Chapter Text
After what transpired last night, you and Alhaitham are now officially together as a pair. Birds of a feather flock together after all this time you’ve been with him for years since childhood. Indeed, it’s like a childhood dream come true.
However, real life had to take over now as you had a day job at a cafe that you started up and owned yourself. You’ve always been passionate about cooking and serving people after all, with Alhaitham being the first person to compliment your cooking after bringing him meals every time you hung out together to remind him to eat. This restaurant was a place of love, both from Alhaitham and your maman, with both of their memories imbued heavily in the ambience of the place. The menu was filled with recipes that not only you invented, but also what was passed down from your maman to you before she succumbed to her illness a few years ago. Despite knowing that Puspa Cafe was a haven for students, your cafe was a haven for adventurers and those who wished to explore different palates beyond Sumeru. As such, the 4 boys have always supported your business, both socially and financially as they often invited scholars and other friends to your cafe.
This was one of those days when all 4 of them made time to see each other. Alhaitham this time was in charge of picking the place where they would meet, and there wasn’t a better place to be than at your cafe. It was just more homely compared to the overwhelming academic environment of Puspa Cafe. Tighnari knew this was coming. Cyno was thinking that this was a perfect place for male rowers to set their sights on romance (get it? Because row-mance?). Kaveh on the other hand, was just looking for a place to try new food besides just Lambad’s Tavern and Puspa Cafe as the freeloader of the group.
“Huh… I’m surprised that their food is very plant-based,” Tighnari said, reading through the menu board posted outside the cafe as they went up the stairs leading to the main dining area of the cafe.
“Of course it is. Do you know what is sweet, sticky, and grows in the forest? A paste-tree,” Cyno replied back, expecting a roar of applause and laughter from the audience. Instead, what he got was a sighing Tighnari, pouting as if he wanted to be over with the day.
“Not funny, Cyno…”
Meanwhile, on the other side, Kaveh and Alhaitham were looking at the design of the cafe. It had a triangular roof like Puspa Cafe. However, unlike the green and gold color scheme of Puspa Cafe, the cafe in front of them had a black and white color scheme, with the roof being black and the walls of the premises being cream white.
“Still, I wonder why such a beautiful cafe has such a boring and bland design! Oh my, Archons, if I had the chance, I would make this into a beautiful, bountiful-”
“It’s already perfect. There are no defects in the design after all.”
“H-hey, you! Enough with focusing on practicality!” Kaveh seethed, annoyed at his frenemy correcting his grand speech fit for a grand opening of a restaurant.
“Alright alright guys. Can we stop bickering and get inside for now? It looks like the sun is about to beat down again this noon time,” Tighnari reminded both of them with a look resembling a disappointed mother hen with her arguing children.
Kaveh resigned, pouting his lips and crossing his arms while Alhaitham simply turned up the volume of his headphones to avoid Kaveh from interrupting once more.
“She has a way with service than she does with words,” Alhaitham shared, gazing at the back kitchen to see her prepping her staff for the day and readying the store for business.
“How so?” Cyno asked.
“She often gave me a lot of her baked goods when we were children that she baked with her mother,” Alhaitham continued, “I was often absorbed in my books, which often meant that I neglected to eat, which she was often concerned about. To give me the encouragement I needed to continue reading and gaining knowledge, I was often the taste-tester for many combinations of food.”
“No wonder why a lot of things in the menu are things never heard of before here in Sumeru,” Tighnari realized, with Cyno nodding in agreement.
“Oh, here she comes,” Kaveh interjected, “Let’s get our orders ready now.”
“Happy lunch hour! Happy to see you, Alhaitham,” you greeted, ruffling through Alhaitham’s hair as if he was a child. Cyno and Kaveh snickered and tried to cover them by coughing, which failed miserably as Alhaitham gave both of them a cold stare.
“A-anyways… Our orders?” Alhaitham interrupted, leading you to pick up a pen from your pocket to start listing down their orders.
“Right! What would you guys like to order?”
“I’ll have the mushroom lasagna,” Tighnari said.
“I’ll have the Sumeru rose yogurt cake,” Cyno said.
“I’ll have the consomme,” Kaveh said.
