Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What the fuck does that mean?” Kaveh snapped incredulously.

Apathetic as always, Alhaitham regarded Kaveh as though his suggestion was completely reasonable. “It means exactly what I said, Kaveh. We should get married. It’s only logical.”

Eyes widening in disbelief, Kaveh spluttered uselessly for several moments, fumbling for words. “Wh-what do - why - why would - what?”

“You owe it to me, really,” Alhaitham replied with an indifferent shrug. “I end up paying for most of your expenses given your inability to manage your finances, and this would be a significant tax benefit to me with the recent updates to the city code. It’s the least you could do.”

“You’re - no! No way. If I get married, it’s going to be for love, with a vibrant and beautiful ceremony. Besides, aren’t you in charge of the city code anywa-”

“Kaveh.” Alhaitham spoke his name like a command, brooking no argument... it only fanned the flames of Kaveh’s indignation higher.

“You insufferable, arrogant -” Kaveh began, ignoring the warmth he could feel creeping up his cheeks as his irritation mounted - but Alhaitham interrupted him yet again.

“Marriage is a contract, nothing more. It all comes down to benefits - social, financial - love has nothing to do with it. We’ll do it tomorrow morning. Good night.” Without another word, Alhaitham turned on his heel and strode down the hall toward his bedroom.

“You - you’re acting like I don’t even get a say in this! We don’t even have rings, what do you -”

“I’ll take care of it. Just meet me in my office at ten and I’ll arrange for a judge to perform a private ceremony.”

Alhaitham’s bedroom door clicked shut behind him, leaving Kaveh rooted to the spot. Involuntarily flustered, he stood alone in the hallway, mouth hanging open and heart pounding as anger, disbelief, and something deeper - insuppressible yet unallowable - rose within him.

Running a shaky hand through his hair, Kaveh eventually made his way down the hall to his room and collapsed onto the bed. As he slipped beneath the sheets and stared blankly at the ceiling, Kaveh struggled to quiet the storm of emotions whirling in his mind.

With an exasperated huff, he rolled onto his side and glared at the wall that separated his room from Alhaitham’s.

Marriage.

Marriage.

The word echoed relentlessly in his mind. He’d spent countless nights fantasizing about Alhaitham dropping to one knee, whispering tender words to Kaveh as he slid a golden ring onto his finger and pledged his devotion... but Kaveh would never want it like this - where he’d have Alhaitham in name but not in heart.

With a heavy sigh, Kaveh buried his face in his pillow. All of his romantic ideals, as usual, were quashed by the one man he actually yearned for such affections from - a marriage for the sake of fucking tax deductions.

Though it made sense in a cold, rational way, such a logical and disinterested proposal for Kaveh to willingly sacrifice his heart for nothing more than mora cut deep into his chest. And worst of all... Alhaitham was unaware that Kaveh’s heart could never even belong to anyone but him - that he was already the sole benefactor of Kaveh’s silent longing, having stolen Kaveh’s heart against his will long ago.

Kaveh curled around his pillow as if the soft cotton of his pillowcase could offer a reprieve from the turmoil churning deep in his stomach. He’d long since made peace with his unrequited love for Alhaitham, resigning himself to a lifetime of suppressed yearning - but this? This was torture, plain and simple, demanding mental gymnastics that Kaveh wasn’t confident he was flexible enough to contort himself into.

Silent tears spilled down Kaveh’s cheeks. Regardless of what happened, tomorrow was sure to bring destruction to the fragile guards surrounding his closed-off heart.

Kaveh eventually managed to drift in and out of a restless sleep, haunted by visions of an elegant wedding ceremony where he stood opposite Alhaitham - Alhaitham clad in resplendent green and Kaveh adorned with radiant gold - murmuring heartfelt, profound promises to the man he loved with unfathomable depth.

... The man who saw Kaveh as nothing more than a financial inconvenience.

