alluring ; GI

➤ alhaitham

———

who does alhaitham think he is?

you scoff at the thought of him always correcting you, mindlessly slamming books on top of another, the noises echoing throughout the library, causing fellow researchers to glare at you.

"sorry" you sheepishly murmur, quickly gathering your papers that were messy and disorganized as you make your way out the door. the bright sun hits you and you groan.

how long did i spent my time researching?

"right ... i spent 6 hours oh god i'm wasted" and wasted you are. deadlines are coming up and no matter how precise and detailed your research was, your professors somehow finds every flaw in it, resulting you to start over again. the thought of your professor slamming down your paper infront of everyone was enough to make your head hurt— "and i'm competing with alhaitham oh my godddd" another headache.

you and alhaitham were always on each others neck, whether if it was theorizing or brainstorming, he always had something to say. though you haven't seen him in a while

a competition for the best research paper was announced to the entirety of the akademiya, the six darshans were on edge and you— you were way too close to the edge. alhaitham is probably somewhere right now in sumeru doing his research, heck he's probably done—

"hey" tighnari softly calls, snapping you of your trance, taking in that his hands are already helping you carry your stuff.

"you seem troubled, what's going on?"

"it's nothing much—" "your eyebags are more than nothing much, cmon spill it"

you sigh, he knows when you're lying or not. "it's just this paper nari' nothing much see?" you force a smile, knowing tighnari won't buy it. his ears downs a little as a disagreement, "i'll treat us food, help you a little with your research" he offers, carrying all your stuff and is already making his way to a cafe that recently opened.

"but nari'—" "no buts"
"you're also doing your own research"
"but i'd rather help you now cmon i wanna eat"

———

the cafe was peaceful, away from the lights in the library; tighnari settles your stuff down before ordering food for the both of you. you sigh deeply, closing your eyes to relax for a moment, after all you deserve this minute of peace when you just went through that 6 hours of reading and writing and rereading and rewriting— sigh.

ding.

the cafe bell rings and suddenly, everyone around you is ten times louder than before.

"he's so handsome"
"his arms are so big oh and his back—"
"i heard that he's so smart too! handsome and smart?"
"who is he and why are we giggling?"
"girl ... you're kidding ... that's alhaitham—"

what.

...

alhaitham?

your eyes shot open, you don't deserve this where did your minute of peace go is it done is it gone why did he have to come to this cafe out of all places are you kidding me god he has papers in his hand is that how thick his research paper is where is tighnari he's already doing so good no wonder professors love him oh dear god you hate him and his brain but the girls are right he is hands—

"hello there" the devil speaks, green eyes staring right at you but your mouth is frozen still. "[name]?" his voice is so annoying. "what are you doing here?" you ask, covering your research paper with anything you can use— your hands, bag, more papers, preventing him from peeking and possibly critic and degrade it.