Y/n x Alhaitham

Alhaitham is Discovering What Love feels like (ft.Keveh)

"Burying your nose in another book, hm?" Kaveh's unmistakably arrogant voice pulled his roommate's thoughts back to the present moment by shattering the pensive silence in the house.

"Ah. Apologies. I didn't hear you come in, Kaveh." Alhaitham looked up from his manuscript at the intrusion before him.

"I knew you were insufferable, but deaf as well?" His roommate scoffed in a playful laugh, "Although..." Kaveh's voice gradually adopted a perturbed, serious tone that took Alhaitham aback somewhat. It was rare to hear his roommate actually sound concerned and not douse him with caustic blather. "I noticed you seem... uh..." His eyes looked at something imaginary on the floor near the Scribe's foot.

"Yes?"

"A bit... um... unfocused? Or... like way too passive?" Kaveh put his hand to his chin in attempting to find the proper word to describe Alhaitham's apparently odd behaviour, "It's just weird! You haven't insulted me all day. Or argued with me. Or just... tried to infuriate me! Even though I called you deaf and insufferable you aren't going to fire back? Are... are you feeling okay, Alhaitham? Are you sick or something?"

Alhaitham placed down his volume after bookmarking the page. A long, tired sigh escaped his lips, upon realizing that this strange, foreign sensation he got around you was now being noticed by others. "Kaveh, I think... I think I may be ill."

"Excuse me, what? I was merely exaggerating-" The Kshahrewar architect turned on his heel, shooting an incredulous glare at his roommate. "Are you sure? This had better be another one of your asinine excuses, Haitham, because you getting me sick is the last thing I need right now."

"I don't believe my condition is contagious..." Alhaitham trailed off. Kaveh couldn't help but notice it too, the way Alhaitham's attention would be drawn away from his books. His schedule. His work. He somehow found himself always looking at you, almost longingly at times. Of course, Kaveh still had his doubts. A no-nonsense, stoic, and frankly, socially isolated man like Alhaitham couldn't possibly... he could never... Just the idea seemed so outlandish and bizarre to Kaveh. Alhaitham in love? Of all things? Ha! What kind of pipe dream was this? Surely not! Utterly absurd! Kaveh reassured himself, about to brush off their current conversation and return to his building plans. And yet...

Curiosity burned away at the back of his mind. Alhaitham... in... LOVE? With Y/N? Hm...

"Well..." Kaveh masked his interest with feigned clinical and blasé exterior, "When did you start feeling ill?"

"Maybe... a few days ago? No, this was even further back-" Alhaitham wracked his mind trying to pinpoint exactly just when it was that this 'illness' took hold of him. This wonderful, almost fleeting illness that made him feel weightless when it struck. Was it when the two of you momentarily touched hands in the library when exchanging books? When you offered him your coffee since you knew he was running late? When you made him laugh one of the best laughs he had in a long while? When you first made eye contact? When you smiled at him and he seemed to just brighten up as if everything made sense in the world? "Maybe... a week ago? Two weeks ago? Uh..." Alhaitham seemed to lose himself for a moment in his reminiscence.

"What are your symptoms?" Kaveh bolstered his role as a makeshift physician by grabbing a pen from his pocket and flipping around the building blueprint he had in hand to record what he heard.

"I... can't seem to focus? Or when I do it is just on someone else..." Alhaitham didn't even pay attention to Kaveh jotting down notes on his condition. "And I feel restless? Or... energized is probably the better way to put it when I see... Y/N. I can barely get out a coherent sentence around them... Archons... And I get this... odd pounding in my chest. My face feels hot... and..." A small, genuine, warm grin appears on his once stern and aloof face. "I just want to smile. Is that... normal?"

Kaveh merely places the pen and paper at his side, crossing his arms and nodding understandingly. "My friend, you are in love."

Alhaitham stood there, quiet for a good 5 seconds or so. Just letting everything process and finally resigning to the truth presented in front of him, "So... this is what they call love..."

"It feels wonderful"