𝙊𝙝 𝙈𝙮 𝙈𝙮 𝙈𝙮 | 𝘈𝘭𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘮

6: Study Group

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PAST

Since you were in your sophomore year of high school, you rarely had free time these days. Many of your weekends were spent doing homework and studying for tests. You started to rethink your decision about taking college classes while still in high school, but thankfully, your teachers decided to be nice this weekend, and assign significantly less homework than usual. After finishing your homework, you rearrange your study desk, finding it weird that you didn't have anything else to do.

Your eyes scan your bookshelf, looking for something to read. A navy blue book caught your attention, so you pulled it from its spot on your shelf. A small smile makes its way to your face. It was a book Alhaitham had given you for your birthday a few months ago. You felt a bit guilty about not reading it yet, so, with your book in hand, you went to the kitchen to grab a snack.

As you walk downstairs, you notice Alhaitham, Kaveh, Tighnari, and Cyno sitting around the dinner table playing TCG. It felt somewhat awkward to interrupt what you assumed was a boys night, so you quietly tiptoed to the kitchen. Despite your efforts, Tighnari notices you.

"Hey Y/N!" he calls.

You wave at them. "Hey!"

"Do you want to play with us?" Cyno asks. "We're about to start a new round."

You shake your head. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm just getting a snack. I'll be up in my room reading if you need me." You quickly grab something from the fridge and go back upstairs, failing to notice Alhaitham's eyes on you as you leave the room.

"I think I'll sit next round out," Alhaitham says to his friends as he gets up from his seat. He jogs up the stairs before any of them could reply.

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You hear a soft knock on your door. Leaving your bed, you open it, revealing your silver-haired friend.

"Alhaitham, did you need anything?" you ask.

"What book are you reading?" he asks in response.

"Oh, it's the one you gave me for my birthday," you replied sheepishly. "I haven't had the chance to start it because of school, so now that I'm free, I figured why not?" The corner of Alhaitham's lips curved upward.

"It's been a while since I've read that book, too. Could we read it together?"

Your eyes widened in surprise. "You want to do that?"

"Of course," he says. "It's nice to reread books every once in a while. You can find little details you might've overlooked the first time." You nod your head.

"Alright, let me grab the book then. Let's read it downstairs, though. I don't want my parents to get any funny ideas if they see me and you together in my bedroom."

He patiently waits in your doorway as you gather your things. As soon as you were ready, you left and closed the door behind you. Engrossed in their game, none of your friends looked up as you and Alhaitham came down the stairs together.

You two sat next to each other on the couch and you rested your head on Alhaitham's shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, he rested his head on top of yours.

You opened the book to the first page, eyes squinting as you recognized the neat cursive handwriting in the book. "You wrote a message in the book for me?" you ask. Alhaitham hums in response as you read the message.