Chapter Text
Kaveh took a sip out of his coffee, eyeing the silver-haired man to his left who had been staring at him whilst drinking from his own cup. Across the table, a little girl in white watched the men’s ‘staring contest’ with her hot chocolate, enjoying the interesting show in this sunny morning of a weekend.
“Hey, Alhaitham…” Kaveh decided he didn’t want another one of those contests so early in the morning. “Will you stop staring at me? This is… Really awkward.” Especially when Alhaitham had been doing it since the incident.
Teal and wooden brown eyes took themselves off the blonde for a second, looking into his coffee cup instead when Alhaitham tipped it up for another sip, but quickly moved them back towards what they had been fixated so intensely onto before Kaveh even had the time to take a break.
“I thought you’ll want your answer as soon as possible.” Alhaitham reasoned.
“Hah?”
“I’m considering if I like you or not.” He said with a tone as flat as a slab of cut stone and continued staring holes into Kaveh. Kaveh almost choked on his coffee.
“Y- You! Whose shameless now?!”
“Says the one who does the same plus touch me all over. Every single day.”
“You—!” Kaveh’s jaws dropped, but no sound came out of his gaping mouth. And Alhaitham had the audacity to smirk!
The blonde shut his mouth when even Nahida began chuckling at his defeat. On seconds thoughts, Alhaitham was right— the very correct type of right. But Kaveh had to do it because that log of wood refused to realize he was being courted! And… That would be a lie. It was, in his defense, partially true, but mostly an excuse Kaveh had come up with to justify himself for his actions. Alhaitham was just too handsome and attractive for the blonde to keep his eyes and hands off, and it wasn’t like Alhaitham himself minded anyways so why not!
“Hehe.” The child let out another chortle at the look on Kaveh’s face when he entered his ‘Anemo Slime Mode’, red eyes narrowed with cheeks almost puffing with pent-up frustration when he failed to find a counterargument. “I’m happy to see you two back to your usual selves.” She gleamed.
“Fine!” Seeing his friend’s contentment, Kaveh huffed. The blonde downed his remaining coffee in one go, then placed the empty cup back onto its saucer before pushing the whole set towards the middle of the table, clearing some space for himself. “Keep going then, let’s see how long is this gonna take.”
He crossed his legs and turned his torso towards Alhaitham, propping his elbow onto the cleared tabletop before leaning against his own hand in an elegant motion. With softened eyes of ruby red, Kaveh gazed into his housemate’s teal ones, adding some sort of seductive elements into their supposed staring contest. He didn’t forget to pass his tongue over his lips to lick it clean of coffee while his eyes were locked with Alhaitham’s.
Following Kaveh’s response, the man with silver hair replied with a tiny huff of laughter. Alhaitham leaned back in his chair with his black coffee, crossing his own legs with an ankle resting above the knee of his opposite leg to begin observing the blonde’s features at the whole new angle, enjoying this little ‘game’ of theirs that was no doubt in his favor.
It had got to be the change in Alhaitham’s sitting position, for a diffused ray of sunlight managed to hit his eye that wasn’t covered behind silver strands. Teal and woody brown were lit up into shades of brand new colors. His iris was now a hue of blue-green like the waters of Devadaha Pool, where the part that was once dark like lacquered wood now resembled a deep, translucent amber framed in a halo of gold, and the same shade of sun-lit gold reflected off his sharp pupils, making it shine like a polished gem.
Alhaitham's eyes surpassed even the finest works of stained glass, reflecting nearly every color of light and even more. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Alluring. Perfect. If only such beauty could be replicated by human artistry…
And Kaveh’s orbs widened at the thought.
“Ah!” He shot up from his chair in an abrupt motion, startling both of his housemates into a little jump. Kaveh lurched forward to press his hands above Alhaitham’s shoulders, squeezing them as he began to shout with a voice full of enthusiasm. “That’s it! Stained glass! That’s what’s lacking in my design! Thank you! Alhaitham!”
Alhaitham widened his eyes at his housemate’s sudden surge of excitement and the confusion brought by the blonde’s words. “What do you mean thank me? And isn’t your design finished?” The silver-haired man questioned when Kaveh pulled himself up and rushed towards his work desk.
“Doesn’t mean it’s too late to make amendments!”
“You’re making amendments when you’ll be meeting with your client tomorrow?” With his half-finished cup of coffee still in hand, Alhaitham put down his leg and turned around in his chair to chase his housemate’s form with his gaze, frowning at the other’s absurd declaration.
