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In the current age of Sumeru, most outsiders think of Haravatat as the study of language itself, its original research focus of studying machine mechanisms and analyzing the ancient structures of ruin devices being surpassed by Kshahrewar long ago.
Which kind of sucks considering that Alhaitham regularly sticks his neck out venturing into the desert to recover and decode ancient scriptures and devices on the regular in a Darshan that considers it pretty niche.
What sucks even more was having one of these solo outings go sideways as he gets caught up in a sandstorm in the Deserts of Hadramaveth.
As in the place known for sandstorms.
For all the smart that Alhaitham considers himself to be he had to be just a little stupid.
There wasn’t much for him to do at this point, getting rescued from here was as likely as if he had done a solo expedition to the top of Dragonspine. In other words: if the weather did not calm anytime soon he is supremely fucked.
Alhaitham thought about his parents in those moments of trudging through what could only be described as a massive, angry blender. Abrasive grains of sand colliding harshly with his bare arms because he just had to wear a sleeveless shirt into the desert known for sandstorms. Genius move, Alhaitham.
He was twenty-eight now and his parents had died when they were also twenty-eight, probably doing the same stupid shit like this. Alhaitham had once thought there was nothing tying him to his parents besides blood, after all they had never gotten the chance to raise him.
However, maybe there was a special ‘I-go-into-the-desert-ill-prepared’ gene that he inherited, because there was a nonzero (who’s he kidding, probably more than that) chance he was going to die right here.
In the middle of the desert, with fine grains of sand painfully blinding his eyes, uncomfortably settling into his lungs and working into every bit and crevice into his being. With the horrible screech of wind and sand pelting against surfaces, one that he’d almost call deafening if he had the pleasure of being deaf through it.
As far as the eye could see, the horror slowly worked though Alhaitham that the last thing he’d probably see would be sand, sand and more fucking sand.
Which really, really sucked.
For one, he had planned to bring flowers to his grandmother's grave tomorrow, but he’d sooner be seeing her and his parents in whatever afterlife than make it back to Sumeru City.
He had also planned to meet the traveler, Cyno and Tighnari for dinner in a few days, and seeing as he did not have many close companions, no one would be looking for him until after they realized he did not show up. Alhaitham had never cared for aesthetics, but leaving his body buried under the hot sand for someone to eventually find sounded (and would probably smell) horrible.
And when he finally thought it couldn’t get any worse, the first thing that Alhaitham had seen in the past hour that wasn’t the unyielding cloud of sand obscuring his vision was something metallic. Dull gold, glowing bright blue and riddled with inscriptions, while he had originally narrowed his eyes to see what was coming in the distance, they had quickly widened in seeing whatever it was, it was rapidly approaching.
It was a primal construct. Overtaken by the wind and flying a hundred miles a minute with what seemed like the sole mission of being to lodge one of its sharp edges right into the middle of his head.
He tried moving but the moments he had spent standing idle had caused sand to sink him until it had reached his ankles, in the second it took to free himself, he looked up to stare face-to-metal with the construct, inches from crashing into him head on.
Now in this scenario, the right decision would be to always keep one’s mouth closed to prevent oneself from inhaling sand, but seeing as Alhaitham would not need to be breathing in a few moments, he believed he had a bit of an exception.
“Fuck.”
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Normally after taking one ton of steel to the head, the normal next step would be to die.
Brain herniation, intracranial hematomas, diffuse axonal injuries, take your pick, maybe he survived the initial blow but ended up suffocating while unconscious with all that sand clogging up every opening in his face.
Either way, Alhaitham had expected to be a dead body rotting in the unbearably hot Sumerian sun, the unrelenting heat definitely doing no favors with whatever smell dead bodies give off.
So when he woke up in a tent, glimpses of desert sunlight peeking out from small holes the handwoven fiber and wool it was made out of, he was just a little confused, cursed with the most splitting headache known to Teyvat and still spitting up sand that tasted like he swallowed it a week ago.
Feeling pressure around the base of his hairline, he gingerly reached up to touch what was most definitely the source of his headache before quickly pulling hand away with a hiss, electric pain shooting through every part of his body at the lightest contact. Whatever injury he attained from getting hit by that construct, the wound still hadn’t fully healed.
That aside, the other damage to his body wasn’t that terrible in comparison. His upper arms which were uncovered during the sandstorm were bandaged up from the irritation, it seemed as if someone had put a thick ointment to soothe them for the most part, but just bending his arms sent a sharp pain through his body.
As for his clothes…
“Where are my clothes?” Alhaitham said to no one in particular, eyes searching around the room for any signs of life as cautiously as possible to not exacerbate his injuries any further.
Someone had covered him with a light blanket, but as for everything besides his underwear… yeah, nowhere to be found.
He saw basic traveling knapsacks around him, bandages and herbs strewn about, even architectural blueprints neatly stowed away in one corner. Relief only came after spotting his sword and Dendro vision in the corner of the tent, but potentially having to make a run for it injured and half-naked with only a sword to protect himself? Absolutely not.
Peeking out the tent, he had originally assumed that he was picked up by an Eremite tribe, but looking around, there were no other tents in the vicinity. It wasn’t often that he saw an Eremite traveling alone, they traveled in groups, especially in dangerous areas like the Desert of Hadramaveth… take a wild guess why.
Alhaitham leaned back down, his head hitting the pillow that he had been laying on while passed out, a clear indent in the soft material and his rather unbecoming bedhead proof of that. It was at least the middle of the day but thanks to the tent above him the head settled to a comfortable warmth, he was injured obviously, but clearly not dead as he expected to be, this wasn’t as bad as he thought. Unless whoever had picked him up had gone and sold his headphones which were nowhere to be found, that would suck.
He had tried to relax, closing his eyes and feeling the faint warmth of the sun against his head and the mild pulse of his wounds before hearing a faint rustle in the distance.
It was humming. A song he had heard before, perhaps from his grandmother or from an Akademiya class he took while young. It was an old lullaby about the Three Eternal Companions Gods which had drawn his attention due to it being sung in a language other than Common, the original was translated from Deshret script, but that wasn’t the language being spoken either.
Alhaitham glanced at his sword, his vision glowing a verdant green right beside it, he didn’t immediately think about running but it was always better to be prepared.
The tent’s curtain door finally opened and he squinted his eyes as the afternoon’s bright rays blinded him through the crack. In split second it took for his eyes to translate the darkened silhouette standing in the doorway into a discernible figure, his focus flitted between the crimson Eremite gear on the man’s hips, his bare chest, red eyes widened in shock, and how his hair could have rivaled the sun.
Each individual strand of his blond hair was highlighted by the light behind him, forming a halo. Not to mention the Eremite was more than handsome enough to actually be an angel, but that was probably Alhaitham’s concussion talking.
Teal eyes met red as the two just stared at each other for a moment, the Eremite’s mouth agape and whatever beating that should have been going to Alhaitham’s heart was instead going straight to his head wound to the point it felt like pounding.
“Oh Al-Ahmar, when did he wake up?!” The Eremite said to himself, his voice oddly fitting to his face, strong but with a certain airiness. He put down the bowl of water that was in his hands, his brows furrowed in both surprise and worry.
Most importantly though, was the fact the man didn’t seem to be able to speak Common in the slightest. His hands waved wildly making gestures that Alhaitham did not understand, partially due to shamelessly being distracted by the man’s bare chest, but again, that was his concussion talking and not him.
“Please lay back down! Lay down! You’re bleeding!” The Eremite quickly spoke, raising his voice while making obscure gestures that definitely did not signify laying down. For whatever reason, Alhaitham did not think to follow immediately despite understanding what the man was telling him, instead staying sat up trying to remember what Eremite dialect he was speaking, “By Al-Ahmar, I don’t know a single bit of common language so please help me out here-!”
“Are you speaking Afiyar?” He replied, unbothered and cocking his head a bit as the Eremite dropped his hands with shock before letting out a sigh of relief.
“You understand Afiyar?! What a relief! I thought I was going to have to make a fool of myself so you could understand me…” The Eremite sighed before looking back up, the same expression of worry overtaking his face and he stared at the wound on Alhaitham’s head, “Gods! You distracted me! Lay down you stupid man, your head is bleeding again!”
That probably explained the warmth in his head.
Laying back down, Alhaitham’s eyes wandered back over to the Eremite who was searching his belongings for where he had left his medical supplies, speaking to himself although already knowing that he could understand him.
