Work Text:
The door clicks open at 6:12 PM.
Kaveh straightens immediately. He's feeling a little nervous, honestly. This is the first time he decides to involve Alhaitham in one of his videos and he's not entirely sure how it's going to work out. Plus there's also the...topic of the video. He thinks he's ready for the weight of Alhaitham's full judgemental stare, followed possibly by a cutting comment or a mocking huff, whether to criticize his taste or his spending habits. He just hopes Alhaitham doesn't realize it's a prank before he has time to set everything up. The man is infuriatingly observant.
“Okay,” he whispers to his phone, propped carefully against a stack of books. “He’s home. Remember, these are expensive. Don’t laugh. Don't cry. Just... be normal.”
The door shuts.
Keys clink on the marbled counter..
He hears light footsteps behind him and into the living room.
Kaveh grabs one of the rocks, freshly stolen from their own backyard (a feat in it of itself, he got grass stains on his favorite pants for this, it better pay off) and arranges his expression into something bright and casual, something almost natural now that he's been making content for a few months. Not content like this though, this is a first.
Alhaitham walks in, already loosening his cuffs and tie. It's hot for no reason. He stops when he sees the counter. Kaveh feels his smile tighten slightly; Now that he looks a little closer, Haitham looks a little upset already. Stressed, tired. There are two little lines wrinkling between his eyes. Maybe today is not a good day for–
“…what is that.”
Kaveh lights up. Showtime, no time to think about Alhaithams potentially bad day at work. “Perfect timing! These are decorative stones from Anthropologie. I got them for the apartment. They're the new rage, Haitham! Madam Faruzan bought a set last month and I just couldn't stop thinking about them. These were on sale too,” he finished brightly. There, that was believable right?
Alhaitham picks one up. Turns it over in his hand. The two little lines deepen.
“… you bought rocks.”
“They’re decorative,” Kaveh huffs nervously.
“How much.”
Flat. Immediate. It doesn't even sound like a question. Fuck, this was a terrible idea.
Kaveh hesitates, just for a second, then says the number. Which is, ridiculous, even by his own standards. Something in the thousands of mora.
More silence. And then,
"You’re joking.”
Kaveh sees his chance to laugh it off and waves it cheerfully away, fully committed to the bit “Excuse me? Of course not.”
Alhaitham exhales sharply.
“Kaveh.”
The warning lands.
“What,” Kaveh says, defensive now. What if he did decide to buy himself some nice rocks huh? What then? What is it to Alhaitham anyways?
“That is an absurd amount of money,” Alhaitham says, setting the rock down with a sharp click. “For something you could pick up outside.”
Kaveh ignores the fact that he actually did pick them up outside and forces an incredulous laugh. “I beg your pardon? These are Anthropologie, I can'y just pick them up outside.
“What does that even mean?” Alhaitham cuts in. “How is that anthropology?"
"It's a store!"
Alhaitham looks really upset now, jaw clenched and staring at Kaveh in that way that makes him feel small and kind of silly.
"You complain about not having money, and then you do this.”
Kaveh’s smile falters.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It is,” Alhaitham snaps. “Because when you run out, it becomes my problem.”
Kaveh stills. Ok, so maybe he wasn't ready for the full weight of Alhaitham's judgement after all. They've been getting along so well these days that Kaveh forgot how direct his words could be. How hurtful.
“I don’t make it your problem,” he says, quieter.
“You do,” Alhaitham replies. “Every time you overspend and say you'll ‘figure it out later' I'm the one who has to step in.”
“That’s not true,” Kaveh says. Not anymore. Not so much anymore, not nearly as much as before. His videos have been doing well. He's not viral or famous or anything but the extra income has been enough to make a difference. Or at least that's what he thought.
“It's a pattern.”
The reflection on the mirror reminds him his phone is still recording. God, this is awful.
"It was just something I liked,” Kaveh says, at the end of an awkward pause.
“And that justifies wasting money you don’t have?”
“I wasn’t asking you to pay for it.”
“You wouldn’t have to ask,” Alhaitham says. “You never do.”
Kaveh’s hands shake, just slightly, as he sets the rock down.
“…right,” he says.
Alhaitham exhales, running a hand through his hair. “Just, next time, think–”
Kaveh doesn't stay to find out what the end of that sentence would be. He reaches past him to grab his phone.
And leaves.
The door slams behind him but it gives him no satisfaction though it should.
It should feel good, decisive and dramatic like most of his fights, something he can stand behind later and say yes, that was justified, that was me choosing my dignity.
