[Alhaitham x Kaveh: One Shots(?)] Through The Torn Pages And Crumbled Buildings

How To Declare Your Love (A Guide) [Chp. 3/4]

Chapter [3/4]: Understanding And Seeking For Help

Well, dinner with Cyno, Tighnari and Collei was a complete disaster. Kaveh has now found out that Alhaitham, the Acting Grand Sage, liked men. Yet the question remained, who was he interested in? Which miserable person was lovely enough to have captured a rock's heart when rocks don't even have beating hearts in the first place? He asked the exact same question to the trio. In response was a wheezing fox-hybrid, Collei hiding underneath the table, and the General Mahamatra pointing his spear at him with an enraged expression. Kaveh wished he didn't remember Cyno's threats.

"Kaveh, I will skewer you alive with electro till you get that brain of yours thinking! Who do you think Alhaitham puts the most attention into? Why does Alhaitham let you live in his house rent free ?!"

Kaveh put his hands above his head, panicking about the fact that Cyno was going to torture him. He knew he too had a Vision, a Dendro one, but that wouldn't stop Cyno from completing his mission. Such thoughts made him shiver in fright. And so, to be spared from the worst possible scenario, Kaveh racked his mind and tried his best to answer. Who would Alhaitham possibly like? The traveler? He had seen them chatting and walking together many times before. There was a chance that he would develop feelings for them. Their hair was a beautiful shade of blond and their clothes looked and probably felt exquisite. It fitted their personality quite well and Kaveh was somewhat jealous of whoever tailored the magnificent apparel.

"Uh, the traveler...? I've seen-" Revealing his speculations turned out to be a huge mistake. Cyno flung his spear, cutting through a whole tree before getting stuck in a pile of rocks. Tighnari sat there, chuckling with a face in a mix of bewilderment, concern and outright amusement. The short man later grabbed Kaveh by his shirt's collar and gave him a smack on the head.

"Of course not, you lummox! Where's your degree? I'm tearing it up. I'm so sick of you and Alhaitham always coming to us to 'complain'. Go sort your own shit out when you see him! Goodbye, Kaveh."

"Alhaitham did what -" Kaveh was kicked out of the room with a splitting headache. Rude.

Before he knew it, he had already arrived at the front door of their house. Kaveh fumbled his pockets, looking for the house key he (hopefully) brought. When his fingers grazed the familiar metal, the dread left his being. He pulled out the small key with a cute lion keychain attached on the loop and started to unlock the door. Right as he stepped in, his feet tripped on the carpet placed right at front of the entrance. Oops. Kaveh swiftly shut his eyes and braced for impact... but it never came. Huh? His eyes fluttered open to meet with a pair of olive green ones. Alhaitham's very pretty olive green eyes. Heh? Confusion was sprinkled on another layer of confusion. Why was he staring at his roommate? Why was Alhaitham staring back and not giving him a lecture? And why in Teyvat does he look worried? Kaveh's eyes drew to the arms that kept him off the ground. His face changed slightly into a light color of red.

"Alhaitham, let me go," he said, struggling to release the idiot's grip.

Alhaitham huffed. Instead of dropping him onto the ground, he- Kaveh couldn't believe it- bridal carried him and plopped him straight onto the couch and began reading a book from Archons knows where. The   audacity. If Kaveh could punch that man in the face without getting criminal charges against the Acting Grand Sage, he would. Repeatedly.

"You owe me an explanation, asshole," Kaveh folded his arms and glared at the man.

"What could the Light Of The Kshahrewar possibly want from me?" He could hear the abundant amount of sarcasm dripping from that single sentence. Alhaitham really was a piece of shit.

"Cyno told me that you complained to him about me ! What did you tell him?!"

"That you have anger issues. Well, I wouldn't call them 'issues'. Issues are things that can be fixed."

"Excuse me?! Alhaitham?! Come back! We are NOT finished!-" He left Kaveh with an empty living room and an unfinished rant.

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"What happened to keeping our lips sealed, General Mahamatra?" said the gray haired man as he tore his eyes away from the TCG cards in his hands.

"I only told Kaveh to sort out the problems between both of you. The secrets I find worthy to keep are ones about Genius Invocation TCG and information about prisoners." Alhaitham shot Cyno a scowl but he continued to shuffle through his deck, unshaken. "That partially includes your years-long of mutual pinning. Don't give me that look, Alhaitham. I've done enough investigations of my own to make such a conclusion."

The Acting Grand Sage furrowed his brows and let his scowl drop into pursed lips, "What."

"Nearly every person in Sumeru knows your affection for a specific architect. It's really not that big of a secret. Kaveh's just too dense to notice." He switched a few cards and hummed in satisfaction of his improved deck. Cyno doesn't really care for their mess of a love life. All he knew was that the match with Alhaitham later was the single pillar keeping him upright and sane through the entire ordeal. He couldn't wait to beat the Haravatat student.

"I-"

"At this point, an uneducated bard from Mondstadt could appear at your doorstep and with one look, could tell you two are the most hopeless air-headed morons in Teyvat." Time to spill out some harsh words, Cyno thought as he laid his cards on the table, spreading them out evenly. "Listen, Kaveh isn't going to notice that you like him too if you keep on dancing around him like an idiot. Just ask Tighnari if you don't believe me. He'd say I was the same to him. Which I was till I actually had the guts to confess within only a year of liking him, unlike you."

Alhaitham wished slam his face into the table without causing the unease and concern of the others around them. He was a Haravatat graduate, a Scribe, the Acting Grand Sage, but he was beaten by someone on the only topic he doesn't understand while most of Sumeru does. Such was the life of a rock as Kaveh would say it. Confessing attraction to the receiver was an unknown land Alhaitham dared not to cross but must in the sake of progression. He groaned.

"And what do you suggest I do?"

Seeing the forming smirk on Cyno made him feel as though he shouldn't trust the self-proclaimed expert in the field of romance. The General Mahamatra collected his deck of cards up from the table and brought their front facing him. His ruby eyes looked straight at Alhaitham's, and in a professional yet mischievous tone, he spoke.

"We are going to need that guide to romance of yours first."

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Kaveh was confused. He was really confused. He had just finished up a patrol he was invited to by Tighnari and Collei. It sounded a fun, who wouldn't accept the invitation from a dear friend? To his upmost (unpleasant) surprise, another flower was waiting for him at his desk when he came back. Alhaitham truly knew how to pull his strings. But this time, it came with a note. The words were barely readable, like a Sumeru doctor's handwriting. People with high intelligence do have horrid handwriting after all. They consider arts as a waste of their precious time and therefore could not bother with making their writing ever so slightly better.

"What is this monstrosity. I've met babies with better skills in writing. Sigh, now what does he want again? Ugh, this is hard. 'Meet at Pala', what's this supposed to mean?! It's just a trail of black circles after this point!" Kaveh would rather jump off Sumeru's highest tree than read a hundred pages in this handwriting. Since the message was practically impossible to comprehend, he'd have to resort to guessing.

"Now what starts with Pala? Pala's Cafe? The Palace Of Alcazarzaray? High chance it's the Palace, I don't know anything else that starts with 'Pala'. Horrible name choice- Kaveh, focus." Well, to his magnum opus it was.