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The Sumeru Akademiya Festival is happening soon. It's one of the most awaited events in the Akademiya every year. There are performances, programs, contests, and different types of activities. One of the highlights during the festival is the booths from the darshans which happen to bring the biggest attractions throughout the festival.
This year, the Kshahrewar darshan decided to open a kissing booth. They figured it is also one of the easiest ways to raise funds. After a decisive meeting with the other students, Kaveh ends up getting voted by the majority to participate, much to his dismay.
"This is so silly. No one in the Akademiya would want to kiss me," Kaveh says with a whine.
"You underestimate your popularity too much, senior." One of his juniors, Daya, says.
Of course, Kaveh is aware that he is quite popular among his darshan but it's just a few crushes. He doubts that it would be enough to raise actual funds for his darshan. Despite his doubts and initial protests, he agrees to participate anyway. Since he is a senior, he is busy with projects, tests, and his thesis and he would rather participate in their booth than do any other activity during the festival.
Just like that, the news about Senior Kaveh participating in the kissing booth immediately spread all over the Akademiya. After all, only a fool would pass the chance to kiss the Light of Kshahrewar. When Daya said that Kaveh is underestimating his popularity, she meant it because he isn't just known in his darshan but in the whole Akademiya. There is a reason why his darshan voted him for their booth.
Despite that, Kaveh didn't dwell on it too much. They're already college students, no one will be interested in a ridiculous kissing booth.
Finally, the day of the festival finally arrived. It starts with a ceremony and a speech from the current Grand Sage. Once the short program is done, they get ready to open the booths. Kaveh fixes his hair and Daya applies a bit of lip gloss on his lips to make him look even more "appealing", Kaveh does not protest.
Students are required to purchase tickets before lining up in the booths. There are assigned tickets for each darshan, gray tickets are for Kshashrewar.
To Kaveh's surprise, he sees a long line of students from different darshans buying tickets for their booth. "Can I back out?" He gulps.
Is he really that popular? Do these students even know him? He can recognize a few faces from the lectures he attended but there are a lot more unfamiliar faces from the other darshans.
His colleagues laugh. "Only you can pull this off, senior." Kaveh rolls his eyes as he takes his place in the booth.
"Okay, but I only do pecks and I have the right to punch weirdos in the face."
Kaveh is drained by the time the booth has closed. Kissing is one thing but he's a novice when it comes to flirting. To think that he has to endure two more days of this. He doesn't think he can handle it.
His colleagues told him to leave as soon as it was closing time. They can handle fixing and cleaning up the booth and auditing their earnings for the day. Kaveh is just relieved to finally return to the dorms.
His roommate, Alhaitham, gives him a look when he returns to their dorm. Alhaitham is a junior from the Haravatat darshan. He’s studious, quiet, and somewhat mysterious. He’s the type of person with a personality that would normally clash with Kaveh’s but surprisingly, it’s been so natural to have him as a roommate although Kaveh would never admit that out loud. He thinks he’s one of the very few people that the Haravatat scholar can tolerate and that’s enough for him.
He’s somewhat that is very lowkey, almost the type to fade in the background despite his good looks (Kaveh would never admit that out loud as well). He’s very smart--a genius, in fact--which is why he doesn’t attend all his lectures and despite that, the professors can never really reprimand him because he aces every test effortlessly and submits all activities and projects on time.
“You look exhausted,” Alhaitham tells him as he takes off his shoes and takes a seat on his bed.
“It’s been a long day,”
“ I overheard some students talking about a kissing booth. Is that true?”
Kaveh groans. “Unfortunately, yes. Is it a big deal? Other darshans have done it before, right?
“The other darshans don't have you,” Alhaitham replies nonchalantly.
Kaveh looks at him in confusion. "What does that mean?"
"Given your popularity, it's a bigger deal now than it was before."
"Is that all you have to say about it?" Kaveh asks. The younger replies with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I expected you to call it ridiculous."
"It is." Alhaitham quickly says. "But it is beneficial. It's for fundraising, it will help your darshan a lot. You seem to know what you're doing."
Kaveh doesn't know why but he's a bit disappointed with the response. "I guess so," he shrugs. A few moments of awkward silence pass by. "Hey, maybe you can drop by tomorrow," he jokes.
"Should I?" his roommate asks.