“They should've expected that when they decided to commission me!” Kaveh replied in a bright voice, unclipping the large blueprint from his drawing board and pushed his scattered tools aside with a swipe of his forearm to make space on the desk.
A soft thud from the other side of the dining table redirected Alhaitham’s attention. He had just turned back towards the front when he felt a tug at the hem of his shirt from his left, so he turned again to meet Nahida’s lush emerald eyes, shining with the same excitement as the blonde man.
“Come Alhaitham, you must see this!” She urged with more tugs of her tiny hands and a bright smile across her lips. Alhaitham blinked a few times, but set down his cup and followed the girl towards Kaveh’s work desk anyway.
Swiftly, a brand new sheet was clipped onto the drawing board, where the table that had been cleared mere moments ago was already re-littered with numerous tools and scattered scraps of rough paper. Kaveh had just begun to sketch the outline of his sudden inspiration when Nahida pulled Alhaitham over by his hand— that was when Alhaitham realized what she wanted him to see.
“What’s on your mind, Kaveh?” The little Archon inquired, excited to hear the architect’s idea.
“A five-in-one set of stained glass skylights.” The sketch on the clipboard was quickly revealed to be the dome of a rooftop, more specifically, the cupola. “Instead of just one single dome at the top of the building, I’m splitting it into a set of five on the sides of a cupola. At noon when the sun hits just right, colors from all five panels will come together and project the complete pattern onto the flooring below.”
“Like the one in the hallway of the Akademiya?” Alhaitham would pretty much come across it every time he passed through the walkway towards the House of Daena.
“Close, but the projection from that one is created by one single panel. Mine consists of five, and since the position of the sun changes every minute, every month and every season, the projected image will change in accordance with the solar elevation angle. Imagine all the variations!”
Kaveh grabbed and flipped through a stack of notes that had been lying around on the desk for as long as Alhaitham had remembered. He then ran a finger across a certain page, letting out a light-hearted ‘aha!’ when he found what he needed. The stack of paper was then tossed back onto the table and the blonde began scribbling calculations on a sheet of paper. Half way through it, he slipped his quill behind an ear and casually grabbed the nearest ruler to use as paperweight before turning on his heels to dash towards the bookshelves.
Alhaitham stepped aside and Nahida dodged with a chortle, making way for the working architect. In a hustle of loose sleeves and flowing hair, Kaveh smoothly located and came back with a book of astronomy, quickly flipping through the pages as he paced. He had already found what he needed by the time he got back to his work desk and immediately dropped down the exact numbers he needed to complete his equation.
The silver-haired man felt another light tug at his shirt, so he lowered himself to pick Nahida up, sitting her on top of his arm. “This is why I’ve asked you to put every book back to its original spot once you’ve finished.” The little girl leaned in to whisper against Alhaitham’s ear, and he nodded understandingly.
Alhaitham watched Kaveh work, making sure to keep his distance incase the architect suddenly turned around and end up crashing into him by accident— that would definitely distract him from his frenzy. He watched, observing every single move of Kaveh’s; every line drawn onto his new draft; every calculation scribbled onto the rough sheets. He watched as the blonde man gradually turned the outline of a building into a sophisticated structure on paper with the help of numerous metallic mountings on the drawing board. The lines of carbon were dirty but clear; the labels and dimensions were a complete mess but incredibly detailed. Soon enough, there weren’t even enough space left on the sheet for Kaveh to add anything else, yet how the architect solved this particular problem once again amused Alhaitham.
In a mellow flash of green, Kaveh activated his Vision to summon glowing shapes of Dendro. The blonde would fix pieces of paper onto those peculiar structures before sending them off into the air, leaving them to hover in the spot he desired, acting as make-shift pinboards or clips under his command. With such use of his Vision, Kaveh’s canvas was next to unlimited.
“Kaveh.” Alhaitham spotted a point of interest from the draft. “The stained glass window, northeast position.”
Kaveh turned his head towards the drawing board. With the blue-green quill in hand, he tapped at said window with the tip of the feather before confirming with his housemate. “This one?”
“Tilt it downwards by 6.73 degrees.” Said Alhaitham, before summoning five prisms of Dendro with his own Vision above an open palm. He tilted the leaf-like mirror representing the window in question to the desired angle and allowed light to scatter between them, physically demonstrating his point.
The architect watched with keen red eyes, which widened in realization when he understood what Alhaitham was trying to convey with the model. He quickly flicked his quill at his housemate, flashing him an impressed smirk before turning back towards the desk and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper to redo his calculations.