“And I’ll have the ham and cheese croissant,” Alhaitham said, being the last to order. You then repeated their order to make sure it was correct.
“Yes, that’s all correct,” Cyno replied.
“Thank you very much! We’ll have your orders ready in 15 to 20 minutes!” you told them in your sweet, high-pitched customer service voice, speeding back to the kitchen to give the list of orders to the chefs.
“Would you like to sit with us?” Alhaitham called out to you, raising his hand to catch your attention.
“Pardon?” you asked, not hearing him clearly that time since you only heard the steam coming from the kitchen.
Alhaitham then stood up, moving the chair outwards before standing up. He then pointed towards the seat with his left palm, offering the seat to you. You let out a silent “oh” as you realized what he was calling you to do. You then nodded, running back to their table to sit on the empty seat offered by Alhaitham.
“Oh for the love of the Dendro Archon, there he goes again, sacrificing his own seat for his oh so smitten lover,” Kaveh said, snorting at Alhaitham as a polite way to spat on him.
“Oh? What makes you any different if you’ve sacrificed money for your clients in the same way I sacrificed for her?” Alhaitham said back, causing Kaveh’s eyebrows to sink to the creases of his forehead, making his wrinkles show.
“Y-you…” Kaveh angrily said, continuing, “See? He’s just as rude and infuriating as ever! Why would you date a guy like him?”
You sighed, knowing the long-standing conflict between the two roommates that lay before you. Sick and tired of dealing with their shit, you just said,
“Come on, there’s no reason to fight over this, please? Let’s not start the morning fighting like this,” you interrupted Kaveh before he could say something worse. You then looked at Alhaitham, begging him to stop the argument by saying with a slight irk in your voice, “Alhaitham, please apologize. That was not a nice thing to say to someone.”
“I’m sorry, Kaveh,” he let out in a monotone voice, much to your chagrin, but you couldn’t complain much given that this was probably the best way he could make up for all the fighting that went on in their house for the past few years. Kaveh just huffed in response, crossing his arms as he closed his eyes with a frown on his face. You just sighed again, thinking, “Oh well. This is the best I can do for now to stop them from fighting.”
Just as they were about to talk about their day, you heard the windchime on the door of the cafe sound, signaling that there were new customers that came in. You realized that it was rush hour, which was usual especially during lunch hours from 12PM to 2PM. Looking at the rush of customers that just came in, you stood up from your seat, telling the four guys,
“I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I have to go serve other people for now. I’ll catch up with you later if I can, alright?”
Alhaitham nodded, vocalizing an affirmation towards you as you went on your merry way to other tables to take their orders. Alhaitham then sat back at his old seat, now warmer because you sat on it earlier.
The rest of the 3 boys noticed that Alhaitham still kept watch over you as you were going from table to table taking orders while reading the book he had on hand. This caused him to block out his attention from the conversation between Tighnari, Cyno, and Kaveh, which made the voices coming from the 3 guys feel muffled.
After a while, Cyno asked,
“How about you, Alhaitham? Have you brought your TCG cards with you?”
No response from Alhaitham. He was still preoccupied with you and his book. This perplexed Cyno, which made him whisper to Tighnari,
“Do you think he’s jealous that she’s interacting with other people?”
“Probably. I wouldn’t be surprised since they just started dating each other.”
After a while, Alhaitham noticed you pick up a tray full of orders from the kitchen. His eyes wandered towards you moving towards the dining area, picking up and setting down the orders of some customers that arrived earlier than them. Eventually, he noticed her approach their table, carrying with her their orders that were piping hot with steam. She then set down the orders of the 4 guys, naming each other as each person passed on the orders to the right person that ordered that dish.
You felt tired from duty, which led Alhaitham to offer his seat to you. You accepted, sitting on it, which left Alhaitham standing up. As Alhaitham ate his croissant, he offered you a bite of it, causing you to refuse it at first as you were surprised why he, a customer, was offering food to you, the owner and a waitress of the cafe.
“Consider this a gift from me to you,” Alhaitham said, which led to bite part of the croissant, leaving both your and Alhaitham’s bite marks resting on the croissant near each other. The rest of the guys noticed you and Alhaitham exchanging glances as you and he ate through the croissant he ordered.