It seemed like mere moments before Kaveh’s alarm rang, shrill and jarring amidst the tranquil light of dawn filtering through his window. Jerking awake from his troubled dreams, Kaveh glared at the warm sunshine that mocked him with a blissful ease he would surely not experience today.

With a deep groan, Kaveh clambered out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. If he was to be married today, he was at least going to look the part.

Flicking his wrist anxiously at his side, Kaveh approached Alhaitham’s office and glanced at the clock - 9:55 AM. With a shaky breath, he knocked on the door, smoothing down the golden embroidery of his sherwani and fiddling with the elegant bun he’d tied his hair into.

At Alhaitham’s answering grunt, Kaveh pushed the door open and stepped inside, heart pounding. Alhaitham, of course, looked unperturbed as ever, dressed in his usual attire without so much as a thread of change to his appearance.

“Good. You’re here,” Alhaitham droned, scribbling rapidly on a stack of forms on his desk without looking up. “The judge will be here soon. We can elect not to recite vows, but we need her to believe the marriage is real, so try not to look too sour.”

“Well if you wanted it to be more convincing, you should’ve put on something other than your stupid muscle shirt. At least I put a little effort into my appearance,” Kaveh snapped.

Alhaitham finally glanced up. Immediately, his piercing jewel-toned eyes caught on Kaveh’s strappy sandals, raking upward at an agonizingly glacial pace along every centimetre of Kaveh’s body.

The weight of Alhaitham’s eyes caressed his skin like a physical touch, liquid fire searing across Kaveh’s skin and igniting every inch of his body. Against his will, Kaveh’s cheeks flushed with a warmth he knew coloured his skin in a gentle blush - and for the millionth time, he cursed the effortless yet undeniable effect Alhaitham had on him without even trying.

“So you did,” Alhaitham eventually murmured; though his deep voice was no less detached than usual, there was something slightly darker lurking beneath. “My apologies that you’re not marrying someone with a fashion sense to match yours.”

Kaveh rolled his eyes and scoffed in an attempt to conceal how flustered he was, cursing his heart for the traitorous flutter of hope that blossomed in his chest. As he opened his mouth to retort, however, he was interrupted by a judge striding through the cracked door without knocking.

Prim and proper, she clutched a black folder in her arms and glanced between them appraisingly, clearly picking up on the strangely tense atmosphere. “Kaveh and Alhaitham... private marriage ceremony, yes? Did you pay the fee of 2,500 mora to the -”

Alhaitham lifted a stack of paperwork from his desk and handed it to her without a word.

She rifled through the pages, skimmed over a list in her folder as she checked each form off, then set the paperwork down on Alhaitham’s desk. Eyes narrowing, her gaze first paused on Kaveh, then shifted to Alhaitham.

Though part of him would’ve loved to let her figure out that this was all fake and watch Alhaitham get carted off by the Matra for tax fraud, Kaveh nevertheless stepped closer to him and slid his palm awkwardly around Alhaitham’s back in a stilted attempt to add some sort of intimacy to their façade.

Alhaitham stiffened at the touch but quickly relaxed, arm snaking around Kaveh’s waist as he pulled him closer. It both looked and felt far more natural than Kaveh would have imagined someone as robotic as Alhaitham to even be capable of.

Despite himself, Kaveh melted into Alhaitham’s side, savouring the gentle warmth of his broad palm against Kaveh’s hip.

The judge raised a skeptical brow as her eyes darted between them - but thankfully, she didn’t press further. “Have you elected to recite traditional marriage vows to each oth-”

“No,” Alhaitham cut her off bluntly.

Kaveh bristled and kicked him surreptitiously under the guise of shuffling closer, smiling politely at the judge. “He just means we’d like that part to be, um... private. Just the two of us.”

Kaveh’s anxiety that his flushed cheeks would betray the truth eased as the judge nodded in understanding. After all, Kaveh supposed, this would be the one situation in which it made sense for him to be flustered by Alhaitham; for once, he could simply pretend he was acting and allow his reactions to be displayed without inhibition.

