Work Text:
“Hey Haitham, if you were to let’s say… overthrow the sages, how would you do it?”
Though the two Akademiya students were the best in their respective darshans, working on the same project for hours on end sometimes became tedious. To pass the time, Kaveh found himself making up nonsensical scenarios to spark conversation - knowing the two of them, whatever solution or idea they came up with would be both unnecessary extravagant and strangely viable at the same time.
Alhaitham’s eyes narrowed. His left hand rose to fiddle with his headphones, indicating that he was deep in thought.
Kaveh leaned back in his chair. “Hey, don’t think about it that hard. It’s not like we could actually overthrow the sages.”
“...Well, I guess I would find a way to free Lesser Lord Kusanali, so she could assume control over the Akademiya. The sages would then, naturally, become irrelevant.”
Kaveh gaped at the other.
“Free Lesser Lord Kusanali? What are you on? Who says she’s even in captivity-”
“I mean, there has to be a reason why she’s never shown up in public. Even the Raiden Shogun can be seen outside from time to time, so why wouldn’t Kusanali?”
That makes… a strange amount of sense. Nevertheless, he was Kaveh of Ksharewer and his job was to doubt everything Alhaitham said.
“How on earth would you free her in the first place? It’s not like you could just march into the Grand Sage’s office and go,” Kaveh batted his eyelashes, heightening his pitch in a mockery of Alhaitham’s voice. “Azar, can you please call off all the guards stationed around the Sanctuary of Surasthana so I could bust the archon out, pretty please with a cherry on top?”
Alhaitham rolled his eyes.
“Obviously not. I'd probably change the orders on the knowledge capsules so that the guards are dispatched to deal with something voluntarily. Less fighting and talking for me.”
Kaveh snorted. “I didn’t know you could turn invisible with that vision of yours. What if the Sage suspects something and orders the guards to arrest you before everything?”
Alhaitham paused. He took a sip of the wine.
Aha! He’s stumped. Kaveh took the chance to insert his own opinion. “I mean, you could always pretend to go insane so the guards would ship you off to Aaru village instead of arresting you.”
Alhaitham raised an eyebrow. “Not bad. Except I’d need a distraction… Kaveh, any ideas?”
Even now, Kaveh could recall that conversation with ease. After all, it was the last scenario they had thought of, just days before the argument that would end their friendship. Even though he had moved in with the other and their relationship was at its best in about a half-decade, it wasn't and may never be the same again.
If he brought up a similar topic once more, how would his now roommate react? Would he scoff and turn back to his boring books? Would he turn on his headphones and ignore him? Or… would he respond in kind like he used to?
Did he still remember those halcyon days, those conversations they had when their world was just each other and their project?
Well. Enough thinking of that.
Present day: Kaveh has just returned from a long and arduous trip to the desert. There was sand everywhere - in his shoes, in his blouse, somehow even in his earrings. The architect couldn’t wait to get home and take a nice, warm bath, even though he would have to deal with Alhaitham’s snark on the side.
But before that - a merchant that he vaguely recognized approached him as soon as he stepped through the gates of Caravan Ribat.
“Mr Kaveh! Did you hear about the return of Lord Kusanali and the overthrowing of the sages?”
Kaveh dropped Mehrak. “The WHAT?”
No way. No way in hell.
He was gone for what, a week? And the entirety of Sumeru has upturned itself?
Kaveh stared, incredulous. “Excuse me?”
The merchant frantically nodded. “And they say Scribe Alhaitham was responsible for most of it, working in tandem with the legendary traveller, General Mahamatra Cyno, the eremites, Nilou from the Zubayr theatre and Lesser Lord Kusanali herself! They also say...” The merchant leaned in. “He’s being eyed as the next grand sage!”
Kaveh tuned out the merchant’s ramblings, his mind scrambled. Alhaitham?!?!? Working with people? Grand sage?
What did his roommate even have to do with all of this? For as long as he’s known him, the scribe has been the least proactive person ever, and yet he’s willingly overthrown the government ? Kaveh was surprised sumpter beasts haven’t begun flying yet.
(At the back of his mind, Kaveh remembered that one conversation from years ago. Unless Celestia had blessed him with the powers of prophecy, surely not...)
...He had to get to the bottom of this.
Kaveh did not manage to get to the bottom of this.
Even when he had marched into the Akademiya, demanding answers from Alhaitham, the other had just started prattling on and on about his unsteady income and lack of residence as always, achieving nothing but piss him off so badly he had to storm off to reorient himself.
Ugh, Alhaitham was the same as always. It was hard to believe that he had apparently orchestrated an entire renovation of Sumeru and saved an archon. Unless... he had heard something about a samsara...
Kaveh subtly whacked his shin with Mehrak, then proceeded to drop the briefcase in pain. Ow, ow, ok, not a weird dream. From the corner of his eye, Kaveh spotted a blond teen with a strange floating… baby? beside him approach Alhaitham. That was probably the traveller, then. Which meant that part, at least, was true.
But then - how did everything even happen? The Akademiya was nearly empty due to the recent upheaval, so there was nobody he could rely on to explain around here. Even the akasha had been shut off!
Unless... well, there was one person Kaveh knew he could rely on to comfort him and tell him the truth, no matter what. He was just a little far away.