Tighnari and Cyno noticed this the most, which prompted Tighnari to say,
“Say, don’t you think it’s sort of a weird kind of romantic that they’re eating out of the same dish?”
“How so?” asked Cyno.
“You notice that they’re eating out of the same area of the bread?”
“Yes, and?” Cyno asked again, confused by what Tighnari was trying to get at. To explain, Tighnari used his microbiological knowledge to interpret the scene he was seeing with Alhaitham and you.
“It’s like sharing saliva between those two, like kissing almost.”
“Ohhh… so that’s what you mean. So this would serve as a public display of affection, I suppose?” Cyno thought aloud to Tignari.
“Yeah. I’m not surprised,” Tighnari said unamused.
This caused Kaveh to choke and gag on his soup. In an effort to prevent him from choking further, you offered him some water, which led him to drink it. While he was no longer choking, he was still coughing a little from the disgust and surprise he felt from the words that Tighnari spoke.
“Kaveh? Are you okay?” you asked.
“U-um… I’m fine! Don’t worry about me! I’m fine and dandy!” Kaveh retorted, coughing a little in the end.
“By the way, I heard both of you talking to each other about her and I. Is something the matter?” Alhaitham asked, puzzled that his companions were talking about something without his knowledge. “I’ve heard that you've been talking about me and her eating from the same meal. What’s wrong with that?” Alhaitham asked, perplexed at the social disgust that Kaveh expressed at what they were doing.
“I uh… um… nevermind,” Tighnari replied, not knowing what to say back to Alhaitham and how to discuss the intricacies of the microbiological and romantic world in connecting people together.
“I’d like to bill out!” a voice from the distance called. This prompted you to stand up and say to Alhaitham,
“I’m sorry for cutting this short, but I need to serve some customers right now. Thank you for the meal! Sorry to bother you.”
Alhaitham nodded, affirming his approval to you getting out of his seat to serve other customers at this time. You stood from the seat, going towards the table that wanted to bill out. While Alhaitham was used to you having to get out of his seat for a while, he whined and sighed from the emptiness of his seat, subtly pouting as he finished the rest of his croissant. This didn't go unnoticed by the 3 guys, which prompted Tighnari, Kaveh, and Cyno to discuss among themselves again about what was going on with Alhaitham given how mysterious his emotions were to them even if they were friends for a long time.
“I didn’t know he is like a sad puppy when she leaves,” Tighnari said.
“Maybe that’s because he’s her pet-” Kaveh said, before being interrupted by Alhaitham.
“If I am her ‘pet’, then how is it that I’m watching over her?”
“Maybe it’s because dogs watch over their masters as well?” Cyno said, making Alhaitham ponder a little. Eventually, Alhaitham realized that what Cyno said made sense, replying,
“Hmm… you make a fair point.”
“Anyways, it’s time to duel! I’m inviting you all to play Genius Invocation TCG,” Cyno interjected, which made everyone groan a little on the inside as they got out their individual card decks. They then laid out their cards on the table, arranging them along with the dice to start the match.
“Alhaitham, you start first,” Cyno said, “We’ll play in a clockwise order.”
This meant that from Alhaitham’s position, Kaveh, Tighnari, and Cyno would play respectively.
After a short time while the match was going on, Tighnari and Cyno noticed that Alhaitham was so focused on his deck of cards. This gave them an idea: to try to distract Alhaitham from his focus.
“Perhaps let’s try telling him that she’s nearby,” Tighnari whispered to Cyno. Cyno nodded in return. This prompted Cyno to say,
“Alhaitham, she’s nearby and she’s coming to you.”
“Nice try. I’m not falling for old tricks,” Alhaitham said, nonchalantly looking through his deck of cards.
“Try telling him that she’s serving a male customer,” Tighnari whispered again to Cyno.
“Hey, Alhaitham. She’s serving some male customers. She’s even getting a bit flirty and chatty with them,” Cyno said.
“So what? It’s part of her job,” Alhaitham said, continuing to look through his cards.
This made Tighnari and Cyno perplexed, wondering why he didn’t get jealous even with the thought that she’s serving and chatting with male customers. Perhaps he’s a bad partner? Hopefully not. However, he’s probably just… dense.
