to the moon & back

vii. memories

CW — very bad bullying, alhaitham being a dumbass for once

" Haitham! Look what I made you!"

He opens his eyes to see you smiling at him as you held out a lunchbox. He rubs his eyes as he was still adjusting from the sunlight.

"What is that?" He asks, finally sitting up and adjusting himself.

"I was cleaning around your house for a while and I found your grandmother's cook book. I'm not sure if this would be up to your liking but I hope you at least take a bite. I heard from Kaveh how you haven't been eating well these days."

He stared at you in awe.

You gave him the lunchbox and sat down next to him, waiting in anticipation as you were expecting what was his true and honest reaction to the dish.

It was samosas. It was simple, yes. But the flavour was exactly like the ones his grandmother made.

You thought that his frozen reaction was a sign that he didn't like it but tears were streaming down his face as he continued eating.

"Hey! Don't cry! Do you need water? Do you feel like you're gonna choke?!"

"Y/N, it's amazing. Please, do continue cooking for me."

He watched as your eyes lit up with surprise. If he could, he would want this moment to never end but alas, the sound of the bell ringing ruined things.

Later on in the day, he was passing by the back of the school to see if there was a nice and quiet spot to read at. But what he saw was unexpected.

He saw you covered in egg and flour with fish sauce being poured over your head. What was the meaning of this?

"If you like cooking so much then surely, you're enjoying this right?"

A group of students were laughing at you as you were on the floor avoiding any eye-contact.

"The only ones who get to bully Y/N are me and Kaveh," He walks closer towards the group of students who were now noticing Alhaitham's presence. "You all look unfamiliar to me. Freshmen, I assume? You see in this school, we don't appreciate people like you lot."

Some of the students looked afraid and left immediately. However, a few of them remain. 3 guys and 3 girls.

"So what? We're not afraid of you!" One of them yell out.

They continued to provoke Alhaitham by kicking you down to the ground, pushing the dirt towards your body. That was way past his breaking point.

He grabbed the nearby broom and smacked the shit out of the first guy. The said guy had his nose bleeding a lot.

This surely scared them all so they all ran away.

He crouches down to your level and asked, "Would you tell me what happened?"

"I'm sorry..." Alhaitham finally sees tears falling down from your face. "I know you and *hic* K-Kaveh told me to not keep s-secrets from you b-both but *hic* I was too scared. They just s-started stalking me o-one day and t-this happened."

"Oh, I see. Being scared is alright, Y/N. But, you have to remember that we've always got your back, alright? Now let's go. Let's clean you up."

Memories of him and you filled his mind as the student council meeting was ongoing. You were just too precious to him and you dropping your years of friendship with him because of him trying to be there for you that day? It just doesn't makes sense.

"Okay, that's a wrap. Let's meet up again once we get the results we need."

Ayato's voice takes him back to reality as everyone said their goodbye's.

He actually noticed how Alhaitham was unfocused throughout the meeting. So once everyone was gone and it was just them both in the room, he asks, "Are you doing alright? You are usually listening attentively during meetings."

"Oh, I don't know if it'll make sense," Alhaitham replies. "Y/N won't talk to anyone except Kaveh. It's just insane."

"Are you jealous, perhaps?" Ayato asked.

"Jealous? Of course not. I have a girlfriend, Ayato."

"I'm not insinuating that, obviously. But maybe you should give them some space?"

"Yeah, maybe I should..."

Despite his response to Ayato, he was gonna do the opposite. He wasn't gonna let you ignore him that easily.

A/N: 3.5 is taking so long istfg