“Did I leave the bandages with Mehrak? No, I just took them out last night so they are definitely here somewhere…”
Maybe it was because there was little for him to do at that moment, but Alhaitham couldn’t help but watch the man while he worked. He was unquestionably beautiful, with sun-tanned skin and red eyes that seemed to never focus on one place for too long, but also his personality seemed to be unlike any Eremite he had met before. He was flustered from earlier but even then he still came off as outspoken and awkward, others Alhaitham had met were rather calm and self-assured.
“Stay still, this might hurt a little…” The Eremite spoke, a wince appearing on his face as he undid Alhaitham’s bandages, the damage seemed to be pretty bad. He held a mortar and pestle in his free hand, gesturing for him to hold it while he got some new bandages ready, “It’s just lizard tail, Sumeru rose, and lilac daphne, apologies if your arms still sting, I ran out of mint a few days ago.”
“It’s fine,” Alhaitham replied with a wince in a sore attempt not to flinch the second the other’s fingertips brushed against his forehead. Noticing his pain, the Eremite pressed his lips together with nervousness before letting out a long sigh, tensed shoulders releasing after fastening on his new bandages.
“So…” The Eremite trailed. Alhaitham noticed the way he kept adjusting his loose hair, fruitlessly tucking strands behind his ear although they seemed to fall back out with the slightest movement, “I’m Kaveh, Mehrak- well, my uh… companion found you a week ago face down and passed out in the middle of the Wadi Al-Majuj. I thought you were dead until it thankfully found you still had a pulse.”
“I'm Ahaitham... Excuse me did you just say 'it'?” He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s a little hard to explain, at least it was to the people in my tribe it was,” Kaveh grinned sheepishly, he turned towards the front of the tent before sticking his head out the opening to call for someone. Or rather, something. “Mehrak! Where are you? Don’t tell me it went off on its own again… oh! There you are! That man we found woke up, come meet him!”
There was a silence that followed before a few muffled beeps and mechanical shuffling were heard in the distance a few feet outside the tent. Although whatever was said was completely lost on Alhaitham’s part, Kaveh seemed to understand it, his face warming up to a red. He quickly looked back at Alhaitham before leaning even further outside, voice hushed to a whisper. A pretty loud one, but there was an attempt being made.
“Yes, the one that I said was handsome! There’s no one else here anyway, stop making fun of me and come inside!”
Kaveh’s “companion” outside replied with a couple more beeps and whirrs, ones that Alhaitham inwardly thought of as sarcastic, especially after Kaveh groaned in response to whatever it had said. He completely ducked out of the tent and out where his companion was and had a hushed argument with it. Gaze flitting towards the sound of them talking, Alhaitham noticed Kaveh’s shadowed silhouette on the outside of the tent with a figure that looked a lot like…
“A primal construct,” He mumbled to himself, facepalming while being careful to avoid the wound on his head. Of course it would be after what had happened, not that anyone but the Archons would have known. Perhaps Nahida’s playing a trick on him right now because he adamantly declined being the next Grand Sage.
He tiredly watched as the two’s argument gradually grew more heated until Alhaitham was basically watching a shadow puppet show of the Eremite and his primal construct companion getting into a childish fistfight. Despite being smaller, the primal construct was definitely winning.
Kaveh’s silhouette eventually threw his hands up in the air in frustration before grabbing and dragging his companion over to the front of the tent. He uttered some muffled words that Alhaitham did not understand the meaning of, probably because they were some obscure curse words.
The curtain opened up again as Kaveh stuck his head in, the rest of his body still out of view and wobbling as if being pulled back by another force.
“Alhaitham,” The other said with a slightly forced grin and narrowed eyes, clearly a little pissed off with the still ongoing scuffle he was having with the construct, “This is my companion Mehrak, who unfortunately seems to be having a bit of an attitude today.”
With one swift motion, the Eremite pushed the primal construct into the tent. It was even smaller than it looked from outside the tent, although clearly being inspired by the pyramid-shaped automatons from its sharp edges to dusty gold and green outer shell, it had its own personal details like its robotic face screen in the middle with two angular blinking eyes.
It hovered closer to Alhaitham, a little too close for comfort considering the reason he had a giant cut on his head, but it soon backed up after speaking in a few beeps and whistles that for whatever reason made Kaveh a little flustered.
“My apologies, it has been with me for so long that we have our own language, but it also has developed a rather cruel sense of humor,” Kaveh laughed with a bit of a self-deprecating grin. Although they seemed to be at odds with each other, the soft look in the Eremite’s eyes gave away how close they were. That, and evidently how it was his only companion even though most Eremites traveled with their tribes.
“Where did you find it? I have never seen a primal construct with that model before.”
“Primal construct?” Kaveh repeated, cocking his head in confusion before his face lit up with recognition, “Oh! I remodeled Mehrak myself after buying a machine core off of some merchants. I had to take apart some primal constructs to figure out a proper structure for an automaton and ended up with so many parts I just decided to reuse them to build Mehrak.”
“You built it?” Alhaitham questioned back, tone filled with a little more awe and incredulity than he may have meant to let on. At the emotion in Alhaitham’s voice, Kaveh turned an interesting shade of pink, stiffening up with an awkward smile.
“Ah, nevermind! It’s a little weird, isn’t it? The people in my tribe always give me these confused looks when I talk about it, but it’s really just a little hobby-” The man blathered, making incoherent hand gestures.
“No. I think that’s really impressive,” Alhaitham interrupted him, “Not just anyone can build an entire automaton from scratch, especially without an Akademiya education. You should be proud.”
Being cut off, Kaveh looked at him with a startled expression. He had seemed to shrink up with embarrassment from his previous statement, but his eyes were as wide as saucers at the unexpected compliment. He got impossibly redder which complimented his tan complexion well.
“I… Thanks, that actually means a lot to me. It’s not as worthy of admiration as you think, it was just a bit of reverse engineering.”
Mehrak let out a couple beeps and dings, startling Kaveh before his eyes widened at whatever his companion mentioned. “Oh! Thanks for reminding me, Mehrak!”
He left his position at the front of the tent to search through a knapsack next to Alhaitham’s sword and vision, “I had found you with most of your items scattered nearby, but I also found your listening device! The one that can play music? I gave it a bit of a tune-up since sand had gotten into the circuits and wiring. I tried to keep it as intact as possible, but it should work just as normal. Haha… hopefully.”
Kaveh pulled out his headphones and an immediate wave of relief flooded over Alhaitham. In the grand scheme of almost dying, he had forgotten the second most important thing in his life: his headphones. He would have been dying of boredom without them.
Holding them in his hands, he felt the cool weight of the golden metal and green glass crystals against his palms. There were a few scratches and dents that weren’t there before, but its music feature was perfectly intact.
It’s perfect, thank you for repairing them.
“Are you an angel?” Alhaitham said with a completely straight face, looking back up at Kaveh, the other man’s mouth dropping wide open.
“Huh…-!? O-of course not! Unless that’s a compliment, wait, do you still think you’re dead or something?”
“Oh. I switched up my thinking and what I had meant to say. My bad.”
…
After their short conversation, Alhaitham had taken another long nap. His injuries had tired him out more than he had originally expected, only waking after feeling Kaveh nervously checking his stitches and reapplying ointment at intervals. By the time he had felt well enough to get out of bed, four days had passed.
Sitting against the outside of the tent, unbecomingly getting out of bed with the help of Mehrak, Alhaitham felt the warm afternoon sun against his face as he watched Kaveh survey the area looking for sumpter beasts to hunt for dinner. There wasn’t much wildlife available to hunt for in the desert especially in the Great Red Sand with how dangerous the area was, but since they were far away from any settlements they would have to catch something if they wanted to eat.
And by they, Alhaitham meant Kaveh considering it wasn’t very viable for him to move around very well. Or really at all.
“I thought that you were traveling alone,” Alhaitham had said after managing to limp to sit outside the tent. He had spotted a claymore, the wide silver blade glinting against the sunlight with a worn cloth the same color as the signature Eremite crimson wrapped around the handle.
It had seemed to be too big for either of them to even attempt to carry, it did not seem unheard of for other Eremites to be able to, but they to be at least seven feet tall with a build full of muscle. Something Kaveh evidently was not.
“What? It is just me and Mehrak here,” Kaveh replied, checking the pouches at his hip before noticing Alhaitham’s gaze towards the claymore, “Oh! That’s my weapon.”