“As I’ve thought. He’s really dense when it comes to love and romance,” Kaveh thought to himself, snickering at the thought that Alhaitham would have a girlfriend despite him being oblivious to romance.
The 4 boys were strategizing how to down each other’s characters as no one’s cards were conceding just yet. The intensity of thinking was unmatched, with Cyno’s strategies and Alhaitham’s calculated approach dominating the card battlefield.
Just as they were focused and hooked on the battle between the cards, you came back to their table, approaching Alhaitham as you rested your palm on his shoulder softly. You looked at Alhaitham and his deck of cards lovingly like cheering for one’s team. Just as you unconsciously supported Alhaitham and wished for his victory, you passed him a small piece of paper with a short note written,
Meet me after my shift is over, 5:00PM?
Alhaitham smiled as he read the note, slipping it into his pocket as he shielded the note from evading eyes. Despite his attempts to shield whatever was written on it, it was still noticeable and seen by the 3 other guys.
“Booty call, huh?” Cyno asked, wiggling his eyebrows back and forth, leading Alhaitham to say as he said,
“I don’t stoop that low to make such a call. I’m simply receiving a message from her, that’s all.”
“Gosh, I can’t believe you. How come you’re sooo dense and you get more chicks than me???” Kaveh asked angrily, furrowing his eyebrows from the calm expression he had earlier.
“It’s likely due to you being stubborn and self-sacrificial enough to scare away potential suitors,” Alhaitham replied nonchalantly.
Kaveh then rolled his eyes at Alhaitham. Sensing the awkwardness between the two, Tighnari sighed like a disappointed mother in her children. Despite this, he realized that he had patrol duty coming up that afternoon, which led him to say,
“Anyways, can we wrap up our game? I really need to get back to patrol duty.”
“Sure thing, let’s make this the last round.” Cyno replied.
They then battled their stresses and fun out, playing until they got their bill and paid for their meals. The rolling of the dice, healing one’s own characters, and attacking other people’s characters was one hell of a long ride. Eventually, afternoon hit, causing them to finish up the game fast.
Eventually, Cyno won the game as the TCG master and grand champion of almost all the matches they had as a friend group so far. Luck, talent, and strategy always beat everyone. After concluding the match, they all said goodbye to each other, leaving the entrance of the cafe.
Alhaitham then went back to his office to read and approve some documents that were delivered to him days ago. The journey to his office was a quiet one, with him turning up the volume of his headphones to drown out the noises from the market and the crowds he walked past.
When Alhaitham reached his office, he sat on his desk as he sorted out the stacks of paperwork that mounted on the side of his desk. He sighed, knowing that it will somewhat be a long day. However, he didn’t fret knowing that he had a date as a reward for his hard work after his shift.
“Maybe this isn’t so bad after all,” Alhaitham thought to himself, smiling weakly as he read the first document that was presented to him.
An afternoon filled with approving and rejecting proposals from students in the Akademiya was normally a tedious, time-consuming task for Alhaitham even as he tried to breeze through them as fast as he could. Normally, he would need to have 3 cups of coffee to get through thousands of applications that were sent to him to approve or reject as the Scribe. However, this afternoon was different than most. He didn’t need much coffee to get through tens and thousands of applications despite the workload being heavier today. Indeed, the norepinephrine, the brain chemical that induces attention and learning, was active within Alhaitham today.
At exactly 5:00PM, despite having an unfinished review of a document, he pinned the document to a clipboard on his desk, marking it by writing “to be continued” on a small piece of paper that was clipped on top of the paper he last reviewed. Typical Alhaitham. He knew that his coworkers would berate him for it, but maybe they should have scheduled his shift to start earlier so that he could finish reviewing that document.
As he locked up his office for the day, he smiled to himself weakly, imagining the fun and joy that he would have when spending time with you later on. Seeing your smile was as good of a reward to him as his financial freedom and bragging rights for that when talking to Kaveh about his decorations around the house.
He made his way out of the Akademiya, passing through many students as they greeted him “good evening” as he made his way out. As always, he simply held a hand to wave at them to signal to them that he could hear their greetings for him even with the volume on his headphones turned up. While he was always the solitary person, wanting to be left alone, this was one of the first times in his life when he wanted human company, especially with the person that he loved since childhood.