"Yeah, maybe buy a ticket or two to help us reach the goal faster so I can get out of there." He nervously laughs. Alhaitham remains silent. "You know that I'm just kidding, right? Forget what I said." He backtracks before locking himself in the bathroom.
He takes a quick shower to clear his thoughts but he can’t help but feel embarrassed by the recent exchange with his roommate. He can never really read Alhaitham, the other probably doesn’t care much but it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing for Kaveh.
There are still a number of people lining up in the booth the next day, some were the customers the previous day. Kaveh feels embarrassed. He doesn't think he can handle any more compliments. For some reason, he finds himself waiting for a certain someone for the rest of the day.
“Why am I even waiting for him? He doesn’t even care about the festival and he definitely doesn’t care about something as foolish as a kissing booth.” He mentally scolds himself.
Kaveh impatiently taps his fingers on the booth as he waits for it to close. The line is gone by the afternoon and he's bored. "Senior, it's time to close." Kaveh nods as he stands up. He's helping his juniors clean up when he hears footsteps approaching.
Three gray tickets are suddenly shoved onto his face. He's about to scold whoever it is until he realizes that it's Alhaitham. "You! What are you doing here?" Alhaitham tilts his head in confusion.
"You invited me,"
"I-I wasn't being serious," Alhaitham hands over the tickets to one of his juniors.
"Didn't seem that way to me, you can take these as my help for your darshan." Kaveh's eyes widen when he sees that it's not just one ticket.
"Wow, this will actually help a lot." His gaze softens. "Thank you,"
"Senior Kaveh, you can't just thank him! He bought tickets, shouldn't he get a kiss too?" Daya says with a laugh.
Kaveh blushes. "Don't be silly, he's just helping me. He wouldn't want to kiss me, right?" He looks at the younger man.
Alhaitham thought for a moment. "I think it's fair that you give me what the tickets are worth."
Kaveh coughs. "Why are you suddenly interested?"
"I want to know why people are willing to spend money to kiss someone." He answers. "Someone like you,"
Kaveh's eyes narrow at that last statement. "And what are you implying with that?"
"I'm just interested. There has to be a logical reason for why so many people like you so much and that they're willing to pay actual money to kiss you."
Kaveh pinches the bridge of his nose. "I can't tell if I should be offended by your statements or not,"
"It's not meant to offend you,"
"I'll buy you dinner instead," he offers.
"It's a kissing booth, senior Kaveh. If I wanted dinner, I would have gone to Puspa Cafe."
Kaveh rolls his eyes at the retort. "Fine, let's get this over with. Come closer."
Kaveh cups Alhaitham's face and leans in for a quick peck on the lips. He quickly pulls away. "Satisfied?" He cocks an eyebrow at him.
"That's something," Alhaitham shrugs. There's a hint of red on his cheeks despite his indifference. "I'd like to use my second ticket." He suddenly says.
"What?"
"Three tickets, three kisses. Am I right?" Alhaitham looks over to Kaveh's juniors who are giggling amongst themselves. They nod in agreement.
Kaveh sighs. He places his hands on Alhaitham's shoulders and kisses him again. He pulls away when he feels Alhaitham kissing back.
Kaveh's face is red at this point. Alhaitham looks at him in interest and licks his lips. "One more time," he says. Alhaitham initiates the third kiss before he can protest. He's pushed against the booth as Alhaitham deepens the kiss. Kaveh kisses back, their lips moving in sync
He grabs Alhaitham's arms for support while Alhaitham has one arm around his waist and his other hand on the back of his head. Why is Alhaitham such a good kisser? A loud cough knocks them back to reality. "Senior Kaveh, I thought you only do pecks?" Daya giggles.
Kaveh pushes Alhaitham and covers his face in embarrassment. "Archons, what did I just do?"
"You kissed like a hundred people since yesterday and you're suddenly embarrassed when it's me?"
"Shut it, we could have been reported to the sages for public indecency!" He scolds.
"We won't report, don't worry senior." His juniors assured. Kaveh shoots them a look and they go back to cleaning up the booth. "I have to wrap things up here, you may leave. Thank you for the tickets. I hope you got your answer."
Alhaitham nods. "Kisses feel nice, I guess."
Kaveh's brows furrowed. "Was that your first kiss?"
"First, second, third." He gawks at the younger man.
"Then why were you so go--" he stops before he can embarrass himself any further. "You're unbelievable."
