Blast from the past

Kaveh is startled awake by a loud crash. He leaps up, remaining silent as he listens for any further unusual movement in the house. Alhaitham stirs next to him, expressing his annoyance with Kaveh through irritated groans that are immediately muffled by the pillow he plows his face into.

"Would you please be quiet for a moment?" Kaveh hisses at Alhaitham. He shrugs the securely wrapped arm away from his waist and stands up, tiptoeing to the bedroom door and pressing his ear against it. Muffled voices make their way through the wood, and Kaveh closes his eyes to concentrate on what they're saying.

Two men, arguing, is as far as he gets.

He looks back with frightened eyes at Alhaitham, who, unlike himself, has returned to a blissful sleep.

"Haitham," Kaveh says, pulling on Alhaitham's arm to rouse him. "There's people in the living room."

Alhaitham responds with a grunt, still unconvinced that the problem deserves his immediate attention. Kaveh frowns at his partner. Sure, he doesn't need Alhaitham to get up and deal with the unwelcome guests, but a little extra concern for their safety isn't entirely unwarranted.

"If I die, it'll be on you," Kaveh adds solemnly, gathering and donning whatever garments he can find scattered across the room. He'll have to face the intruders alone, and Alhaitham will have to live with guilt for the rest of his life if Kaveh is tortured and killed.

"You're overreacting," a muffled voice says through the pillow.

"Oh, that finally piqued your interest?" Kaveh responds sharply. "I'm glad my well-being warrants your presence of mind."

Alhaitham rises from the comfort of their shared bed, unconcerned about his state of undress and moves slowly and drearily past Kaveh. Kaveh steps behind him, bracing himself for whatever spectacle they are about to face.

Except he couldn't have predicted what they'd discover waiting for them in the living room. Befuddled, the pair looks at the young men in front of them. Where they expected to see a home invader, they instead see themselves.

There's no logical explanation for why they see themselves, clothed in Akademiya uniform, stunned to silence in front of them.

"What," a trembling voice asks, "who?" Kaveh, or rather, the younger version of him, is the first to break the quiet.

He looks bewildered, even more so than before the older couple stepped into the room and grabbed his attention. Showing up out of seemingly nowhere in a place they've never seen before is one thing, to be confronted by yourself from 10 years' time is another.

"You're..." Kaveh, the older one, chimes in, "You're us?"

"Evidently," two voices speak up simultaneously, the young and adult versions of Alhaitham agreeing in unison.

"Yes, it's clear that they're us," Kaveh—present—bites back. "I'm questioning the how."

"Who knows?" Alhaitham shrugs while stifling a yawn, unbothered by the whole situation. "A dream? Leyline disorder? Does it matter?"

"I'd say it could prove to be quite a problem if it proves to persist, yes," Kaveh snaps at his Alhaitham, unimpressed with his partner's nonchalant behavior.

"If it persists," Alhaitham scoffs in return.

"Surely this isn't how we end up?" A soft mumbling interrupts the petty squabble between the two, the younger Kaveh whispering under his breath to the Alhaitham next to him. "I'm sorry, that was rude," he says quickly when he notices that all eyes in the room are on him.