The wonders of love are numerous. It brings both joy and suffering. Yet despite this, why is it that humans still continue to yearn for it? What is it about the human mind that allows one to be addicted to love? Alhaitham’s thoughts wandered as he walked to the cafe with quiet, elevator music playing through his headphones. The quiet walk allowed him to take his mind off work and focus his attention on his new experiences with love for another besides love for himself and his own peace. Just as he was about to ponder on the next thought about love, he reached the black and white building that was the cafe, seeing its lights turn off as the kitchen staff and the waitstaff were about to leave the building.
Coming out of the building were groups of people that Alhaitham didn’t concern himself with, leading him to sit on a table outside the cafe to wait for the crowding to subside. Just as the crowd started to disperse to go outside the cafe, a familiar face and voice greeted his senses, leading him to take off his headphones and place them inside his pocket.
“Alhaitham! You came!” you greeted him, standing in front of him as he stood up from his chair. He promptly smiled at her, leading her to smile back at him as their eyes twinkled in their stares.
“Thank you for coming to visit me! Did you have a hard day at work today?” you asked him. He simply nodded in response, letting out a slight noise of affirmation to signal that he was saying “yes”.
“I see. Well, right now, it’s just us two. Let’s take this time to relax, alright?” you said.
Alhaitham nodded. He was shocked when you pulled him into a tight embrace, placing your arms over his back and his shoulders. He was not used to this type of physical affection from anyone, not even from his grandmother or from your maman. Despite not being used to physical affection, he felt warm on the inside, returning the embrace back to you. You then let go of the hug, which led Alhaitham to whine a little in a deep voice. Hearing this, you teased him, saying,
“Aww… you missed my hugs?”
“It was nothing to miss to be honest. I know I’m gonna get them from you every day,” Alhaitham reassured, smiling weakly at you. You giggled in response, which led Alhaitham to mutter “cute” under his breath.
Feeling more affectionate than usual, Alhaitham held your hand as he walked by your side. You blushed at the sudden gesture, following alongside him. Your blush then subsided after a while, feeling warm and happy on the inside as you walked beside Alhaitham on the streets of Sumeru City.
The lights that lit up on the street lamps were warm gold, giving the impression of lanterns flying through the sky as they stayed alight. The street lights gave off not just illumination, but a warm feeling through both of you as you held hands walking through the stalls, markets, and shops in the city.
You then reached Lambad’s Tavern, which was not full as the night was still young. Walking into the tavern, you were greeted by the restaurant owner Lambad as you took a seat on the second floor as it was less crowded. Alhaitham and you came to an unspoken consensus about where to sit, which made you feel more connected to him.
“Welcome, you two! What would you like to order?” a waiter asked, picking up a notebook and a pen to write down your orders.
“We’ll both have the Lambad fish rolls,” you said.
“And we’ll have some wine,” Alhaitham added.
“Alright, is that all?” the waiter asked. Both of you nodded in succession, which led the waiter to say,
“Thank you for ordering! Your orders will be ready in 20 minutes.”
The waiter then left the table, which left only the couple together sitting across each other on the table. Both of them looked at each other lovingly as Alhaitham set his elbows on the table and you did the same to mirror his actions. Eventually, you broke the silence by asking him,
“How are Tighnari, Kaveh, and Cyno?”
“They’re fine. They gave me a little trouble over you, but overall, they’re supportive of our relationship,” Alhaitham replied, concentrating on the book he was reading while he waited for his order.
“Say, what is the book you’re reading about?”
This question from you spurred on more discussion from Alhaitham about the book he was currently reading. Apparently, it was about linguistics and how language came to develop among Teyvatians. This was a mystery, even to the author of the book, which led to more discussion about how language could have come to be in Teyvat given that it was a sudden appearance and not a gradual evolution of language in evolutionary history.
“So you’re saying that language could have been spurred on by outlanders?” you asked, curious about the subject matter of the book.
“Yes. That is one of the many theories proposed in this work,” Alhaitham replied.