“Can you even carry it?” He asked with a skeptical look. It was a blunt but a very obvious question, but Kaveh gave him a rather unhappy look, lips curving into a slight pout. The man was many things but Alhaitham would soon learn that he was more prideful than he ever came off to be.
“I-! Well… I wouldn’t need to anyway! Mehrak carries it for me.” The Eremite explained, looking over at the automaton, it rolled its eyes. Floating closer, the construct engulfed the claymore with a flash of yellow light and it suddenly disappeared, “See? And if I just…”
The man waved his hand out and with one light flick of his wrist, the automaton manifested his claymore out right in front of him with a blinding flash of light. The claymore, which was at least 1.5 of his body weight, was suspended midair with the power of the automaton alone.
“Being able to engineer an automation able to control your own weapon for you is remarkable,” Alhaitham said, leaning in as close as he could without straining his body. The man did not possess a vision, so Mehrak’s storage and weapon features were purely a feat of engineering, however… “Wouldn’t it be smarter to just carry a lighter weapon?”
“Others in my tribe are able to harness elemental powers without the use of a vision by making deals with the spirits, but I have feeling I was never choosing due to my lack of physical ability,” Kaveh grinned, putting his hand down as the claymore was put back in Mehrak’s storage, “So when I was younger, I told everyone that I was going to get stronger use a claymore when I grew up, and I did! Technically, at least.”
“Ah, it was because of your ego.”
“Yes! My- sorry, I don’t understand common, what did you just say?”
While Kaveh was looking around for any roaming sumpter beasts, Alhaitham looked on into the distance. He felt the hot wind on his face, and his hair getting windswept and tangled up in itself and in his headphones. He saw the glint of Kaveh’s claymore from a few paces away, but as quiet as a whisper, he heard an ever familiar mechanical buzz.
His head jerked to the left, a hundred feet away and dangerously close to Kaveh was another primal construct. The blue shields contrasted against the sun and the sand but it was no use if Kaveh didn’t notice it with his back turned to the automaton.
“Hey!” Alhaitham raised his voice, eyebrows furrowing together. Concern flowed up and down his veins as he watched the split second that the primal construct had locked onto a new target.
They weren’t anywhere close to the ruins, had it also been swept up in the recent sandstorm and was just roaming around in the open? It had to be bad luck for Alhaitham to keep running into these things, but it would be even worse to see Kaveh end up hurt if he didn’t notice it sneaking up on him any sooner.
Preparing an attack, the primal construct’s blaring blue arms whirred to life. Reshaper. It was about to summon a small explosion just a few feet away from Kaveh who was busy catching his breath, even Mehrak was facing the other way and they had seemed to be casually talking without a care in the world.
What a bother. With his current condition, Alhaitham was unsure if he could reach them in time and if he did, he didn’t trust himself to be able to parry the attack properly. If anything, he was more likely to miss and take a body shot straight to the chest, at least it would match the cut on his head.
Now at this point, Alhaitham would be deliberating what to do. There were no large rocks to throw Kaveh’s way to catch his attention, just handfuls of sand. From previous attempts, the Eremite was too far away to hear his voice so yelling along would not work either. Think before you act, that had always been Alhaitham’s hardwired procedure.
Which makes the fact he had already teleported down toward Kaveh with his sword and vision in hand even more stupid. Since he had gotten in his situation to begin with, making a few more stupid mistakes was something he would be something he would have to excuse himself for.
Eyes searching for the moment the primal construct summoned a dusty gold pillar, he calculated his next teleport to be right in front of Kaveh. In a blip, a flash of bright green Dendro stood between the Eremite and the incoming explosion of blue flames.
“Move!” Alhaitham yelled out, his shoulder colliding with Kaveh’s side as he pushed the other man out of the way as the primal construct’s summoned pillar fell to the ground.
The impact shook up sand within the ten foot radius and thankfully he was able to block most of the blow with his sword, his head however was again starting to feel unreasonably warm. Kaveh was going to kill him if the wound opened back up.
“What- Hey! Alhaitham-?! What in Al-Ahmar’s name are you doing here?! You’re already hurt, get back!” Kaveh spoke, voice raised as he motioned for Mehrak to raise his claymore into a defensive position. His eyes flitted between Alhaitham and the primal construct already preparing to summon a new pillar.
“If I wasn’t here you would have already been blown up. Be aware of your surroundings,” He replied calmly, his free hand clasping the side of his hip. Though he had dodged the majority of the attack, some of the shrapnel had cut into his side, leaving a persistent sting from the cuts as Alhaitham ducked and dodged before getting close enough to strike at the automaton. It put up its shields just in time and Alhaitham was blown back by a pulse of force, feet dragging back into the sand.
“I had it covered! You should mind yourself!” Kaveh shouted back. Running up to the construct, he raised his hand, to direct Mehrak to slam his claymore down onto one of its detached mechanical parts, the sound of metal clanging against metal ringing throughout the desert as it crushed the construct’s arm.
“Since you almost got killed standing around and talking, I don’t believe you.”
The automaton let out a deafening screech, backing away as Alhaitham rushed forward. Swiftly jumping from its remaining arm to land his sword right in the middle of the construct’s body, he felt the blade pierce through its outer armor and right into its machine core. The second it pierced through, it was like the machine’s power had been cut off, immediately powering down and falling out the air.
Collapsing into a heap of insentient metal, the primal construct laid in the sand harmless, like it wasn’t second away from blowing both of them up a minute ago. Similarly harmless, Alhaitham laid face up in the sand, catching his breath and the very unpleasant feeling of being cut up in places that had survived the first time he got his ass handed to him in the sandstorm.
Hearing the sound of footsteps trudging against the sand, the bright, blinding sun was covered by Kaveh’s shadow as the man stood over him. He had a troubled expression on his face, bottom lip quivering as he looked down at Alhaitham who had absolutely no fucking idea how to react. Because of this, he had reverted back to his normal monotone face which strangely did not feel appropriate for this moment.
“You got hurt again,” Kaveh said, voice rather sad for someone who was arguing with Alhaitham for saving him.
“Evidently,” Alhaitham replied shortly.
“You fought well, better than I expected.”
“I carry a vision and a sword on me and you expected me not to be able to fight? I can already tell I have better battle awareness than you do.”
“After seeing you getting swept up by a sandstorm in the region known for having sandstorms, I had just assumed you were a little dumber than you look.”
Dickhead.
“I’m sorry,” The Eremite sighed. He reached a hand out to pull Alhaitham back up as he gave him a shoulder to lean on while they hobbled their way back to camp, “I was just startled and flustered, I can’t say being snuck up on by a primal construct has ever happened to me before.”
“It’s quite a feat considering they make so much noise.”
Fed up with his blunt comments, Kaveh pushed him off outside the tent where he sat earlier, going inside to look for bandages. “Since you have enough energy to talk back, it seems my pity was misplaced!” He muttered something about running low and needing to stock up once they reached a settlement.
“Anyways it’s quite bold to make fun of me for almost getting attacked by a primal construct considering you also have been attacked by one,” He laughed from inside, Alhaitham making a face that the Eremite thankfully couldn’t see.
“I don’t believe I told you that,” Alhaitham groaned, about to facepalm but refraining from taking his hand off of putting pressure on his new cuts after feeling a sharp electric jolt of pain after trying to move.
“You didn’t need to, you talk enough in your sleep,” Kaveh responded, he emerged from inside the tent with a new roll of bandages, a small container of ointment and what caught his attention the most: a bottle of wine.
“Want a drink?”
…
Treating his new wounds and tending to old ones took so long that it was almost evening by the time Kaveh was done. It probably felt even longer accounting for the Eremite’s endless nagging, it was a blessing that Alhaitham was able to speak Afiyar to communicate but it also felt like a curse after learning just how much Kaveh was able to talk.
He had come off so meek in the beginning but it was just embarrassment at not being able to speak Common. After learning that Alhaitham understood him the man talked endlessly day and night, sometimes to Mehrak, sometimes to him, and though he responded once every five sentences Kaveh didn’t seem to mind at all.
Which comes to the point of them drinking. Alhaitham feared that it would make the man talk even more, and it did, but interestingly enough it also made Kaveh very sentimental and almost melancholic. He stared at Alhaitham with half-lidded eyes, swirling the wine in his cup that had to be at least his third refill.
“You know, I’ve never asked yet, but why are you able to speak Afiyar? Are you one of those Akademiya scholars?” Kaveh asked, crimson red eyes trailing down the sand on the group and back up until he met Alhaitham’s eyes.
