Always || Kavetham

Chapter 20

[Deepest apologies for the late update. I've been sick for 3 weeks and haven't gotten any better and I'm also busy with other stuff. Thank you for understanding.]

The end of the year had finally arrived. That meant Christmas was coming in a few days. Unfortunately for the citizens of Sumeru, winter wasn't a thing. It was just a little cooler than usual, never actually cold. That wasn't a problem for Alhaitham though. Alhaitham generally loved summer - not the flaming sun in the desert - rather than winter. He just found it more relaxing.

On a Monday evening, Kaveh and Alhaitham were sitting at the living room, all cuddled up under the blanket, just talking to one another. Alhaitham had his head laid on Kaveh's shoulder as they both continued on with the evening, Kaveh complaining about how horrible his new client was. He kept repeating how he didn't want to go back to work the next day, and the day after that.

"Hey, Haitham. You know what we should do this Christmas?" Kaveh suddenly said in an excited manner after a moment of silence. "We should definitely buy a Christmas tree and decorate it! We could also buy these like Christmas-themed furniture and stuff to decorate the house. I mean, you have really bad taste in furniture, but as long as I come with you, it's fine."

Alhaitham held his smile and rolled his eyes slightly instead. "Yeah, and I also, very clearly have really bad taste in men." He sat up properly, making Kaveh's head droop down. "We can do whatever you want."

Kaveh instantly frowned, having completely ignored the last sentence. Then he bickered, "Oh, shut up! You don't love me anymore, do you?" He sighed, "I'm really not that bad. Besides, I'm women's ideal type." He boasted. Well, Kaveh wasn't really. Of course, he'd had some secret admirers here and there though.

"Sure, and I'm attracted to other women." Alhaitham grabbed a book that was on the table and started to read it, "When are we going out anyway?"

Kaveh crossed his arms and groaned, "Oh my God! You're literally the most annoying person I've met." He slouched down on the couch, "You just made me lose my mood to go out. We'll go in the evening."

Alhaitham stood up, shutting his book and holding it against his chest. "I'm going to prepare food for Mehran when she comes back. You should practice doing that for your cat." He started walking away.

Kaveh argued back, "Well, technically, she's your cat too! That makes her our cat, meaning you also have to take care of her. And since you can't take her to sleep and stuff, just do this stuff without complaining." Mehran would usually stay with Collei during the day because she liked cats. Occasionally on days when she wasn't free, Amin would look after her. She was quite the hassle, but she was cute and everybody loved her, including Alhaitham who was allergic, so it was fine.

By the time Kaveh had finished his incredibly long and worthless lecture, Alhaitham had already disappeared into the kitchen. Well, it wasn't new for Kaveh to keep blabbering to himself since Alhaitham kept walking out of situations like those.

Later in the evening, Mehran had returned back to Amin after she'd had her food. Alhaitham and Kaveh, on the other hand, were finally outside, shopping for a tree and some ornaments for decoration. Christmas wasn't widely celebrated in Sumeru, but most people did acknowledge it.

As Kaveh was looking around, Alhaitham had spotted a familiar face. It seemed as if it were Tighnari, with those long ears. Then, suddenly, Tighnari turned around and looked at Alhaitham, giving him a slight smile. He put down the ornament he had in his hands and walked over to Alhaitham and Kaveh.

"Hey guys. Shopping for Christmas decorations, I suppose?" Tighnari asked, looking at Kaveh who was still busy staring at this one huge tree.

"Yeah." Alhaitham replied, "Kaveh forced me to come along. He wanted to buy a Christmas tree to decorate it for this year. I really would've rathered to stay home."