Instead, it just… echoes in the silence of his room.
Kaveh stands there for a second, hand still on the doorknob, breathing a little too fast.
The screen of his phone has gone dark.
Right, the video.
Of course.
He lets out a short, humorless laugh and pushes himself off the door, pacing once across the room before stopping again, like he’s forgotten what he was doing halfway through.
That went horribly. He didn’t even get to the reveal.
Didn’t get to laugh it off, didn’t get to say oh, relax, it’s just a trend, didn’t get to turn it into something light and funny instead of, well, emotionally devastating. To be fair, Alhaitham has said far worse to him many times before but he thought he was doing good these days. He thought they were doing good now.
Instead,
“You wouldn’t have to ask.”
Kaveh squeezes his eyes shut.
“…right,” he mutters to himself, voice thin.
So that’s what Alhaitham thinks. Still.
Apparently, He's been keeping track of every time Kaveh overspends. Every time he fucks up and Alhaitham has to step in and fix things.
"It’s a pattern."
Kaveh presses the heel of his hands against his eyes, annoyed when they come away a little damp.
“That’s not even true anymore,” he says to the empty room. "It's not."
Not like before.
Not like when everything was falling apart and he had nowhere else to go and Alhaitham had taken him in, welcomed him into his home, helped pay his bills, conveniently forgot to ask for the rent money when he knew Kaveh didn't have enough to–
He exhales sharply.
Alhaitham did help him. Still helps him. He has every right to be frustrated, to be...
Kaveh laughs again, quieter this time.
“God, I really picked the worst possible bit for this, didn’t I?”
He looks down at his phone.
The video is paused on a frame of Alhaitham mid-sentence, brows drawn together, mouth set in that familiar line that means he’s about to say something sharp and precise, something that’s going to sting.
Kaveh watches it for a second.
Then locks his phone without deleting it.
“Later,” he mutters.
He doesn’t trust himself to decide right now.
Instead, he drags a hand through his hair and sits heavily on the edge of his bed, staring at nothing.
He doesn’t cry more than the couple stray tears he didn't manage to choke back just now.
He’s done enough of that, for a lifetime.
But the tight feeling in his chest doesn’t go away.
—
Well fuck, Alhaitham thinks, an odd mix of residual anger and regret clouding his mind.
The abrupt silence in the apartment is… wrong.
It’s not the usual quiet, the kind he prefers, the kind Kaveh claims to hate but fills anyway with idle commentary, half-finished thoughts, complaints about trivial inconveniences, and more recently, his excited tone when he talks to the camera.
This one is hollow.
He stands where Kaveh left him, the echo of the door still ringing faintly in his ears.
“…fuck.”
He exhales, slow, controlled, and looks at the counter.
At the rocks.
At the exact spot where Kaveh had been standing, animated, bright, talking too fast about something that clearly mattered to him. Something he was waiting to show him.
"It was just something I liked."
Alhaitham closes his eyes briefly. The lingering anger fading entirely into guilt and regret.
That hadn’t been completely unreasonable.
The number had been.
The idea had been, maybe, to Alhaitham, as someone who doesn't value aesthetics as much as Kaveh does.
But Kaveh buying something for himself? Something that makes him happy?
He exhales again, sharper this time.
This is getting him nowhere.
He replays the conversation, piece by piece, trying to figure out exactly where everything went wrong.
He Identifies the point of failure with uncomfortable precision.
"You complain about not having money"
Unnecessary.
"It becomes my problem"
Incorrect. Or,no. Not incorrect. Outdated.
His jaw tightens.
Kaveh hasn’t asked him for help in months.
Not directly.
There had been that period, early on, where everything had been a mess. Missed payments, last-minute scrambling, Kaveh brushing it off with that same careless confidence that had irritated him enough to step in.
But recently, well.
Alhaitham’s gaze flicks, almost involuntarily, to the stack of unopened mail on the side table. To the fact that the electricity hasn’t “mysteriously” been on the verge of being cut off in weeks. To the absence of frantic, late-night pacing.
To the way Kaveh had been… calmer, more relaxed and settled into his own skin.
Still reckless in smaller ways. Still impulsive and emotional and him but not–
Not like before.
“…I defaulted,” Alhaitham says quietly.
The pattern had presented itself: large expense, poor justification, and he had followed it to its expected conclusion without reassessing the variables.
He made a flawed assumption.
Worse, one he’d voiced, viciously.
He frowns.
Kaveh hadn’t argued.