Alhaitham's smile is smug. "I'll see you back at the dorm, senior." He says before leaving.
Kaveh watches him in disbelief as he leaves. He unconsciously touches his lips Will he come again tomorrow? He shakes the thought out of his head. It's unbelievable that Alhaitham happens to be a good kisser. It's even more unbelievable that Kaveh wants to kiss him again.
The festival lasts for three days and Kaveh is just relieved on the final day. It has been so eventful for him and he can’t wait to make the most of the holiday break they’re getting after the festival.
Since it’s the final day, there are events and programs once again. Even though a lot of students still visit the booths, more of them are focused on watching the talent shows and other performances that are scheduled for the day.
There are not a lot of customers on the third day and Kaveh is thankful for that because he can’t help but space out throughout the day. It’s embarrassing to admit but his mind is still so preoccupied with those kisses from Alhaitham.
Alhaitham being Alhaitham acted normal when Kaveh returned to their dorm last night. Kaveh’s pride and ego prevented him from being the first to bring it up so he brushed it off as well. The same thing happened during the morning, Kaveh is the first to wake up and get ready since he still has to assist his juniors in preparing their booth. By the time Alhaitham is awake, Kaveh is already all dressed up and ready to leave so they didn’t get the chance to talk as well.
Kaveh doesn’t think he can continue to ignore the big elephant in the room but if Alhaitham can continue to act as if nothing happened then so can he.
Though he is now dealing with the repercussions since Alhaitham has been in his thoughts for the whole day.
The feeling of his lips, the way his tongue swiped his bottom lip, the way he grabbed Kaveh by the waist, the way he didn't have a first kiss until that moment. Is the Haravatat scholar a genius at everything? Even kissing?! Kaveh feels his face heating up at the thought.
When it's near closing time, Kaveh is starting to get bored. All of a sudden, two bundles of tickets are suddenly slammed on the booth. He looks up and sees Alhaitham.
A part of him feels flustered and relieved that he actually came back but the prideful part of him still thinks that this is just Alhaitham's way to mess with him.
Kaveh dumbly stares at the tickets, that's probably around fifty pieces or more? That has definitely cost a lot of mora.
The blond scoffs, "I'm not kissing you fifty times." He says.
Alhaitham smirks. "Then can I get something else that's worth this much?"
Kaveh chokes on air and gives the younger a scandalized look. "We can't do that in the booth!"
Alhaitham let out a soft laugh that had Kaveh stopping. It's the first time he's seen him this carefree in public.
"What's on your mind? I wanted to ask you out."
Kaveh blinks in confusion. "Huh?"
"I believe you heard it the first time." Alhaitham says.
"Y-you! You're teasing me, aren't you?!"
Alhaitham rolls his eyes. "Is it a yes or no?"
He could hear Daya and his other juniors teasing him and the other students nearby are giving them curious looks. Kaveh feels like he could melt into a puddle.
"Senior," Alhaitham calls him again, but his voice is gentler this time. "Don't mind everyone else and focus on me. I'm not messing with you and I'm not doing this for your darshan either, it's for you." He places his palms on the table and leans down. "So what do you say? Will you go on a date with me?"
"I… I thought you wanted to avoid me since you kissed me." He said.
Alhaitham gives him a look that Kaveh would have found offensive if it wasn’t him that’s giving him the said look. “You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?” he asks.
Kaveh sputters. “Well, what did you expect? This just seems so unexpected to me.”
“It’s unexpected to me too,”
Alhaitham’s honesty calms Kaveh down. It’s his first time seeing this kind of vulnerability from the younger, and Kaveh can’t help but find it endearing. The absurdity of the situation brings a genuine smile to his lips. “Alright,” he replies. “Let’s go on that date.”
He hears the sound of cheers and whistling from Daya and his other colleagues. Alhaitham, on the other hand, didn’t show much of a reaction but Kaveh can see that glint of excitement in his eyes that appear at times when Kaveh brings home his favorite snacks or whenever he tells him there are new books on linguistics that are stocked in the library.
"I look forward to it," Alhaitham says with a smile that Kaveh suddenly finds heart-stopping.
The realization comes to him like a whiplash. The attraction has always been there, perhaps Kaveh really just needed a push and the opportunity was basically handed to him on a silver platter.
Kaveh is unsure of what will happen next but he's sure of one thing, he is looking forward to that date (and hopefully the next ones to come) as well.