As the judge cleared her throat and began reciting the legal proceedings for their marriage license - so bland and unromantic that Kaveh hardly recognized when it was time for him to say 'I do' - Kaveh’s attention strayed to the man beside him.

Kaveh was far too distracted by the strong hand on his waist, rubbing almost imperceptibly up and down, and the glint of the surprisingly beautiful rings in a delicate box on Alhaitham’s desk.

Trying valiantly to suppress a powerful swell of emotion that threatened to overtake him, Kaveh forced his trembling hand to remain steady as Alhaitham lifted the velvet box, drew Kaveh’s palm into his, and slowly slid a ring onto his finger.

It was a perfect fit.

The sharp bite of the cool gold against his skin nearly shattered Kaveh’s last shred of composure as he withdrew the matching ring from the box and mirrored Alhaitham. His desires were literally in the palm of his hand, held tantalizingly, torturously close... yet still taunting him, perpetually out of reach.

“... I now pronounce you married. You may kiss,” the judge finished, looking up at them expectantly with a small smile.

Kaveh froze, heart pounding so violently against his ribcage he was certain Alhaitham could hear it. Somehow, Kaveh hadn’t considered that this would be part of the ceremony - he’d assumed they would simply sign a few documents and be on their way.

Drawing in a shaky breath, he met Alhaitham’s gaze - his husband’s gaze - and tried to disregard the flutter in his stomach that accompanied the word as it burned itself into his mind’s eye. Alhaitham’s piercing azure eyes were watching him intently, pinning him in place, their usual apathy replaced with an intensity that Kaveh had never before seen Alhaitham display.

He waited for Alhaitham to deliver a disgusted peck to his lips, something quick and efficient to satisfy the judge... but his heart stuttered in his chest as Alhaitham turned to face him fully. The sturdy hand on Kaveh’s waist tightened as Alhaitham slowly lifted his palm to cradle Kaveh’s cheek, brushing his thumb against his cheekbone with a reverence that immediately felt far too intimate.

The space between them disappeared as Alhaitham leaned in, the warmth of his breath ghosting over Kaveh’s face and coaxing his skin to prickle with anticipation. Alhaitham’s gaze, filled with something that looked devastatingly close to an emotion Kaveh dared not name, flicked briefly to Kaveh’s lips before returning to his eyes.

“You look beautiful, Kaveh,” Alhaitham breathed huskily.

Heat lanced through Kaveh’s abdomen like pure electricity at the sultry, velvety rasp in Alhaitham’s voice - something Kaveh had only ever dreamed of hearing directed at him. Though he knew Alhaitham was only playing his part to appear more convincing to the judge, the unusual sincerity in his deep baritone made Kaveh dizzy.

Kaveh opened his mouth to reply - but the jumble of unformed words died in his throat as Alhaitham’s thumb traced a gentle line toward his ear, mouth drawing ever nearer as he tugged Kaveh forward.

Alhaitham’s lips were so close Kaveh could feel the heat radiating onto his own. Losing his ability to form coherent thoughts, every molecule of Kaveh’s body scattered then reformed to hone in on Alhaitham’s proximity as his warmth seeped through Kaveh’s clothes.

Kaveh inhaled shakily as Alhaitham’s palm curled around the nape of his neck, tilting his head with a slight yet electrifying tug.

Unable to hide his reactions as suspense settled into the ever-shrinking pocket of air separating them, Kaveh allowed himself to appear, for once, as fully affected as he truly was by Alhaitham’s presence.

Moving with a slowness that matched the sanctity of the moment, Kaveh lifted his palms to Alhaitham’s chest. He knew he would never again get a chance like this; and like hell was Kaveh going to relinquish his fragile, fleeting grasp on the intimacy he’d yearned for all these years.

The world around them vanished from Kaveh’s periphery as Alhaitham’s lips brushed against his - not quite a kiss, but enough to persuade the judge that they were simply shy of expressing intimacy in front of others.