“I graduated a few years ago, scholars in Haravatat have to be fluent in at least 20 different languages,” He responded, looking down at his own drink. It was way too strong, he had no idea how Kaveh was still coherent with the amount drank, “Luckily enough, one of them was Afiyar.”
“Very lucky,” The other sighed, a frown gracing his face as he started into the distance, “I’m almost thirty and I can only speak Afiyar, it feels like the rest of the world has been blocked off from me because of it. Like what kind of thirty year old isn’t able to speak at least basic Common?”
“Why is that?” Alhaitham asked, when Kaveh gave him a questioning glance, he clarified, “I mean why can you only speak Afiyar? Most Eremites tribes teach their dialect and Common, Afiyah included.”
“Well…” Kaveh fiddled with his hands for a second, before just taking a large swig of his drink, “I didn’t exactly have a normal childhood, my father died when I was young, he was from the Afiyah tribe and my mother was an architect who had also graduated from the Akademiya. She wasn’t herself after he died.”
He looked toward Mehrak as he bit his lip and continued speaking, “She’s the one who taught me how to take things apart and put them back together, how to hand-draft precise blueprints, the basic engineering principles… After my father passed, she stopped speaking and eating. I didn’t go to school so I could stay home and take care of her, I was the only family she had and she was my mother. By the time I realized how behind I was in learning Common I was too ashamed to even try.”
Kaveh stopped talking for a moment, seemingly remembering himself. Flustered, he wore a self-depricating smile, “Sorry, I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this before, it feels weird. The people in my tribe were never this… personal with each other.”
“You can continue if you wish, I’m listening,” Alhaitham nodded, watching the man’s tensed up shoulders relax, letting go of his embarrassment.
“I wanted to be an architect just like my mother when I was little. The people around me however, were not interested in the Akademiya. They preferred practical jobs, I felt like I was doing the right thing by going along with what everyone else was doing but I wasn’t happy at all. She- my mother, got better over the years and met a traveler from Fontaine. In the blink of an eye they got married and she moved away with him to live in Fontaine but that wasn’t what hurt me.”
The Eremite obscured his face with his arm and though he heard a few sniffles, he paid the noise no mind.
“She looked so much happier after meeting him. Happier than she ever was looking at me. I felt… sad… angry, I gave up my entire childhood and early twenties for her and she didn’t even bother to ask if I would be okay by myself. She just left. Was I not important enough to even be thought of?”
“You were a child bearing the responsibility of an adult, even while grieving your mother should have never let you shoulder that burden,” Alhaitham replied, for a few minutes all he got in response were repressed gasps and hiccups, “I won’t judge you for crying, Kaveh.”
“Al-Ahmar, it's embarrassing to be crying at my age! And it’s twice as embarrassing doing it in front of a handsome guy!” Kaveh slurred through sobs.
Noticing his loose tongue, Alhaitham discreetly moved to put the wine bottle out of reach before Kaveh refilled it for the nth time.
“Anyways,” He said, clearing up his throat, “That was a year ago. I was going through the motions in a daze until two weeks ago I woke up one morning and realized: there was absolutely no one who was going to save me.
I had this sudden burst in courage, I wasn’t going to live and die doing something I found no happiness in. My life had to have more meaning than this. I was going to go to Sumeru City, learn Common and become an architect just how I always wanted.”
Kaveh then paused, an awkward, guilty laugh escaping his lips, “…And then I turned around a week later to head back to the Afiyah settlement before I found you.”
“What changed?” Alhaitham asked with furrowed eyebrows, in response the other just groaned and put his hands in his hair, fingers getting tangled up in golden blond strands.
“Reality hit that it was probably too late for me. There’s no way I could pick up Common fast enough at this age while also balancing Akademiya work. Not to mention I would need to also get a job at the same time, but who would hire a guy who can’t even speak Common?” He sighed, putting his head down, “At least in my tribe I have a stable job, a home, no real friends but gods, at least people can understand me there-”
“You’re wasting your life,” Alhaitham interrupted, tone firm and cool with no room for argument.
“I’m perfectly aware, thanks for pointing out the obvious,” Kaveh deadpanned back.
“You don’t understand,” He continued, his eyes flitting over to Mehrak, his fixed headphones and the stack of blueprints Kaveh adamantly tried to hide from him.
“You’re wasting the talent you clearly have by second guessing yourself. The people of Sumeru City are more understanding than you think, I know quite a couple people who weren’t able to speak Common either when they first arrived. There’s many aid programs available for your circumstances as well. I can help you file for them and find a place to stay, it’s never too late to begin again, you’re almost thirty not eighty. Stop thinking your life is over when it hasn’t even begun yet.”
Alhaitham had said all of this looking down at his drink, the overly strong wine showing the reflection of the moon above them. Looking back up, he certainly didn’t expect Kaveh to be looking up at him like he hung the stars in the sky.
His eyes were wide open, mouth slightly agape and he watched the man snap out of it and begin blinking away any remaining tears, using the ball of his palms to rub them.
“I think I really needed to hear that Alhaitham. Thank you,” Kaveh spoke softly, he seemed to gain some courage at that moment, standing up on wobbly legs as Alhaitham stood up to support him as well, “I’m going back to Sumeru City to study to be an architect! Haha, I was crying so much I think I’m delirious, I’m even seeing double visions right now-”
“You have double vision?” Ahaitham repeated cautiously before Kaveh shook his head and pointed at Alhaitham’s Dendro vision, the item sitting next to his sword and Kaveh’s claymore.
Except there were two Dendro visions laid in the sand.
Completely shocked, Alhaitham just stood there while Kaveh drunkenly reached down and touched the one sitting next to his claymore. As soon as his fingertips glided the smooth top, it glowed an almost blinding vibrant green. The man just laughed, not yet fully aware of what had happened.
“Your vision is so beautiful,” Kaveh mumbled, swaying side to side, “All visions are so beautiful, life is so beautiful.”
As the other spoke, Alhaitham picked up his vision which was definitely not the one clasped in the other’s hands.
Noticing a separate green glow, Kaveh grinned and gently took Alhaitham’s vision and held one in each palm. He laughed like something was funny before his giggles slowly died down.
Probably because he finally realized he was holding two fucking Dendro visions in his hands. One of which hadn't been there a whole ten minutes ago.
“HOLY SHIT-?! Alhaitham-?! ALHAITHAM?!”
Ah, now it hit him.
ــــــﮩ٨ـ
For a new Dendro vision user, Kaveh had taken his new power in stride.
Well, mostly. The morning after Alhaitham woke up with the other man’s body tangled up in his own, Kaveh had frightfully messed up hair and was holding his new vision approximately five inches from Alhaitham’s face. Apparently the shock hit him before his memory of basic social decency did.
He was still injured and their fight with the rogue primal construct hadn’t done Alhaitham any favors for his physical health. Walking was a frankly herculean chore with his current state and at the pace they were going it would take about three weeks to reach Sumeru City.
It wasn’t all bad, after their heart to heart last night Alhaitham found that the Eremite was actually good company all around. He talked too much but at least he was well-spoken and knowledgeable instead of blathering about a bunch of nothing to reach a simple point.
He had taken it upon himself to teach Kaveh at least basic Common phrases and writing so he would not feel as nervous entering the city.
“Do you know the modern Sumerian alphabet?” He asked Kaveh one afternoon after setting up camp. From Kaveh’s blueprint he secretly looked at, he tended to use the Deshretian script.
Kaveh gave him a wide grimace.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed, I just need to know where you need to start learning from,” Alhaitham said simply, grabbing a piece of paper to start, “Come closer, for you to be able to write in modern Sumerian you need to understand the natural stroke order, it’s not too different from Deshretian…”
And when they weren’t busy traveling or learning Common, they stopped at some desert outposts to pick up medicine to treat Alhaitham’s wounds which continued to be annoyingly persistent.
“I don’t understand why nilotpata lotus is so difficult to find,” Kaveh sighed, walking slow along the merchant street with Ahaitham who was doing his best walk-limp possible in his position.
“It grows in water, we are in a desert,” Alhaitham deadpanned.
“Yeah, and windwheel aster grows in Mondstadt yet you can still find it easier than a flower that grows in this region!”
Alhaitham almost tripped from his frankly ineffective way of walking but Kaveh managed to catch him quickly. He thought he would get off humiliation free before he heard a quiet snicker coming from the man.
“You’re so childish,” He disparaged, eyes narrowed at the grin plastered on the Eremite’s face.