When Kaveh arrived at Gandharva Ville, he quickly realized that the person in question probably needed more comfort than he did. At least, physically.
Tighnari smiled at him from his bed, torso swathed in bandages. “Kaveh! Glad to see you’re back from your expedition!”
Kaveh stared, eyes gaping. “Holy shit, Tighnari, are you alright? What happened?”
He shrugged. “Just got zapped by lightning, I’m fine.”
“ZAPPED BY LIGHTNING? WHAT? WHEN? HOW? W-”
Tighnari winced at Kaveh’s volume. “Yikes. I forgot that you were entirely out of the loop.”
Kaveh leaned against a desk, feeling quite like he was the one that got struck by lightning instead of Tighnari. “Is this from- whatever made Haitham grand sage?”
Tighnari moved to sit up, waving off Kaveh as he rushed to gather pillows for him to lean against. “Well, kind of. I was roped in only for a portion of Alhaitham’s plan, and aside from my getting injured, it went off without a hitch. (“I’d say you getting injured is pretty big of a hitch, actually!” Kaveh said.) Anyways, where should I start? Lesser Lord Kusanali’s birth? The Sabzeruz festival? Or just the plan?”
Kaveh pulled over a chair. “Just- just the plan for now, maybe.”
“Alright. It all started when Alhaitham bumped into Cyno at Aaru Village. Well, technically it started when the Traveller arrived in Sumeru. But anyways, moving on...”
As Tighnari told him the story, Kaveh felt more and more faint. Hearing about all the details only made him realize how risky the plan was, and how close his roommate and his merry band of random people had been to failure.
Alhaitham, his stupidly intelligent roommate, deciding to free Lesser Lord Kusanali, stealing knowledge capsules, pretending to go insane as a distraction-
Well. Didn’t this sound familiar?
A few hours later, Kaveh found himself alone and keyless in front of their house. Tighnari had wanted him to stay longer, but the longer Kaveh looked at him, the guiltier he got (despite not being involved), so he bid his friend farewell and set off.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a bad night. A cool night breeze helped to combat Sumeru's constant humidity, millions of stars twinkling above him. If it weren't so dark, Kaveh would want to draw it. Despite that, he would still prefer to be indoors sooner or later. Ugh, usually his roommate would be back by now. Where even was Alhaitham?
Speak of the devil and he shall appear - signature headphones for once turned off and slung around his neck, Alhaitham rounded the corner.
Kaveh dramatically sighed in relief. “Finally! You’re here!”
Alhaitham stared, unphased. “I see someone’s forgotten his keys again.”
Kaveh snapped back. “And whose fault is that!”
“Clearly not the one who oh-so generously took care of your keys while you were on a week-long expedition.”
Kaveh scoffed. “Like you even had time to worry about anything last week in between upturning the Akademiya and rescuing Lesser Lord Kusanali. Not to mention using the bare scraps of a conversation we had a decade ago while doing so.”
“Well, the plan worked, so..... Why not?”
Kaveh gritted his teeth. “That’s not the point! You-”
He sighed, all energy leaving him. It’s been a long day - he didn’t want to start another neverending argument. “Haitham… You didn’t really base your plan to save the world on a singular conversation we had in the past, did you?”
The scribe raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why wouldn’t- if I had known you would take it so seriously at the time, I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”
"Of course I took it seriously. After all, we devised the plan together. I trust in our ideas more than anything else.”
For a second, everything was quiet.
“But - why?”
The scribe rolled his eyes. “Do I really need to repeat myself again? I said-”
“No! That’s not what I mean!”
“Then what.”
“I don’t care how stable the plan was! I. I was scared, Haitham.”
Kaveh took a deep breath.
“I was scared that you’d follow this strange, half-cooked plan and lose your life in the process!”
Haitham’s eyes widened, as if in understanding. “If I lost my life… The house would be yours, of course. All my finances-”
“Fuck your finances! What about you? What if you went missing in the desert, or got executed by the sages? What would I do if you’d died, because of a plan I made?” Kaveh’s voice broke. “What would I do if you left me too?”
Haitham stared, seemingly perplexed at the situation. Then, his gaze softened.
Before Kaveh could speak up, to take back his words, he felt himself being pulled forwards into a tender embrace.
The scribe spoke, voice low and comforting. “Kaveh, I promise you: I will never leave you.”
Alhaitham smiled, brushing blond hair aside. “After all, how could I ever abandon the person I cherish the most in this world?”
Upon hearing this, Kaveh lost any remaining composure and sobbed into Alhaitham's chest. “Never- never do something so risky again, you stupid- insensitive- waste of space-”
Alhaitham grinned.
“I love you too.”
And there they stood, in front of their house, tucked in each other’s arms. As Kaveh’s tears dried, the scribe moved to delicately cradle Kaveh’s face.
“Ask me this: if you and I were to be in a relationship, what would our life be like?”
Kaveh whispered, heart pounding in his chest. “...What would it be like?”
The scribe smiled. "Well, I'd make you breakfast every morning, and you'd do the dishes." Then we'd both go to work and meet for lunch. We'd walk home together and perhaps have a drink or two after dinner. Then, after we get home, well - you can come up with that."
Then, he turned, one hand outstretched for Kaveh to take. “But before all of that, right now? I’d unlock the door to our home.”
And so he did.