Before Kaveh could sink too deep into the disappointment that the soft, chaste kiss would forever be his only experience of Alhaitham’s lips, Alhaitham exhaled a shaky breath and tugged Kaveh forward with unusually unsteady fingers.

Kaveh’s eyes widened as Alhaitham guided their lips together in another hesitant press... yet this time, it was anything but chaste.

In an instant, Kaveh’s veins burst into scorching flames. With a soft moan he was powerless to stifle as it was forcibly torn from the back of his throat, Kaveh tilted his head on instinct to slot his lips with Alhaitham’s.

Kaveh grasped for purchase on the defined muscles of Alhaitham’s chest as a long-stagnant fuse within his core ignited in a fiery blaze, immediately swirling far beyond his control. Heart leaping against the confines of his ribs in a frenzied rhythm, Kaveh surrendered to the intoxicating warmth of Alhaitham’s excruciatingly soft lips.

As Alhaitham’s tongue teased his lower lip with a featherlight brush, Kaveh barely managed to refrain from releasing a truly embarrassing whimper that threatened to spill from his throat. It was a touch so subtle and fleeting that Kaveh wondered if he’d simply imagined it... though before he could gather his thoughts, the gentle press disappeared at Kaveh’s lack of response.

Alhaitham began to draw back. Moving before his conscious mind caught up with his body, Kaveh leaned forward, chasing the intimacy of Alhaitham’s kiss - and for one horrifying moment, Alhaitham froze.

Berating himself internally for showing too much of his nonpermissible eagerness, Kaveh went still as well, breathing shamefully heavily against Alhaitham’s lips. He expected Alhaitham to withdraw, to regard Kaveh with unfettered contempt, to shove him away - anything other than how he actually responded.

Rather than reprimand Kaveh for his greed, Alhaitham suddenly wrapped a possessive hand around his jaw to hold Kaveh’s head in place and pressed their mouths together more forcefully.

Something fierce and unfamiliar swooped low in Kaveh’s abdomen as every muscle in his core simultaneously fluttered with a jolt of pleasure. This time, the gentle sweep of Alhaitham’s tongue against the seam of his lips was unmistakable - and, coupled with the breathless sigh that escaped Alhaitham’s throat - so sensual it nearly brought Kaveh to his knees.

With an insuppressible, guttural sound that reverberated through every shuddering nerve in his body, Kaveh yielded to Alhaitham’s silent command and parted his lips.

It was all far too much - the tender, almost reverent touch, the broad palm skimming the sensitive skin along the back of his neck and cradling Kaveh like he was the most priceless treasure in Sumeru, and the inexorable press of Alhaitham’s lips, somehow simultaneously gentle and ferocious.

In a distant, barely coherent corner of his mind, Kaveh registered that this kiss was far too long, far too passionate - even for a couple marrying for love rather than for tax purposes. Yet as Alhaitham deepened the kiss, all conscious thought disintegrated into the billowing inferno that was simply Alhaitham.

Unable to suppress it, Kaveh released a helpless moan at the slight increase in pressure; it wasn’t much, yet from Alhaitham it felt achingly tender... almost loving. Leaning into the kiss without reservation, Kaveh allowed Alhaitham to guide their movements and succumbed to the delusion - just for a moment - that this was real, that Alhaitham held even a fraction of the feelings for Kaveh that Kaveh had desperately harboured for so many years.

A low rumble of satisfaction vibrated through Alhaitham’s chest and sent heat sparking with a near-painful intensity through each individual nerve ending in Kaveh’s body. In an attempt to refrain from moaning lewdly with each increasingly sensual slide of their lips, Kaveh tangled his fingers in Alhaitham’s hair simply to have something to hold onto - though one single, gentle tug on Alhaitham’s soft strands instantly seemed to rouse something primal within Alhaitham.

Alhaitham drew Kaveh’s bottom lip between his teeth and tightened his grip with the steady pulse of his heartbeat. With an impatient exhale, he pressed his fingers into the side of Kaveh’s neck and the swell of his waist and pushed him backward, trapping Kaveh against the hard, cool wood of his desk until the edge bit so harshly into the backs of his thighs Kaveh had to fling a hand out behind him to steady himself on the mahogany surface.