“Says you! You ate all of my snacks that I bought for myself!” Kaveh quipped back, head shifting left and right to look at each merchant’s wares,
“Mehrak gave them to me, you’re pointing fingers at the wrong person. Do you even think I have the energy to go through your bags to find where you kept them?”
The other looked back at his automaton companion with betrayal in his eyes, the machine letting out a smug beep boop whirr bop in response. Whatever that meant.
“It really is the people closest to you…” Kaveh sighed talking to nobody in particular before his attention was caught by one of the merchants waving his way.
“Kaveh? Is that you?” An older woman with worn features but a wide smile on her face. She sold hand-painted dishware and vases just as colourful as the clothes she wore and Kaveh hurried over as fast as he could with Alhaitham still on his shoulder.
“Aunty Nasrin! I haven’t seen you in forever? How are your kids? Did they like the drawings I gave them?” Kaveh asked. He grabbed a chair for Alhaitham to sit in while talking.
“Oh, yes! They loved them! You know my boy has been asking me lately to come back to the Afiyah camp just so he can get more,” The woman nodded along, her demeanor bright even as she questioningly looked over to Alhaitham, “So who is this handsome young man? This is the first time I’ve met one of your friends!”
“Ah! Where are my manners? Yes this is my- uh… well this is Alhaitham, I met him a three weeks ago and I’m helping him out while he’s injured,” Kaveh explained, gesturing to him.
“Alhaitham?” The woman repeated looking over him, the gears turning in her head after Grand Sage Azar’s downfall. He shook his head, a silent plea that she didn’t say anything more.
He had never had to worry about Kaveh knowing who he was because he had never entered Sumeru City, but there was no saying that a merchant who has the opportunity to hear gossip from all over Sumeru didn’t already know everything about him.
“Alhaitham, this is Aunty Nasrin, she visited Afiyah camps very often when I was younger. I’ve known her for a long time.”
“Yes, yes! I am very lucky to witness Kaveh grow into a splendid young man! Although I am not quite as spry to be running around like I used to…” Aunty Nasrin smiled wide. The two then discussed matters that went over Alhaitham’s head, her children and their studies, somebody else’s children and their studies, and exchanged gossip in hushed whispers about people they both knew.
Towards the tailend of the conversation, she said something that had caught both of them off guard.
“Kaveh, you know I did visit the Afiyah camp a week ago. They said you packed up all of your things and left in the middle of the night.”
A long pause followed. Alhaitham watched carefully as the other gave the woman a completely blank look, he watched words form on his lips that did not properly chain into a coherent sentence.
“Well, I… you know I was just about to…ahaha…
Aunty Nasrin let out a fond sigh as she clasped a hand on Kaveh’s shoulder, the other jumping at the unexpected movement.
“Well, whatever your plan is, keep doing it. This is the happiest I’ve seen you look in years. Even if we never see each other again, just know that I’m proud of you and I always want the best for you.”
“Aunty, I…” Kaveh gave her a big hug and although Alhaitham felt less like a fly on the wall and more like the elephant in the room while experiencing the moment, he appreciated the sentiment.
“And bring your boyfriend with you if we see each other again! There’s no glow quite like true love- how romantic! It reminds me of my husband and I when we were younger…”
“Boyfriend?” Kaveh questioned with a confused smile before fully registering the words, “Boyfriend-?! Aunty Nasrin, no! We’re just friends, we met only a few weeks ago-!”
“Bah! Do younger generations not believe in love at first sight anymore? These gods give you power beyond imagination yet love is where you draw the line at unbeliveable…”
Alhaitham and Kaveh walked back to their camp near the outpost in complete silence after that. For one, neither of them could look the other’s way without turning a little red and Mehrak continued beeping and whirring in the background like it was the funniest thing the automaton had ever heard.
Neither saw anything wrong with sharing a bed until that night, and Kaveh stiffly stood up and moved a couple feet away.
“This is about what that woman said earlier wasn’t it?” Alhaitham called out from one side of the tent.
“What? No!” The other responded nervously, fiddling with his blanket before sighing, “…Yeah, it is. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable near me because of it.”
“Well I really don’t care,” Alhaitham responded with honesty, gesturing for the man to come back towards his side, “The bedmat is on this side anyway, you’ll ruin your back sleeping on the ground.”
“I don’t know if taking advice from a man who thinks rushing into battle with a primal construct while injured is the best idea,” Kaveh thought loudly to himself, a snide smile on his face after seeing Alhaitham’s miffed expression in the dim light.
“Nevermind, have it your way,” He replied, turning over to face his back towards the other man.
“What? No! Alhaitham I’m sorry!”
Regardless of what they ended up doing each night they always ended up right against each other with Kaveh using his chest as a pillow.
Blame it on the desert cold, blame it on Kaveh’s erratic sleep habits, blame it on Alhaitham’s concussion. Either way, neither hated the situation enough to say a thing. They just woke the other up and got dressed for the day like nothing ever happened
ــــــﮩ٨ـ
“You need to change the mechanism to activate as soon as you wave your hand. Mehrak summons your claymore too late, it leaves you open,” Alhaitham explained, sharpening his sword as he watched Kaveh fiddle with Mehrak’s controls.
With the summer season nearing, it was too hot for them to move in the day but in order to make up the time Alhaitham was helping Kaveh optimize his Mehrak weapon system to work with his Dendro vision.
“It’s easier said than done! Besides, you move too fast even if I did perfect the sensors,” Kaveh grumbled, goggles over his eyes as he struggled to see what he was tinkering with in the bright afternoon light.
“That’s why you need to practice your battle sense as well. There’s no point in having the perfect weapon if the handler fails to use it properly. Anyways, that complaining I hear?” Alhaitham questioned flipping his sword around in his hands, gaze trailing up to see Kaveh stiffening up a few paces away.
“We can always practice Common if this is too difficult for you.”
“That’s even worse!” The other groaned, fixing his controls and shutting Mehrak’s panels closed. The automaton whirred back to life and immediately went to store his claymore. Vision bonded with Mehrak, its regular yellow light was replaced by an earthy green one.
He immediately darted towards Kaveh, blade in hand. Lunging forwards, his attack was blocked at the very last second after the other summoned his claymore just in time to use the width as a shield.
“Quick, what time of day is it?” Alhaitham spoke, throwing out phrases in Common while the other man struggled to simply defend against his attacks.
“Uhhh… fuck, I don’t remember!” Kaveh shouted out moving his arm to control Mehrak’s direction with his claymore, being forced to move backwards while blocking, “Afternoon-?!”
“Correct.”
Alhaitham moved to swipe Kaveh’s leg out from underneath him but the other managed to jump back at the last second. He teleported to the man’s right, releasing an onslaught of Dendro-fueled slashes that the other clumsily blocked.
“How old are you?”
“Alhaitham-! I can’t focus when you’re trying to kill me- Twenty-eight!”
“When is your birthday?”
“July 9th! By Al-Ahmar, you’re a dick!”
Without warning, Kaveh stuck his claymore in the ground, a giant burst of Dendro energy flooded the surrounding radius and Alhaitham was completely pushed to the ground by the force of it.
(It was a stroke of luck likely, but if you were to ask Kaveh he’d tell you it was completely intentional with a practiced smile on his face and a haughty attitude.)
“Gods, it’s refreshing to see someone as perfect as you get pushed down for once!” Kaveh barked out a laugh, dragging his claymore over to where Alhaitham landed a few feet back, “Can you just lie there for a minute while I revel in this?”
“Not bad,” He said in an unbothered tone, pushing himself back up by his arms.
In one second he was on the ground, the next he had teleported completely behind Kaveh. A Dendro light mirror at the ready, it purposefully had blunt edges as he poked Kaveh square in the forehead with the projectile.
“Hey! I didn’t know you could create your own summons! That was playing dirty,” Kaveh complained, groaning as he held his forehead and the reddened area where the project had hit him.
“We both have the same kind of vision, if you find it so annoying then get even. Learn to make your own.”
“Easy enough when you say it…” Kaveh mumbled, sitting down on the sand.
It was nearing evening, there was an oasis up ahead which was thankfully a shorter trek than what they were used to.
“Where did you put the wine we bought yesterday?” Alhaitham asked the other man who pointed to a pouch sewn into the tent.
While they didn’t drink everyday, it was a special occasion tonight.
It would be the last day that he and Kaveh would be traveling together.
…
Sumeru City was three miles away after this. Tomorrow they would arrive in the afternoon and Alhaitham would help him settle into a living space and set up Akademiya aid.