This brought on “ohs” and “ahs” from you as you learned more about the subject matter even if you weren’t a Haravatat expert. Indeed, Alhaitham’s ramblings and thoughts on the topic were as interesting as a new fiction novel to read. It felt like perusing through the mind of someone whose knowledge is so vast. Like a good book to read, the contents of Alhaitham’s mind were full of detail and life. Indeed, a long conversation with Alhaitham was like reading an interesting novel.
That conversation gave you a lightbulb moment, which led you to subtly analyze the language used in the fiction novel you brought with you to deal with your boredom. With that, you found subtle relationships within the words in the novel, leading you to read with more interest and curiosity towards the dynamics of language of the words written by the author of the book you were reading.
Eventually, your conversation was cut short when the waiter arrived at your table carrying a tray. The tray had steaming hot fish rolls, a bottle of wine, and two empty wine goblets. As the waiter set down your plates of Lambad fish rolls and wine goblets onto your placemats on the table, he slowly undid the cork that sealed the wine bottle until it opened, causing a slight fizz sound to emanate from the bottle. He then poured wine onto both goblets until both goblets were full. As he finally set down the now opened wine bottle, he said to the two of you,
“Here you go! Enjoy your meal!”
After a while, the waiter left both of you alone with the food, the lighted lamp in the middle of the table, and your filled wine goblets.
Alhaitham initiated the dinner, cutting a small chunk out of the fish roll with his knife and fork. He then placed that small chunk into his mouth, chewing it as he hummed in approval of the taste. You followed suit, placing a sliced cut of the fish roll into your mouth, humming in approval as well once you tasted the savory flavors of the fish and the herbal kick of the Sumeru rose added into the fish roll.
“This is great!” you exclaimed, eating a bit more of the fish roll.
“I knew you would like it. You used to eat a lot of your maman’s bouillabaisse when you were younger, remember?” Alhaitham reminisced, eating more of his fish roll as he remembered the savory flavors and the herbal smell of the fish stew that your maman used to make for both of you when you were children.
You hummed “uh huh” in approval with your mouth closed, still chewing the fish roll that you ate. You marveled at how juicy the fish meat was, tingling your taste buds with a magical explosion of flavor that reminded you of your childhood.
As you and Alhaitham ate your dinner, Alhaitham pulled out the book that he was reading earlier, continuing to read it even as he ate. This made you smile in contentment as it reminded you of how Alhaitham would often read books whenever he was served meals at your maman’s kitchen or at his grandmother’s place when he was a child.
“Speaking of childhood,” Alhaitham interjected, breaking your attention on his face, “This book also speaks about how infants develop language. Babies have prerequisites to the development of language. First, they start cooing as a way to control their vocal cords. Afterwards, they start babbling. After this, they have one word utterances…”
Again, hearing Alhaitham babbling was never boring to you. It brought a sense of knowledge and learning to you even if you’ve never attended the Akademiya in the past. Perhaps, his ramblings may pique your interest in these topics that you never used to be interested in as they were too academic for your taste.
After a while, both of you finished your fish rolls, which left you only with the wine. With that, you partook in the wine, sipping it little by little to savor its bitter, yet sweet taste. The kick of ethanol also made you feel a little dizzy, but in a good way. It felt like the world was more colorful than usual. It felt like the world was a dream. But you weren’t drunk yet.
You then stood up to sit beside Alhaitham, cozying up to him as he surprisingly didn’t shy away from the physical contact with you. Now seated beside him, you looked at his ears attentively, noticing that he was not wearing his headphones like he normally would in public to prevent people from talking to him. Noticing this, you pointed it out to Alhaitham, saying,
“Alhaitham? I’ve noticed you aren’t wearing your headphones. Is something the matter?”
Alhaitham widened his eyes as he was surprised that you noticed such a small detail that most people wouldn’t be able to point out as no one has ever gotten this physically close to him before. His face then went back to his oftentimes calm expression, smiling weakly as he said,
“Oh, you’ve noticed? I’m grateful that you notice even such a small change within my physical appearance,” he said, pulling out his earphones and offering you one of them. You promptly accepted, placing the earphone on your left ear as Alhaitham placed the remaining earphone on his right ear.