That’s the part that doesn’t sit right.
Kaveh always argues with him, seems to almost take pleasure in it.
Pushes back, deflects, exaggerates, turns it into something loud and survivable, and sometimes even fun.
This time he'd just gone quiet. He'd seemed almost startled by his vehemence, just placed the rocks with shaky hands back on the counter and went to his room tryjng to hide teary eyes.
Alhaitham exhales, slower now.
Work has been… inefficient, lately.
His new position, one he hadn’t asked for or wanted but Nahida had suddenly thrusted into his hands, demands a level of constant oversight he finds both unnecessary and exhausting. Meetings that could have been emails, and emails that should've been common sense. People that require managing instead of simply functioning.
By the time he gets home, his tolerance for avoidable problems is already low.
He pinches the bridge of his nose.
That is not Kaveh’s fault.
“…I took it out on him.” he says outloud, to the silent living room.
The admission settles uncomfortably.
He sees the stones on the counter, the ones Kaveh was so happy about (not a lot of things make his senior happy these days) and runs a hand down his face.
Yes, he doesn't really understand the appeal of these particular rocks versus the ones scattered in their backyard but his sense of aesthetic has never been his strong suit, maybe only someone like Kaveh can tell the difference.
Alhaitham had ruined Kaveh's happiness and good mood for something that, in retrospect, may not even have been true.
Kaveh is locked in his room and won't want to come out for at least a few hours, he knows that much. So alhaitham starts by doing a quick search of the name of the store in their area, finding two branches close by.
He exhales sharply, decision clicking into place.
Fixing it will be faster that wallowing in his own guilt.
—
The store is very bright. It's loud too, and full of people who seem to be enjoying something he fundamentally does not understand.
And there, arranged with inexplicable care, front and center in the middle of the store: the rocks.
The display is meticulous and intentional. Framed with a spotlight and big SALE signs all over it.
People are filming, laughing, interacting with them like they matter. It seems Kaveh was right about them being the new "hot trend" in home decor. How odd. He doesnt see the ones Kaveh brought home with him, maybe they are one of a kind. Clearly the people in this... Anthropologie store seem to share Kaveh's opinion on their value.
He studies the arrangement, wondering just what is so special about them that people would pay a small fortune for them.
“…arbitrary,” he mutters.
But Kaveh had liked them, whispers the part of his brain that's been particularly difficult to shut up these days.
And, apparently, that's sufficient.
Whatever, he just needs to get a new set of these and bring them home. Maybe one of these ladies can help him choose.
He steps forward and clears his throat. They all turn to him at once, glancing up and down at him like they're questioning why he's even standing there.
“Excuse me,” he says to the surprisingly intimidating group, voice measured. “My flatmate asked me to purchase a set of these... decorations, but I am not particularly qualified to assess their relative appeal,” he continues. “If you had to take one set home with you, which one would it be?”
The lady in the right drops her jaw at his question. The one on the far left has turned around and seems to be trying to conceal laghter into her sleeve. The oldest woman in the middle is looking at him...fondly?
“You’re buying these for your flatmate?” she asks, a kind smile on her lips. "These are very expensive, he must be very important to you."
Alhaitham huffs quietly. “He's the worst. He drinks and puts it on my tab, he works through the night in his studio and doesn't let me sleep, he spends his money on ridiculous things like these rocks and then doesnt have money to pay the rent. He's a disaster."
“…but,” he adds, more quietly, “he has improved.”
The old lady laughs, patting him on the arm. "You sound just like my husband." She turns and picks up a smooth marble white set from the display and puts it in his arms "get him these ones, I have a feeling he will love them."
Alhaitham feels his ears turn uncomfortably warm at the comparison, but gathers the stones around safely. "How much are they?"
The lady raises an eyebrow "does it matter?"
Alhaitham coughs and grabs the rocks more securely "I guess not. Thank you."
"No problem dear," she says, "good luck with your boy."
Alhaitham freezes, just for a fraction of a second.
“…he is not–” he starts automatically, then stops.
The woman only smiles at him, entirely unconvinced.
“…right,” he finishes instead.
He turns toward the register before she can say anything else.
—
The total is, predictably, absurd. Alhaitham does not comment on it.
He taps his card against the machine, watches the number process, and pockets the receipt without looking at it.
He adjusts his grip on the box as he steps away from the counter, careful not to jostle the stones. They’re heavier than they look. Colder, too, even through the packaging.
He pauses near the exit, just long enough to glance back at the display.