Tomorrow was the end of a six week long saga that Alhaitham was mostly done with. He missed his library and office at home, only the archons knew how much dust had collected since he had left.
He missed Lambad’s Tavern. He missed convenient light night dinners and chats at Puspa Cafe. He missed being alone and having the chance to read a book in one sitting in the comfort of his own home.
(He, however, did not miss his easy office job. Alhaitham does not dream of labor.)
And guilty enough, Alhaitham had a sneaking feeling he would miss this just as much.
Having a drink under the stars with a man he had opened up more to in six weeks than he had with acquaintances he met in the Akademiya when they were young kids. The wine was too strong for his liking, the heat sunk deep into his skin even during the night and he was frankly tired of having sand in his clothes 24/7.
And yet he took careful note of every single bit of this moment as if to perfectly preserve it in his mind forever.
“The moon is beautiful tonight,” Kaveh said, coming to sit down beside him. He saw the way Ahaitham’s head snapped towards him and he turned pink, embarrassed, “Sorry, I overheard the phrase from someone else at the last outpost we went to… am I using it right?”
“Yes, I just wasn’t expecting it, it surprised me,” Alhaitham responded, taking a much longer sip of the strong wine in his cup than he would any other night.
A silence overtook the atmosphere. There was little to say to each other and yet there was just about everything to talk about. It was a fine line that they had danced over many times before but this had to be its breaking point.
“Alhaitham-” Kaveh spoke suddenly, before biting down on his lip. He drank the entirety of his cup in a big gulp, “Alhaitham… you’re a good man.”
“Really? From past consensus I’ve been described as bland and disinterested in others,” He replied, the smallest smile playing on his lips that disappeared the next moment.
“Who says you can’t be both?” Kaveh muttered back as leaned his head against Alhaitham’s shoulder. He just took it as a product of the wine, “You have a good heart. I’ve met many people, but none will ever be quite like you… you’re too eccentric.”
“And you’re good company… even though you talk all the time.”
“I make up for all the words you don’t say. Imagine how boring the world would be if everyone kept as quiet as you.”
“There’s a difference between keeping quiet and only choosing to speak when it matters.”
“There’s a difference between shit and ass” Kaveh snorted, letting out a yelp as Alhaitham elbowed him in the side.
And that was it.
After this things would go back to the way they had always been with one house too big for just Alhaitham to be in and a falling pit in his chest they he wouldn’t be able to name for years to come.
Because the possibility of something could very well be way less likely than nothing and Alhaitham didn’t have a single clue on where to start.
He looked at him and Kaveh looked back with something pleading and hauntingly desperate in his eyes.
The man seemed like he was about to pull away and head back inside before a wave of courage hit Kaveh so suddenly he watched the man ball his hands up into nervous fists before acting.
“Oh, fuck it! Alhaitham, I-!”
Kaveh leaned in so suddenly that Alhaitham had little time to react.
The first thing he felt was the warmth of a hand grasping his face and pulling him in, the second was the singular breath he had taken before the other closed the gap and his lips were against his.
The man kissed with such fervour it was as if he had been starving for decades. He tasted sweet oddly enough, not like candy but something more floral and calming, Sumeru roses maybe?
In a combination being startled by the suddenness of it, He had fallen from his sitting position to against the ground, his back hitting the sand with a resounding thud.
Kaveh’s hands were tangled up in his clothes and despite having his headphones in one ear, his heartbeat was blaring as loud as a siren.
Does he seriously want to kiss him? Like, Alhaitham, him? To be completely honest he has absolutely no fucking idea how to react which has become a running theme with this guy.
No one had ever wanted to kiss him before and certainly never so suddenly, any movements and sounds he wanted to make had gotten lost in his throat. The only thing he could focus on shifting between the blonde mess of Kaveh’s hair tousled out of its neat braid and the almost desperate grip he had on him.
As sudden as he moved, Kaveh pulled away just as fast. A fresh wave of regret hit him as he saw the panicked expression on the other’s face and then the pool full of tears in his eyes, his own surprised expression looking back through its reflection.
“Al-Ahmar, I’m so sorry I have no idea what has gotten into me-” Kaveh sputtered, his red ears visible even through the dark fog of night, he covered his face with his hands.
“Kaveh.”
“-I think- well, I may have read the signs wrong, I’m sorry you probably didn’t want that-” He was making odd hand gestures not unlike how he communicated the first time he met and before he knew Alhaitham spoke Afiyar.
“Hey, Kaveh.”
“-I don't know what I was thinking at all. You don’t have to forgive me, we will never see each other again after this-” The man covered his eyes with his arms, from the softly concealed sniffle, he was probably crying again. Alhaitham seemed to have a talent for making him cry.
“Kaveh!”
“What-?!” Kaveh shouted back, lifting up his head for just a moment. His eyebrows furrowed and eyes still wet, “You don’t need to say anything Alhaitham, I already know I made a mistake. Please, spare whatever’s left of my dignity!”
“For someone who’s supposedly apologetic, you still have a lot of fight in you,” Alhaitham noted with a raised eyebrow. When the man turned his head up to give a weak glare, his hand shot out to clasp Kaveh’s jaw. He traced the sharp edges and took how his breathing quickly slowed.
“I have no idea how to say this.” As in, seriously, Alhaitham has no fucking idea how to say how he feels. He isn’t exactly known for being a big feelings guy. Like at all. So Nahida help him out here and please give him some grace, it’s hard to be him in a situation like this.
“Kaveh… I want the chance to spend my life with you. Since you want to study at the Akademiya, would you like to stay with me? Like, in my house. That’s obvious, I have no idea why I said that.”
The other gave him a blank look and in those seconds that felt more like hours Alhaitham was about to burn up from humiliation if Kaveh didn’t immediately burst out laughing a few moments later. Sharp canines glinted against the pale moonlight, the untethered expression Kaveh was wearing was the complete antithesis of his saddened face from a second ago.
“I have no idea what you said, it was all in Common! But from your flustered expression it had to be something good, right?” Kaveh grinned wide, wiping any remaining tears from his eyes with the palms of his hands.
Alhaitham felt himself burning even more as he let out a long sigh, his hands coming up to cover his face, the wound on his head healed enough that at least it didn’t hurt at the slightest touch, “If you still don’t understand anything at all, then I must not be a good teacher.”
“Hey, I just started learning! Give me some grace here Alhaitham!” The other fought back, pointing an accusing finger his way.
Alhaitham took the time to search his expression, the hurt in his eyes was not completely gone and the bottom of his eyes were still puffed up from crying, but the smug expression Kaveh was wearing definitely looked better on him.
He grabbed the other by the shoulders, Kaveh’s eyes widened as they locked gazes. Alhaitham most definitely had a serious expression on his face, but to be fair it rarely differed than all of his other expressions. Again, he wasn’t like Mr. Emotional over here, but it would have really been damn helpful in getting his point across.
“Live with me.”
Kaveh returned the gesture with a jaw-dropped stare, not uttering a word.
“Hey. Say something before this starts to feel like I’m holding you against your will.”
“You really don’t have a single bone in you meant for romantics-!” Kaveh blustered, grabbing Alhaitham’s face in his hands before pushing them both to the ground.
The second time their lips met was infinitely more satisfying than the first, maybe because he was ready for it this time. Moments after closing the gap Alhaitham had returned the kiss with equal fervor.
It was like floating, for a moment he was questioning he was dreaming to actually be making out with the hot Eremite who had rescued him a few weeks earlier. Was it moving too fast? Maybe. But nothing he had ever done before had felt so right.
He felt Kaveh plant a firm hand on his chest, leaning back up to catch his breath and only then was he fully aware that the man was straddling him. His cheeks were bright red, complimented by the dim light of the bonfire, its warmth flickering in and out. Red eyes met green, the faced-paced rhythmic breathing of the other on top of him was the only thing he could hear besides his heartbeat thundering in his ears.
Yeah. It had to be this guy, there was no one else.
“You know, it doesn’t sit with me to accept handouts,” Kaveh muttered against Alhaitham’s neck, their fingers intertwined, but on the other he felt Kaveh guide his free hand towards the man’s waist band.
Touching the rough leather of a belt bearing the Eremite insignia, Kaveh quickly moved to take it off, along with any extra accessories he was wearing. With heavy breaths, he leaned over in a silent plea for Alhaitham to finish the job.
