currently a bit vulnerable. people can literally come up to you and attack you, and you know what's so amusing? it's that you'd allow them to."

kaveh sighed in defeat as he slumped to a nearby chair. what alhaitham had said was true, that was his point in going out. he didn't mind at all. if that plan didn't succeed then his second was to just run off somewhere, perhaps to where his sister lived.

"i don't want you going out on your own," alhaitham narrowed his eyes. "if it's very important, then allow me to accompany you. i don't care if you don't want me to, i'll still join you."

"ugh," kaveh grumbled. "fine! i wasn't in the mood to walk around anyway."

"good," alhaitham went back to his seat and continued reading, completely ignoring kaveh who was rubbing his eyes angrily.

"can we play something at least?" kaveh asked as he looked at the ceiling.

alhaitham took a deep breath and put his book down, "what do you want to play?"

"i don't know," kaveh yawned. "maybe genius invokation tcg?"

"sure," alhaitham replied, with that kaveh instantly grinned and went to find the cards.

alhaitham wasn't a pro at genius invokation tcg, nor was he interested in it. he only learned about it because of the hype and how people from the akademiya challenged him on his free time (when he still spent his time in the akademiya). kaveh rarely asks to match with him as he said that "alhaitham isn't worth my time, i'm definitely better and he'd lose every time we play."

alhaitham sees the game as a waste of time. sure, it may be fun to some, but cards were never his favorite in the first place. he wonders how the general mahamatra gets so interested in the game and becomes undefeatable at it.

he wanted to decline kaveh's offer but he felt bad for him. so of course, he'd have to find a way to make him feel better, and one of them would be accepting his offer to play tcg with him.

"here we are!" kaveh sat on the chair beside alhaitham and began taking the cards out and sorting them to their rightful place.

alhaitham sat back and allowed kaveh to do the work. as kaveh was shuffling the cards, he had a smile on which made his face look much brighter than how his days were these past few days. it made alhaitham feel at ease.

"do you still want to use those?" kaveh pointed at the three cards that alhaitham used every time he played tcg. "i can lend you a few of mine that i don't use if you want."

"it's okay, i'll continue using mine," alhaitham said as he grabbed his cards. "thanks."

the two began playing tcg for quite some time. kaveh won most of the rounds but alhaitham managed to win once, which surprised the so-called second master of tcg in sumeru.

at the end of the day, kaveh was glad that he didn't go outside. if he did then he wouldn't have played tcg with alhaitham. it was quite fun, even though his opponent didn't really understood the game.

maybe i shouldn't leave this early?

— ｡* . ✧ . *｡ —
a/n

just a filler chapter! i definitely made up that part where it said kaveh was the so-called second master in tcg 🥲