Through his earphones, you could hear the rushing, yet calming sounds of waterfalls paired with soothing music playing from a harp and a piano. The sounds produced a dynamic flow of yellow, reminding you of the sun during the day shining down on a field. You closed your eyes as you bathed in the sounds of nature and music combined in his earphones despite your other ear still hearing muffled sounds of conversations from the other tables.
As you were listening to the music from Alhaitham’s earphones, you slid your wine goblet over to the side of the table you were staying on now. You then downed your wine like it was water, quickly feeling the intoxication wash over your body. The world felt wobbly now. It was like things were turning upside down all of a sudden. Was it, though? You now questioned your perception.
Despite this, it felt good. With that, you downed more of your wine.
You then felt wobbly all over as the world started spinning a little. That was weird, but why did you feel good? You didn’t care at this point as you were giggling and laughing like a little girl while walking, stumbling over yourself as you nearly tripped. Alhaitham caught you by holding your arms to balance you, noticing that you were stumbling over yourself.
“I wanna go somewhere peaceful,” you said, slurring over your words as you hiccuped a little. Alhaitham nodded, taking your advice. He then led you to the place that you’ve always gone to whenever it was just you two hanging out. With quick thinking, he walked towards the outskirts of Sumeru City.
Once you’ve reached a hillside with a ladder, Alhaitham carried you over the ladder as you climbed up to support you to prevent you from falling. He then followed you afterwards, climbing the ladder to go up to the hilltop.
The hilltop was right in front of a large tree, which provided the place with shade during the day especially during hot weather. However, at night, the tree left enough space to allow the place to cool with the wind breezing through it. It was the perfect place to hang out, providing you with a view of Sumeru City from a secret watchtower. However, you and Alhaitham preferred to keep this place secret as you did not want to ruin its natural beauty and relaxing properties.
As both of you reached the top of the hill, the moonlight shone through, illuminating the dark surface on the hill. It was a relief considering that there were no fireflies nearby to light your way through. The moon was full, causing its light to be the brightest it has ever been this month. This caused you and Alhaitham to gaze upon the moon, marveling at its beauty and from the cold breeze blowing through the place.
Alhaitham and you pulled out your books, reading them using the moonlight as a source of light to see the words on the pages. Both of you read in silence, taking in the windiness of the night to keep you ventilated. It was a magical evening, albeit a quiet one, which is what Alhaitham and you wanted. As you were both reading in silence, you opened,
“Say, the moon looks brighter than usual today. I can read my books even without a lamp right now.”
“It is. Besides the book, I can marvel at the view right next to me,” Alhaitham replied, which confused you. “What was the view right next to him?” you wondered, so you asked,
“What view? I don’t see any view next to you.”
“Exactly,” he replied back, looking into your eyes.
You looked at him while furrowing your eyebrows, confused by what he meant by what he said. Exactly? What is “exactly”? However, as you thought about it, the more you realized… it was you he was referring to. You blushed at this realization, covering your face with both of your palms.
Just as you obstructed the view of your face from him, he gently grasped your wrists, slowly letting go of your hands from your face. He got a good look at your face, from your starry eyes to your shiny lips. He held your hands as he said,
“The view next to me is perfect as always.”
He then slowly closed his eyes as his face moved near you as it tilted to the side. You then mirrored his actions in return, closing your eyes but not knowing what to expect from this. His warmth was then felt on your lips as he touched them with his own lips, prompting you to pucker your lips to respond to his actions.
Both of you were kissing each other now, closing your eyes to take in the warmth and the joy that you both felt while doing so. As you kissed, it was like sparks flew in the air, blooming with a scent of flowers that permeated the atmosphere. It was a bit awkward as this was your first time receiving a kiss from anyone on the lips, but you went with the flow, matching Alhaitham’s movements with his mouth and lips.
Just as you indulged in the kiss, you both let go of each other, breathing in and out the cold fog that vaporized through your mouths. You got a good look at Alhaitham’s face now, his turquoise eyes now shining a little from the moonlight and from joy. His face was now a tad bit happier, as you could see with the shift of his mouth slightly to form a parabola-like curve.
The night was starting to age as the sky got darker. The moon was still bright, but it was no longer as bright as it used to be. The moonlight started to drift away from the hillside, leaving it dark and cold. Knowing that it was no longer safe to stay out late at night lest they encounter Eremites, Alhaitham decided to keep her company. He knew it was not safe for her to go home alone since she was tipsy and intoxicated, so he offered,
“Would you like to stay over at my house? We can take a short break there.”