“I’m good at other things too, cooking, cleaning,” he continued. For a split second, Alhaitham thought that Kaveh was going absolutely nowhere with that line of thought, it was just in character for him to be all too willing to help out around the house.
“-Sex too, but I’m not so sure I’m great at that one. It would be my ah, how do you say it? ‘First time?’” Kaveh spoke before Alhaitham’s hand shot out and covered his mouth. He first looked rightfully startled but then oddly smug as he searched his expression.
“Your face stays calm but you get all red! It’s funny! Don’t tell me a good looking guy like you is also a virgin- maybe it’s because your personality is so bland!”
“You can’t just offer to get fucked as rent and disparage me in the same breath,” Alhaitham sighed. His free hand reached up before getting tangled in the blond strands of Kaveh’s hair, feeling it between his fingers he balled up his hand into a fist and pulled, “What? Did you think I was going to let you taunt me without complaint?”
“Not in the slightest,” The other grinned wide, teeth sharp. Ahaitham could see the way his eyes narrowed to be half-lidded as he pulled harder, eliciting a breathy gasp from Kaveh, “But I think it’s better that way. You’d be way more interesting if you were rougher-”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Alhaitham and Kaveh froze. Because that voice was neither of them.
Even worse, it was a familiar one to Alhaitham. One would assume it’s a good sign considering that he had not seen anyone he knew in the past six weeks since getting lost in the desert. However, it really wasn’t because they were seriously cockblocking him right now.
Eyes darting over to the noise, Alhaitham saw the dim glow of a lantern blending into the light of their campfire. Green eyes and Valuka Shuna ears atop his head twitched in tandem as if he was moments away from tweaking out.
“Tighnari,” Alhaitham said, voice calm and collected after being given a chance to regain himself after the silence, “Could you leave?”
“A search party has been looking for ypu for six weeks- I’ve wasted my time looking for you for six weeks- I’m not leaving so you can fuck this guy-!” Tighnari shouted back, his ears twitching ears becoming more erratic. He put his hands on his face before letting out a long groan.
“Well, I was actually lost-” He started before dodging a lantern directed at his face.
“Shut up!”
“Is he your friend?” Kaveh whispered, leaning in close. In the few moments since Tighnari arrived he had sneakily been redressing, taking the split second the forest ranger looked away to get off of straddling Alhaitham.
“…Something like that. He helped me overthrow Sumeru City’s government,” He replied with folded arms as Tighnari pulled out a modified Akasha Terminal to call someone.
“Huh, cool. Wait, you did what-?”
They sat there like two troubled teenagers who just got caught doing something they weren’t supposed to, which was definitely humbling considering that they both were almost thirty.
“I called the traveler so they could dismiss the search party. You owe us a round of drinks- no… two rounds- you have money, however many rounds of drinks until your bank is empty,” Tighnari muttered, making a dismissive hand motion before pressing his fingers to his nose bridge.
“Understood.”
Alhaitham went to stand up, although he had this strange sort of sinking feeling before- this odd thought that his life will never be as simple as these six weeks were with Kaveh, a more certain thought came through: maybe it didn’t need to be anymore.
Going through life sounded way easier when having someone to confide in, which had to mean something when coming from Alhaitham. He had like three good friends and one of them was verbally beating his ass right now.
“Tighnari? I just got your message, did you find him-?”
Correction: Two of them were about to start verbally beating his ass right now.
Before even being visible, Cyno’s voice carried throughout the desert in the distance and as he approached his shadowy figure was lit up by the campfire. He had a concerned expression… for about two seconds after seeing him.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” The man said, his stare tired as he glanced between Alhaitham and Kaveh with a blank expression. And what’s with the echo? Was this scene so ridiculous it was all any passerby could think of saying? “We thought you had died, Alhaitham.”
“Well I didn’t,” Alhaitham replied.
“Can you at least pretend to be grateful we came to look for you? We were actually worried- And who is that-?”
Tighnari nudged Cyno before calmly pointing at Kaveh then Alhaitham and then making a vulgar hand gesture all while maintaining eye contact with the General.
Cyno slowly turned back to Alhaitham. Red eyes widened, he let out a fake gasp that had to have an ounce of truthful surprise in there, “Alhaitham, you dog.”
“You two are ridiculous.”
“We’ve been looking for you for six weeks and we find you trying to get laid- and you wanna talk about being ridiculous-?” Tighnari raised his voice, he walked toward the duo with furrowed eyebrows before Cyno grabbed the back of his shirt collar prevent him from beating Alhaitham up.
“What are they saying?” Kaveh whispered, cupping his mouth as he nudged closer to Alhaitham. This was also right around the time Alhaitham remembered that the other didn’t understand a lick of Common. Whoops.
“That’s Cyno, the General Mahamatra” He said, directing Kaveh’s gaze towards the shorter man. He had this hardened look to him but the second that he noticed their gazes he gave the most awkward wave imaginable.
“And that’s Tighnari, he’s the Chief Officer of Forest Rangers,” Alhaitham continued, unlike Cyno he continued to give him an irritated glare, “They’re upset because they thought I was dead.”
“Huh, and I thought that you said you didn’t have any close friends, just ‘aquaintences’” Kaveh replied, making air hand quotes as he met his gaze, a teasing smile playing on his face.
The Eremite’s cheeks were still red with embarrassment after they were discovered. Alhaitham saw his reflection in Kaveh’s eye and he almost didn’t recognize himself. Did he always have that kind of fond expression to him before?
“I thought I didn’t. Maybe I was wrong,” Alhaitham muttered back as Kaveh elbowed his arm with an airy laugh.
“Wow, so a guy as ‘perfect’ as you still gets some sentimental feelings every now and then, huh?”
Something welled up in his chest, heavy knot that while uncomfortable was quickly unraveling at the drumming pace of his heartbeat.
And inexplicably and most illogically, he leaned in to kiss Kaveh.
It was irrational, never in a million years would Alhaitham have imagined himself to be so shameless. In front of other people no less, but before he could even reason with himself his fingers were already tangled up in blond hair and Kaveh’s lips against his. Sweet, but in a floral way.
Somewhere in the background, Cyno and Tighnari silently looked at each other, jaws dropped, before turning around and back in the direction of Sumeru City.
“We are never talking about this again,” Tighnari said under his breath, “I told you he had it handled to begin with! No wonder the Lesser Lord was just giggling to herself this entire time.”
Cyno just shrugged before turning back for a split second, “Sumeru City is three miles east, you’re getting a check-up at Bismartan tomorrow morning!”
“Just get out,” Alhaitham replied dismissively.
As he pulled away from the kiss, he looked at Kaveh’s face as red as a mourning flower with satisfaction. Words formed on the Eremites lips but none seemed to make it out as a full sentence.
“I- You- Haha… well that was kind of awkward,” Kaveh finally choked out, his hands still bundled up in the fabric of Alhaitham’s clothes, leaving nail-shaped crescents even after he pulled away.
“Come live with me in Sumeru City.”
And as he felt the other man let out a breath he was holding, the look in his eyes hauntingly soft, that’s when the knot in Alhaitham’s chest fully unraveled.
It became something irrevocablely sure and full of pure conviction that this was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He’d even get rocked by that primal construction again if it meant meeting him.
The single words that came from Kaveh’s bitten lips felt as holy as a hymn “Okay.”
A long comfortable silence filled the empty space as they looked up at the stars, their campfire a few feet away had died down to a few flickering embers.
“So… they’re gone, right?” Kaveh asked, looking off into the distance where Tighnari and Cyno had walked back to towards the direction of Sumeru City.
“Yes, Tighnari also said he called off the search party looking for me. No one else should be around here this late.” Ahaitham replied, he looked in the other’s direction for only a moment to realize that the Eremite was staring directly at him.
“So about earlier…” The man trailed, an embarrassed grimace on his face as another quiet passed over them. However, this one was filled with a certain heated undertone.
The two got up at the same time. Alhaitham moved to quickly strip off his shirt and Kaveh moved towards the fire putting out the remaining embers, almost tripping over themselves as they speed-walked into their tent.
“Mehrak is in sleep mode right now, correct?”
“Yeah, they should be powered down until tomorrow morning.”
“Want to change it to the afternoon?”
“…I’ll go do that.”
ــــــﮩ٨ـ
“Gods Mehrak, I cannot believe how rude some people can be!” Kaveh sighed as he spoke to his assistant while walking into Lambad’s Tavern.