At the people still laughing, still filming, still treating it like something light and fun.
Kaveh had been smiling like that.
He pushes the door open and steps out into the evening air.
—
By the time he reaches the apartment, the box feels heavier. Or perhaps that’s just the conversation waiting on the other side of the door.
Either way, he doesn’t hesitate this time.
—
When he gets home, the apartment is dark and Kaveh’s door is still closed, as he predicted
Alhaitham sets the new stones beside the old ones.
The contrast is… noticeable. One set is rough and uneven.
The other deliberate and chosen.
He braces himself, then turns and knocks.
“Kaveh.”
There's no response, but then again he wasn't really expecting one.
“I know you’re awake.”
“…go away.”
Kaveh's voice is rough, like he's been...
“No.”
“I said go away.”
“I heard you.”
There's a silence that feels heavy enough to make Alhaitham consider just leaving the Anthropologie bag on the counter and leave Kaveh alone. He rests his hand briefly against the door, then lets it fall.
“I was out of line,” he says. “I should not have said that. About your spending. Or,” he pauses, “about you relying on me.”
There’s a shift on the other side of the door. Fabric, maybe, or the creak of the bed,but Kaveh still doesn’t open it.
"And," he adds, "my current position at work is... less than ideal. It's been a rough week."
He hears Kaveh snort through the door. "That's an understatement."
Alhaitham looks down and smiles.
“Did you mean it?” comes Kaveh's voice, thin and hesitant.
“…I defaulted to an outdated pattern,” Alhaitham replies. “It was a mistake.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Alhaitham stills. Alhaitham steels his resolve. If he has to be brutally honest and show his hand for Kaveh to forgive him, he will.
“…no,” he says, slower. “Not as stated.”
The silence that follows sharpens, expectant.
“For a long time,” Alhaitham continues, choosing his words with more care than usual, “you did rely on me. Financially. Logistically. And I accounted for that.”
He pauses, then adds, more quietly, “It was… expected. Comfortable.”
Kaveh lets out a small, humorless laugh from the other side. “Is that what you think this is? A budget report?”
“No,” Alhaitham says, and there’s something firmer in it now.
That, more than anything, makes Kaveh go quiet.
Alhaitham exhales again, gaze dropping to the floor as he tries to organize his thoughts properly, because if he’s going to say this, it has to be perfect. It has to be enough for Kaveh to understand.
“It was an excuse,” he says. “I did not have to define anything as long as there was a practical reason to remain involved,” he continues. “You needed help, and I provided it. That was sufficient justification to stay… close to you, without examining it further.”
He pauses, jaw tightening slightly.
“And I liked it.” He says. "Being close. To you."
“…what?” Kaveh asks, voice incredulous.
But Alhaitham is on a roll now, and he can't, won't, keep the words in any longer.
“It was easier,” he says.
“Easier than acknowledging that my involvement was not just because you needed help. Easier than” he stops, swallows hard, “–than admitting that I would have liked to take care of you regardless.”
There’s a hitch in Kaveh’s breathing.
Alhaitham continues, voice lower now, but still controlled.
“That is no longer the case,” he continues. “You’ve been managing your finances lately. Consistently. I noticed.”
Not meaningless praise. It's a fact.
“And today,” he adds, “I defaulted to an earlier version of you that is no longer accurate. I treated it as if nothing had changed. And then used it against you.”
The admission sits, heavy, unembellished and ugly inside him.
"I don't want us to be those versions of ourselves anymore." He says, "I want." Fuck, how do people do this? "I want to take care of you not because you need me, but because I want to." There, it's out now, as clear as he can manage.
“…Alhaitham,” Kaveh says, softer now. He sounds close to tears again, did Alhaitham somehow misspoke again?
He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t take it back either. He trusts Kaveh to understand him, to know him, even after all their misunderstandings.
A second passes.
Then the lock clicks and the door opens.
Kaveh stands there, expression set in a teary, but hopeful smile.
Alhaitham's whole body relaxes at that smile.
“…you’re terrible at this,” Kaveh says, half laughing, half crying.
“Correct.”
"But... you mean that?” He says it like he can't quite believe it.
“I do.” Alhaitham replies. "I'm sorry, Kaveh."
Then Alhaitham remembers the rocks. He steps inside and sets the bag down.
“I was unable to find the exact set,” he says. “So I requested assistance.”
Kaveh blinks.
“…what?”
“You liked them,” Alhaitham says. “So I got another set.”
Kaveh stares some more. “…you went back out.”
