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Kaveh’s attention was torn from the mess of books at his feet when Alhaitham returned to the living room.
“Sorry. Your bedroom is in a much poorer state than the rest of the house,” Alhaitham said quietly.
“Of course it is,” Kaveh sighed. “My bad luck strikes again.”
“Bad luck aside, you still need somewhere to sleep tonight.”
Kaveh glanced up as Alhaitham stepped closer - only to find himself pinned beneath that same strangely intense gaze Alhaitham had worn all week while they had worked together to save Sumeru.
It should have been unnerving, receiving the full brunt of that hawk-like focus. Instead, it simply felt comforting - reminding Kaveh of their days as students in the Akademiya, back before their relationship had become so tangled and difficult to navigate, muddied by misunderstandings.
“It’s fine,” Kaveh murmured, unable to bring himself to look away. “I’ll grab whatever blankets survived from my bed and sleep on the divan tonight, then -”
“Just stay in my room.”
Kaveh blinked at him, certain he must have misheard. “I’m sorry - what?”
“Stay in my room tonight, Kaveh. It’s in much better condition than yours. Besides, my bed is plenty big enough for the both of us.”
But where Kaveh had come to expect mockery from him - though admittedly, he’d found himself struggling to locate it no matter how hard he searched lately - he found only patience and care lingering in Alhaitham’s expression.
Before Kaveh could try to fumble his way through a response, Alhaitham slowly reached out, brushing his fingers tentatively against the inside of his palm then lacing their hands together when Kaveh didn’t pull away.
For all the times Kaveh had imagined doing the same, grasping for that unfathomably warm palm and holding it safely within his own, the gesture felt so terribly simple that it left him breathless as Alhaitham silently turned and guided him through the cluttered hallway.
Kaveh had long since convinced himself there were conditions attached to every kindness Alhaitham offered since he’d moved in - always an undercurrent of hidden frustration, or an inevitable insult lurking just out of sight.
But nothing of the sort met him now. Instead, Alhaitham’s thumb merely stroked gentle patterns along the back of his hand as they walked, as though he’d been just as desperate for this all along - for the peaceful, shared life Kaveh had been yearning for all this time.
Finally, Kaveh allowed himself to believe that Alhaitham’s kindness toward him was exactly what it appeared to be as he followed him through the threshold into the one remaining intact bedroom in their house.
... Their home.
“Why are you so determined to misunderstand everything I say?”
“Wh - I’m not!” Kaveh huffed indignantly, sitting up and tugging Alhaitham’s blankets more comfortably around his waist.
His hair was messy and slightly frizzy from a full night of deep sleep, several golden strands falling loosely on either side of his cheeks. More than that, sometime during the night, Kaveh had apparently abandoned his shirt entirely; soft morning light now spilled freely across the freckled planes of his chest and the faded lines of his top surgery scars alike - entirely unconcerned with hiding either from Alhaitham’s gaze.
Despite the argument brewing between them already, Alhaitham found himself distracted by how painfully right Kaveh looked in his bed like this.
But Kaveh wasn’t done. “Maybe you’re just so infuriatingly arrogant that you can’t -”
Alhaitham sighed and cut him off by pressing a fresh, steaming mug of coffee to Kaveh’s lips - sprinkled with cinnamon, just the way he liked. “Drink.”
Though his eyes narrowed with immediate suspicion, Kaveh obediently reached up to steady the cup, fingers brushing against Alhaitham’s as he took a few long gulps.
“I’m not sure how much clearer I can be,” Alhaitham continued, watching him carefully over the rim. “I’ve talked to our friends, consulted countless books - I even asked the Dendro Archon for advice. I’ve tried to tell you in so many different ways that I care about you, yet you seem strangely committed to ignoring me.”
Kaveh’s cheeks began to pinken. “I - what - I’m not ignoring you! I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”
Alhaitham blinked slowly. Then, moving with the patience of someone trying not to startle a frightened animal, he reached over to set both their coffees aside before lowering himself onto the bed beside Kaveh.
“Why don’t I put it this way,” he said gently. “Let’s make this sleeping arrangement permanent and turn your bedroom into something else. We could knock down the wall and expand the study - I’ve been thinking it feels too cramped lately, anyway.”
The implication should have been obvious.
... Unfortunately for Alhaitham, this was Kaveh.
“Wow, really?” Kaveh scoffed, clearly wounded despite his attempt to mask it with indignation. “I spend all this time helping you clean up the wreckage, and now you’re finally trying to kick me out once and for all? I see how it is. Fine. I know when I’m not wanted, so -”
“You very obviously don’t,” Alhaitham muttered impatiently.
He rubbed two fingers against the bridge of his nose and drew in a deep breath, steadying himself for a long-overdue confession that apparently needed to be delivered with absolutely no room for interpretation whatsoever - even if the words themselves felt terrifying to say aloud.
