alhaitham was in his office, like always. his hand tirelessly wrote on document after document as the minutes ticked away.
kaveh was elsewhere in the house, working on a project for a client. he could barely focus, however, pulled down by a terrible hangover and his thoughts from this morning. he groaned in frustration, letting his pencil skid across the blueprint.
the line cut across the paper messily, and out of pure annoyance and the disorganization he began to erase it. the eraser created a tear in the paper and kaveh stared at it for a second before crumpling up the half-finished building and tossing it in the trash.
he set down his pencil and got up from his chair, making his way over to his roommate's office. steeling his nerves, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"come in," alhaitham's voice replied from behind. kaveh slowly opened the door to see the scribe's attention on his paperwork. he hasn't looked up yet.
"take a seat," he offered, gesturing vaguely to a chair in front of his desk. "what is it, kaveh?"
the person in question \took the liberty to sit down, his eyes meeting alhaitham's.
"i need to tell you something," he started, trying very hard to remind confident.
alhaitham simply nodded, still writing on a document.
"i need you to look at me," kaveh urged, leaning forward ever so slightly. the junior's hand stilled for a moment before setting the pen down, forcing himself to look away from his papers.
"what do you need to tell me, kaveh?" he asked in a bland tone. kaveh couldn't tell if he wanted to listen or not, but he continued anyways. he took a shaky breath.
"i like you."
alhaitham stayed silent for a moment, or several. his facial expression remained the same, which might have scared kaveh - just a little bit.
the taller man remained in his seat, seemingly frozen in time. even his breathing was shallow so his chest barely moved. after far too long in silence, he opened his mouth.
"you don't hate me?"
those soft words reverberated in kaveh's ears as he stared at alhaitham wordlessly. "of course i don't hate you! you let me live here, no matter how annoying i am, you take care of me just like last night, you give me food, water, clothing - all for the low price of zero mora! and on top of that... you're really attractive!"
the senior's face was bright red as he exclaimed all this, almost angry that alhaitham doesn't understand his feelings for him. alhaitham sat there, again unsure of how to reply correctly.
then he thought back. his mind traveled to the past, when he first let kaveh live with him. he knew there was something off when he did things for kaveh that he would normally never do.
he accompanied kaveh almost everywhere he went and he didn't mind listening to the man rant about his troubles.
he never knew why, so he dismissed it as being a good friend, until he caught himself paying attention to every little detail about kaveh's physical appearance.
he took note of his golden hair that seemingly glowed in the sunlight, or his crimson eyes akin to polished ruby. he didn't know why, neither did he understand the feelings associated with kaveh.
the senior could speak his mind for hours on end freely, seemingly without fear of others' opinions. alhaitham both envied and admired that quality of him as well.
watching kaveh speak was captivating, and every word he spoke carried a thousand times more emotion behind it. that wasn't something alhaitham excelled at either, so he praised kaveh fervently for being able to do so.
after contemplating and arranging his thoughts sufficiently, he finally snapped back to reality, where kaveh sat in front of him patiently.
"i like you too."
these words were even softer than his previous ones, but it still blew kaevh away all the same. alhaitham's expression was almost unreadable, albeit for the incredibly faint tint of pink on his cheeks that one would have to have a hawk's eyes to catch.
kaveh was stunned at the new revelation. he couldn't even process what was going on, so he just nervously chuckled.
"surely... you must be joking, right?" he stammered, breathing somewhat erratically. alhaitham shook his head.
"i just realized," he stated.
just now? kaveh thought, his awkward smile frozen on his face. he realized just now?
"so... what does this mean?" he asked nervously, the tension in the air growing as he spoke. alhaitham shook his head uncertainly. "that i do not know," he answered.
kaveh silently groaned. of course, the one time alhaitham doesn't know something is when they both need it the most. kaveh decided to stand up, walking around the desk and taking a seat beside alhaitham.
"since we both don't know, why don't we figure it out together?"
alhaitham stayed silent for a moment before nodding. "thank you, kaveh."
the simple thanks brought a smile upon kaveh's face as the previous tension cleared in an instant. he took the liberty of shifting closer and pulling alhaitham into a warm embrace,
the junior slowly returned the hug, his strong arms wrapping around kaveh very protectively, almost as if he were saying, 'you're mine.'
kaveh's head rested on alhaitham's shoulder as they both shared the warmth. after a few seconds of peaceful silence, kaveh reluctantly pulled away.
"...are we official now?" he asked softly, waiting for an answer with baited breath. alhaitham considered it for a moment before nodding.
"yes," he replied, his hands pulling kaveh towards him again. "you're mine."
-
that night, kaveh completed an entire building design in under two hours. unironically, it was a house designed for newlyweds.
luckily for kaveh, he knew exactly what to do.