Its form had changed over the years and in order to prevent a panic about a primal construct roaming the streets of Sumeru, Kaveh had rebuilt its outer shell to resemble a briefcase.
Despite changing in appearance though, Mehrak had the same attitude and let out a couple of sassy whirrs and beeps that had Kaveh frowning even more. “Can you ever side with me for once-?! No one told me being an architect required this much cordiality!”
Spotting Alhaitham playing Genius Invokation in a group, he smiled wide quickly coming over and putting his hands on his shoulders, leaning over to see his hand.
“Why in the world do you have so many artifact cards?”
“There’s nothing wrong with this many, after all this is the same deck that you have lost to every game. Perhaps you should be taking a page from my book,” Alhaitham casually quipped back as he wordlessly handed Kaveh his wine cup from habit, the other man taking it and practically downing the glass in one sip.
“You’re going to mess up your liver that way,” He nagged.
“Tomorrow’s the weekend, I think I have a free pass. This is like nothing regardless, the alcohol I get from Aaru Village is way stronger,” Kaveh responded back smugly, he turned towards the rest of the group as his face lit up in recognition, “Hey Cyno and Tighnari- Oh! the traveler and Nilou are here too! I have not seen you all in a minute!”
“That’s what you get if you spend all your time working on your projects,” Alhaitham chimed in, playing a card that made Tighnari groan in frustration, his ears flattening down with his expression.
“Shut up, Alhaitham.”
“It’s nice to see you Kaveh, I hope your work hasn’t been too much, it’s important to rest,” Nilou said with a gentle smile, sitting at the edge of the table watching Alhaitham and Tighnari’s game.
“Nothing I can’t handle, thank you for your concern though, I appreciate it,” Kaveh grinned back, taking a seat right next to Alhaitham, he was sitting so close that the Dendro visions around their hips clicked against each other with the slightest movement.
Their natural proximities were always so close that it would make anyone unaware of their relationship do a double take.
“It’s nice to see you again, Kaveh,” The traveler said, long blond hair flowing back and forth as they leaned their head in their hands, “Hey, can I ask you a question? You know it’s been years since we met. I can't help but wonder something.”
“You have a question about me?” He repeated with a raised eyebrow, “Sure, fire away. I don’t know if I have anything interesting to respond with.”
“How did you and Alhaitham meet? All I remember is coming over one day and seeing you hanging around the living room,” They said, tracing the rim of their glass not knowing the answer to their question was much, much longer than expected.
“I kind of understood the vibe right away but still it feels like you just showed up one day! No offense at all, you’re way cooler than Mr. Nonchalant over there.”
“Hey,” Alhaitham said in response, shooting an annoyed stare the traveler’s way before looking back down at his cards, unaware that everyone except Nilou and the traveler had turned white.
Cyno looked at Tighnari. Tighnari looked at Cyno. Kaveh looked at Alhaitham but the fool was too busy glancing between his cards and the book in his lap.
Because absolutely no one had talked about it before.
Since entering Sumeru City, Kaveh had quietly entered the Akademiya while learning Common along the way. He was almost completely fluent now and went on to be a successful and renowned architect, which was what almost everyone in Sumeru City knew him for. Everyone except…
His gaze went over to Cyno and Tighnari who were looking at the table and back at each other. Their faces red, it was as if they took another breath they would accidentally divulge him and Alhaitham’s deepest, darkest secret.
In their defense, it was just puppy love! If puppy love started in their late twenties lasted eight years… But they weren’t as touchy with each other anymore; it was just a phase! They learned moderation (more or less) in the past year now that their jobs kept them busy.
“Huh, you’re right traveler!” Nilou added on, again not knowing she was adding fuel to a brewing explosion, “The first time I met Kaveh was when he came to talk to me after one of the theater’s shows, I only found out he was with Alhaitham much later! It must have been something special considering how close you two have always been!”
“Oh, they were close alright,” Tighnari muttered before Cyno smacked his arm. The failure of his accomplice to keep a secret somehow meaning that he too would just air out the whole story.
“I didn’t know that the traveler didn’t know! Weren’t they on your little rescue team-?!” Kaveh whispered in Afiyar, Alhaitham met his eyes and his lips casually parted, remembering something.
“I think I forgot to tell them.”
“You think-?!”
“Maybe it was over a mutual interest, you’re both so different in personalities I just can’t see you two having a normal conversation for the first time,” The traveler spoke. It mostly seemed like harmless brainstorming until Nilou added to the conversation.
“Oh! Like desert camping! You know my coworker from the Zubayr Theater sees you two every now and then at the same oasis, it's unexpectedly romantic!” Nilou smiled as Kaveh kicked Alhaitham’s shins under the table. Don’t tell him they need to go out into the Desert of Hadramaveth to find some good privacy from now on.
“Say, Nilou… is it the oasis three miles east?” Cyno spoke up, now also ignoring the fact that both Alhaitham and Kaveh were kicking him under the table, “And did they last see them the night we were all supposed to go out drinking but Kaveh suddenly ‘caught a cold’-?”
“That’s exactly what she told me, did you also see them that night-?” The group actively watched the gears turn in her head as she politely covered her mouth with her hand, “Oh. Oh my.”
Great, now everyone but the traveler gets it.
Cyno shot the duo an accusing look. Kaveh guility looked away with reddened ears while Alhaitham stood his ground, locking eyes with Cyno while beating Tighnari in their TCG match at the same time.
Cyno and Tighnari looked at each other, looked at Nilou and the traveler fully unaware of what was about to go down, and opened their mouths talking a million miles per minute.
“-He didn’t show up to hang with us one night which was weird because he’s a loser with nothing better to do anyway-”
“-Alhaitham had gone missing in a sandstorm and the second that we found him after six weeks he was-”
“-Not to mention Nahida for whatever reason was just laughing to herself-”
“-With some rogue Eremite he literally met less than a month ago! It fully wasted weeks of my effort for no damn reason and-”
Alhaitham slammed his book down on the table, thankfully grabbing the group’s attention before Cyno and Tighnari managed to say something coherent.
He opened it back to the page he was on before continuing, turning to Nilou and Lumine, “We’re childhood friends. We met in the Akademiya but got into a fight with each other and did not reconnect until a few years ago. Happy?”
“Huh, that sounds right,” Lumine nodded with crossed arms, leaning back in her chair, “I’m a little disappointed though, I was expecting something interesting.”
“Oh, it’s plenty interesting!” Kaveh nervously laughed getting up and pushing Alhaitham towards the exit with Mehrak following behind the couple, “We’d love to stay and talk about it but we have to go and do uh… stuff. Maybe next time!”
“Going camping again?” Cyno snidely called after them as Kaveh raised a rude hand gesture from the tavern’s door.
Finally alone and roaming empty Treasures Street in the middle of the night. Kaveh let out a long sigh, when he was tired Common did not flow as easily as speaking Afiyar did.
“I can’t believe you never told the traveler! Al-Ahmar, it would be too embarrassing to explain now…” He muttered, leaning against Alhaitham as he played with the man’s headphone cord.
“They don’t need to know anything we don’t tell them, Cyno and Tighnari can’t even handle keeping it secret anyway,” Alhaitham casually responded, holding a hand out for Kaveh to take, the other instantly responding as if it was second nature.
“Don’t get me started… how mortifying.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I got the wine you really liked from the nearby Tanit Camp last time we went into the desert.”
“You did-?!” Kaveh almost shouted out in the empty street. Flustered, he looked around for any passerbys before continuing to speak.
“That’s great! But we were together that day… were you getting it as a secret get out of jail free card?” He pointed a finger accusingly but Alhaitham did not move to deny the allegation.
“Well is it working?” He asked, reaching into his pocket to pull out his set of keys to unlock their front door, holding it open for the other to enter.
Kaveh ruminated on the question for a minute, shrugging as he went inside,
“Yeah. You’re free to go this time, but I’m watching you…”
As the other came inside, Alhaitham let a nearly unnoticeable smile cross his face. Almost unnoticeable. Kaveh had long since picked up on his habits by now.
“Are you just going to stand there looking lovestruck or are you coming inside?” Kaveh spoke from the other room, going inside the kitchen, “I’ll make dinner, do you think Sabz Meat Stew would go well with the wine?”
“You never add enough spice, let me do it.”
“Ugh, no! You always make it so spicy it's inedible! Get out of the kitchen Alhaitham!”
And as Alhaitham closed the door to their house behind him, an ever-persistent thought ran through his mind:
Getting lost in a sandstorm had to have been the best thing to ever happen to him.