“Kaveh.” Alhaitham shifted closer, sliding beneath the blankets until their legs brushed together. Then, cupping Kaveh’s increasingly flushed face in both hands and holding him still beneath his unwavering gaze, he urged, “Listen to me for once. Please.”
“L-listen to - to what, I...” Kaveh trailed off, swallowing harshly.
Alhaitham smoothed his thumbs gently over Kaveh’s cheekbones and took a moment to marvel at him properly - stubborn beyond reason as always, but utterly beautiful like this, sweet and sleepy in his bed. And, while Kaveh was undeniably brilliant, he was somehow still catastrophically incapable of recognizing the most plain emotion of all.
“I genuinely don’t understand how you’re confused after all this time. But since it seems you’re determined to make this as difficult as possible indefinitely, I suppose I’ll have to say it directly. I’m in love with you.”
For a moment, Kaveh simply stopped functioning - breath catching in his throat, fingers clutching at the sheets for stability.
His deep scarlet eyes widened so dramatically that, under different circumstances, Alhaitham might have found it comical. Now, though, his heart was pounding too hard to do anything but watch in helpless fascination as fragile, heartbreakingly sincere hope slowly began softening Kaveh’s expression.
“You w-what?” Kaveh whispered shakily.
“I’m in love with you.”
“... I think I misheard you. Say it again.”
“I’m in love with you.”
“One - one more time?!”
Alhaitham huffed softly through his nose. “Kaveh. I’m in love with you.”
Kaveh’s hands shot upward to grasp tightly at his wrists, keeping Alhaitham’s palms pressed against his face like the contact would re-ground him in reality. “I must be going crazy. I’m hearing things...”
With a slow, long-suffering sigh, Alhaitham shut his eyes briefly with exasperation. Then, finally giving in to the fact that Kaveh was simultaneously the smartest - and most idiotic - man he’d ever met, he leaned forward and dipped his forehead to rest against his.
“Let me clarify another way, then,” Alhaitham breathed, nudging their noses together gently.
Alhaitham tilted Kaveh’s chin upward and slid one hand into his messy golden hair. Up close like this, Kaveh looked much like a bug - and honestly, given the way he’d spent years skittering around obvious conclusions instead of facing them directly, it wasn’t too far from the truth.
But Alhaitham didn’t want to chase him anymore. He wanted peace - and after the way Kaveh had instinctively sought him out in his sleep all night long, practically glued to his chest, he knew he wasn’t the only one.
“I am so, so...” Alhaitham leaned in, voice softening with reverence, lips hovering barely a breath away from Kaveh’s, “so hopelessly in love with you, Kaveh,” he finished quietly.
Then, finally closing the distance, he swallowed the gasp that escaped Kaveh’s parted lips in a kiss he’d been waiting to impart for more than half of his life.
For a split second, he thought Kaveh might somehow find a way to interpret even that as an admonishment - but when Alhaitham skimmed the back of two knuckles down the curve of his throat in a gentle, encouraging stroke, Kaveh simply melted.
They kissed for what felt like hours - or perhaps only seconds, since Alhaitham’s sense of time became utterly unreliable when in such a state of rapturous euphoria - before finally separating, panting against one another’s lips.
After a long stretch of silence where their hands were the only things that spoke for them, caressing one another with increasing confidence as their touches were welcomed rather than rejected, Kaveh finally breathed a soft, unsteady, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“... Well this is humiliating,” Kaveh whispered.
Alhaitham shook his head immediately. “No, it isn’t. I’m not making fun of you,” he promised. “Just stop fighting me all the time. I’m not against you, Kaveh. We’re a team.”
Kaveh let out a shaky, half-hearted scoff. “A team? You? I very clearly remember you declaring you’d never be part of one again after our fight when we were kids.”
“That was because you were no longer an option as my teammate.”
The lingering resistance in Kaveh seemed to dissolve completely at that. With a long, tired sigh, he wrapped his arms tightly around Alhaitham’s back and dropped his head against his chest, nearly dragging him sideways across the mattress in the process as their legs intertwined amidst the silky sheets.
“I... suppose we could try again, then,” Kaveh whispered after a long stretch of silence, face buried in the curve of Alhaitham’s shoulder.
At last, Alhaitham let a full, genuine, impossibly fond smile curve across his lips as he gathered Kaveh close in return and pressed a kiss into his hair.
“Thank the archons,” he murmured.
Outside the door to his bedroom - perhaps their bedroom, now - the house was still in utter disarray, paints waiting to be put away, books waiting to be restored, and countless repairs to be completed. But for the first time in years, he felt entirely at peace.
At long last, tangled together beneath the blankets in the gentle light of dawn, he finally allowed himself to stop bracing for Kaveh to slip through his fingers again and simply basked in the peace of their shared home.