“Yes.”
“To buy another set." His voice pitches up in incredulty with each word.
“Yes.”
Kaveh lets out a laugh and immediately slaps his hand to his mouth, looking equally amused and concerned. “Alhaitham.”
“Yes?” Is it so hard to believe that Alhaitham would buy this sort of gift for Kaveh?
“…they’re from the backyard.”
What?.
Alhaitham looks back the original rocks on the counter, and then back at Kaveh.
"From the–”
“I didn’t buy them, they're from our garden” Kaveh cuts him off, voice smaller now. “It was a prank. I was filming.”
Alhaitham truly doesn't know what to say so he stays quiet.
Kaveh winces. “I didn’t tell you because, well...”
“Because you were upset,” Alhaitham says.
"Haitham," Kaveh says, frantically "I'm sure we can return them. They're not even supposed to be on sale, I swear, how the fuck did you even get these? Who sold these to you? Why would you even do that?"
A pause.
“Because you were uspset” Alhaitham repeats. "And you like them."
Because that part, at least, makes sense.
Kaveh stares at him.
Something in his expression softens.
"You’re an idiot.”
Alhaitham would take offense but Kaveh is smiling so fondly at the rocks that he can't find it in himself to do it.
“Correct.” He says instead.
Kaveh releases a shaky breath. "I didn’t delete the video,” he admits.
Alhaitham closes his eyes briefly. Of course he didn't
"Of course you didn’t.”
“I stopped it,” Kaveh says quickly. “Before. Before it got worse.”
"We could delete it,” Alhaitham says, already knowing what the answer's going to be .
Kaveh hesitates.
“…or keep it,” Alhaitham adds. “As documentation of poor decision-making. Mine, specifically.”
Kaveh huffs out a weak laugh.
“You went back and bought rocks because you made me sad.” Says Kaveh, still smiling. Alhaitham wants to keep that smile on his face forever.
“Yes.”
“You do realize that’s insane, right?”
“I disagree.” Alhaitham says.
Kaveh steps closer, a determined look on his face.
“You really didn’t have to.” Kaveh says, "I mean, the apology was more than enough."
“I know.”
“But these are lovely. Thank you Haitham."
Kaveh reaches for him first this time, setting the bag down on his bed.
The kiss is careful. Tentative and sweet. These are unknown waters for both of them, never quite crossing that line in all the years they've known each other.
Alhaitham answers it immediately, his nose brushing the velvet skin of Kaveh's cheek. He doesn't want to give Kaveh any reason to think the advance is unwelcome in any way.
When Kaveh pulls back, Alhaitham doesn't let him go far. Instead he circles his small waist with both his arms and presses him flush against his body, at which Kaveh lets out a soft little noise into his mouth.
And this is, yeah... Alhaitham would buy all the rocks on that store's display if this is what he gets to come home to.
—
As a bonus, have the comment section of Kaveh's video.
@aesthetic_archon
NOT HIM SAYING “you never have to ask” ?????? I WOULD HAVE CRIED ON THE SPOT, HE LOVES HIM
@kavehstan
okay but he was WRONG for that but also… he kinda had a point 😭
@dramaticgoldfish
“it is a pattern” SIR THIS IS A PRANK VIDEO NOT A PERFORMANCE REVIEW
@kavehdefender
NO BUT KAVEH’S FACE??? WHEN HE SAID “it was just something i liked”?? I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS
@geologyenthusiast
as someone who collects rocks this video was emotionally devastating on multiple levels
@jungooksthighs
he went into full lecture mode IMMEDIATELY. no hesitation. terrifying.
@floatinganemoslime
HE DID NOT REALIZE IT WAS A PRANK AT ALL THIS IS INSANE
@magesalim
are they roommates or divorced or in love what is the situation here
@alaldesign
They radiate situationship energy so bad ngl
@angst_addict
I need to unpack your financial dynamic IMMEDIATELY, what goes ONNNN in that apartment, LET ME INNN
@kavehstanclub
HE STOPPED RECORDING. HE STOPPED RECORDING. THAT’S WHEN YOU KNOW IT HURT.
@emotionally_unavailable_carrot
“you never have to ask” is CRAZY WORK. i would have moved out immediately.
@kavehsbackwindow
WE NEED AN UPDATE!!! DID HE APOLOGIZE??? ARE YOU OK????
@justaradish
i’m choosing to believe he apologized and bought you more rocks
@kavehsleftpinky
Girl I dont want to emotionally devastate you but...that man did NOT apologize