You smiled, your cheeks still flushed from the alcohol and from happiness. You then nodded in affirmation, going with Alhaitham on the way to his house.
Alhaitham unlocked the doors to his house, allowing you to enter. It was bright inside, signifying that Kaveh was home. Alhaitham however, did not care, knowing that it was his house and he could do whatever he wanted in it (unlike Kaveh who was just a leech and a parasite staying over for a long time).
Meanwhile, Kaveh came out of his room to get some water. He saw you and Alhaitham in the living room sitting next to and reading to each other on the sofa. His mood soured after that, the frown on his face deepening.
“Will she be staying over?” Kaveh asked Alhaitham, annoyed.
“She will be,” Alhaitham replied. This made Kaveh’s scowl deeper, whining as he was unhappy to expect another roommate that would ruin his privacy. Not that he had privacy in the first place anyway since he was just leeching off Alhaitham’s.
“Alright fine. Just don’t make any funny noises, alright?” He said, even more annoyed as he crossed his arms and huffed.
“I’ll be quiet, don’t worry,” you reassured Kaveh.
“I think it’s you that we have to worry about with the banging that goes on late at night from your projects,” Alhaitham retorted.
“Really?” you asked out of curiosity.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll lend you my spare headphones just in case,” Alhaitham replied, kissing your forehead affectionately. You blushed at this sudden gesture of affection from Alhaitham. This led Kaveh to scowl deeper and roll his eyes at Alhaitham, turning his head backwards to let out gags of disgust from seeing what he just saw.
“Whatever, anyways, enjoy your stay, lovebirds,” Kaveh said, going to his room. Before he completely closed the door of his room off to the rest of the house, he said, “Alhaitham, do NOT complain of noise if you’re going to make noise with her anyways.”
He slammed the door to his room, locking it as a click of the doorknob was heard loudly.
You looked at Alhaitham, wondering,
“What was that about?”
“Don’t worry about that. He’s always been frumpy ever since he moved in. I wouldn’t be surprised since he has the emotional capacity of an egg,” Alhaitham replied, shrugging his shoulders. This led you to furrow your eyebrows, not believing what Alhaitham said about his roommate.
“Alhaitham, that’s not very nice to say to Kaveh…” you berated him gently.
Alhaitham sighed, not able to resist the fact that he was berated by the woman he loved and admired. He hung his head in shame, apologizing saying,
“I’m sorry. I’ll try to avoid talking badly about Kaveh with you.”
You smiled, saying,
“Good boy.”
You patted his shoulders because you were not able to reach his head while you were both standing up. He was just way taller than you from this position. He smiled briefly after getting praised by you, noticing that you always had a kind disposition, even to those he would normally express disdain towards. Breaking this chain of thought, you then yawned loudly, making him realize that you needed to rest. With quick thinking, he then lent out his hand to you to grasp on, asking,
“Shall we?”
You nodded in response. With that, both of you walked into Alhaitham’s bedroom. Alhaitham let go of your hands when you both entered the room and closed the door, grabbing some clothes from his nightstand. After a while, he approached you to give you some spare night clothes: a gray oversized t-shirt and black shorts.
You muttered “thanks” to Alhaitham. He smiled as he led you to his bathroom to give you a separate room to change in. He then closed the door to his bathroom, beginning to change into his nightwear once the door to the bathroom was locked.
After a short while, Alhaitham was already in his night clothes, simply waiting for you to come out of the bathroom to join him in bed. You then came out seconds after he thought you were done changing, smiling at you as you both occupied the bed.
You were tired from the day’s activities, which made your eyes flutter in and out of drowsiness. You tucked yourself under the warm blankets to relieve yourself of the cold weather that night. While you tried to hold on to keep yourself awake, you couldn’t muster the strength to stay awake. This made you say, in a bleary voice,
“Goodnight, Alhaitham…”
“Goodnight, my dear…” Alhaitham replied back, quietly shuffling next to you. He then gave you a brief peck on your forehead before tucking under the blankets for him to drift off to sleep.