“You.” Once he’s done, he pointed the tip of the quill into Alhaitham’s face again. “You’re a genius.” Kaveh held the new equation up with a small Dendro clip to hover it above the blueprint, then tore off a corner from another piece of paper to cover the incorrectly drawn window, overwriting the draft without bothering to erase the old one.
Alhaitham dismissed the prisms with a firm clench of his fist. The little Archon praised his finding with a light round of applause, and he returned by dipping his head at Nahida in acknowledgment, the corner of his lips lifted up ever so slightly.
“One more thing.” The man with silver hair added. “I also suggest you prepare yourself for the design to be rejected.”
Nahida’s once-clapping hands flew to her mouth, covering a tiny gasp behind them. Kaveh stopped his working hands, then gradually, turned around with narrowed eyes to shoot his housemate a judgmental frown, the passion that was once spread across his looks no longer anywhere to be found. Alhaitham was sure he heard the noise of paper crackling between the architect’s Dendro creations.
“From what I see, these stained glass windows are nothing but a nuisance to build. Even if your client does like them, the feature will cost him a great fortune to construct, and I can’t say I’m sure he will be willing to pay such a hefty price for so. You better keep that in mind.”
“Seriously? I just complimented you less than a minute ago, and you just have to rain on my parade so soon after?” The blonde threw his arms into the air in exasperation.
“I’m merely stating a fact. It’s up to you to decide if you want to accept it or not.” Alhaitham shrugged with his free shoulder.
“You-!” Ah, there he went again. “You know what, Alhaitham?” Kaveh capped his quill with a sharp click.
“‘Bad dog’?”
“No- I mean, yes! But that’s not what I’m trying to say!” The blonde stomped angrily towards Alhaitham with his quill in one hand and that stack of notes in his other. He grabbed Alhaitham’s free hand by the wrist to shove his quill into it, closing his housemate’s fingers around the pen and then slapped the pile of paper onto his firm chest. Once Alhaitham had gotten hold of the stuff, Kaveh moved to pick Nahida up from under her arms, eliciting a little ‘oh’ from the girl in white.
Kaveh sat his friend onto his own arm and pointed towards the dining table with his other. “Go write me a letter for my client, tell him I’ll delay our meeting for three days so I can amend the blueprint. You know where to find the paper and envelops, hmm?” He demanded, cheeks beginning to flush red in frustration.
“Am I really your dog now?” Alhaitham tutted, but he held tight onto the quill and notepad he was given.
“Like an actual dog can write letters! Do me a favor, Haravatat scholar, I suppose your pretty handwriting and clever play with words can get the job done?”
“Then I’ll be asking for a payment. How does 500 Mora per hundred words sound?”
“How about you write me the letter as a compensation for ruining my mood? A fair enough deal, don’t you think?”
“I’ll bring you the bill once I’m done.” The silver-haired man turned around to walk away.
“‘Bad dog’! Alhaitham!” Kaveh shouted after him, and as expected, the little girl sitting in his arm began giggling again.
“And you.” He gently pinched Nahida on her cheek, causing her to laugh even louder and kicked her pale legs against Kaveh's torso. “Every time something like this happens, all you do is laugh. Learning all the bad stuff from Alhaitham, huh?”
“Hehehe, bad Kaveh! Always asking for deadline extensions and often exceeds the client’s budget!” Nahida talked back while pushing the pinching hand away from herself.
“It’s for the greater good of art! And I thought you stand with me? Oh you hurt my feelings, Nahida! Go away! ‘Don’t disturb me while I work’!” The blonde mocked Alhaitham’s tone in his last sentence before putting Nahida back onto the ground, leaving the child to laugh with that sweet voice of hers as he went back to drafting.
At the dining table, Alhaitham had already taken out a clean sheet of paper, an envelope for the letter and a bottle of ink, sighing out in defeat on hearing his housemates and friends’ conversation. He flipped through the stack of notes to check the client’s name and address, shooting Kaveh one last glance before dipping the tip of the quill pen into ink, wearing a barely noticeable smile across his lips to begin writing the letter for his noisy housemate.
Did Alhaitham actually charge Kaveh for the letter? The answer was no. He brushed it off as a joke when Kaveh approached him with a few hundred Mora later that day, and once again riled up his housemate by reminding him of his own financial status.
After all, the effort Kaveh took to make him lunch every other day was worth way more than writing such a simple letter.