The abrupt change in position alone sent Kaveh’s head spinning, but it was the sensation of Alhaitham’s firm, muscular frame engulfing him completely that truly left Kaveh breathless. Utterly consumed by the surging fire in Alhaitham’s touch, the razor-thin edge of control Kaveh had been clinging to slipped from his grasp as desperation to keep from moaning quickly morphed into desperation to never again allow an iota of distance to separate their bodies.

Clutching Alhaitham’s hair a little more fiercely with each heated kiss, Kaveh began to allow needy gasps to accompany his increasingly rapid exhales. In response, Alhaitham’s grip only grew tighter, looping his arm so securely around Kaveh’s waist that he no longer needed to support himself on the desk to remain upright.

As he sank into Alhaitham’s embrace, Kaveh lifted a hand to cup his jaw, toes curling beyond his control as Alhaitham’s powerful muscles flexed beneath his fingertips and a thick vein in his neck pulsed harshly against the pad of Kaveh’s pinky.

Finally as audibly affected as Kaveh was - or at least pretending to be - Alhaitham released a deep, sinful groan that thundered so powerfully between them Kaveh felt as though his world were being turned on its axis.

Kaveh was a drowning man gasping for breath... and Alhaitham was the air he couldn’t survive without.

This was the kiss Kaveh had always longed for. Alhaitham’s mouth moved against his with barely restrained abandon, a force of nature untethered. Every centimetre of Kaveh’s body exploded with sparks, each muscle in his core trembling with an earth-shattering storm of pleasure that built ever higher as his very being was scorched from the inside out.

Though he stopped just shy of where Kaveh was aching for his touch, Alhaitham slotted a thigh between Kaveh’s knees. His strong, sturdy palms snapped into place on either side of Kaveh’s hips, gripping so forcefully Kaveh was certain there would be permanent imprints of his fingertips on his skin - yet Kaveh was far too enraptured to care.

Truthfully, he welcomed the reminder that, even for a moment, he had been entirely Alhaitham’s.

Kaveh’s chest heaved each time Alhaitham’s lips drew away even for a millisecond; every time, without fail, Kaveh immediately pulled him back in to drown in the wet, intimate kiss, trying to press them even closer together as if Alhaitham’s body weren’t already plastered to his.

Though Kaveh knew he was beginning to tremble, he was powerless to stop it as he was utterly overcome by Alhaitham. One of his feet hovered off the ground as Alhaitham’s palm seared a relentless path down his abdomen, landing on the top of Kaveh’s thigh and tugging slightly; coupled with Alhaitham’s breathless groan, Kaveh could almost convince himself that Alhaitham was trying to urge Kaveh’s leg to wrap around his waist.

Alhaitham’s office was now entirely filled with the slick noise of their lips sliding against each other and the soft yet steadily growing sounds of pleasure they were both releasing, punctuated by ragged breaths through their noses and panting exhales between each kiss.

Fingers tensing on Kaveh’s thigh, Alhaitham once more took Kaveh’s bottom lip between his teeth and bit down, harsh and unyielding.

The line between illusion and reality crumbled entirely as Kaveh released the most debauched moan yet, careening quickly toward the edge of a blissful cliff of pleasure without so much as a single touch to the achingly slick pool of arousal between his thighs. It was an irrepressible, carnal invitation for Alhaitham to devour him as Kaveh grew bold enough - or perhaps simply deluded enough - to tilt his hips toward Alhaitham in a silent plea for friction.

Blistering heat curled in a tight coil deep in Kaveh’s core, threatening to swallow him whole as a line of arousal dripped like molasses down the inside of his thigh beneath his pant leg, no longer able to be contained by the confines of his clothes.

Just as he thought Alhaitham was finally going to push him down to lie flat against the desk - crawl on top of him and slot their hips together like Kaveh’s body so desperately begged for, muscles tense and primed for release - the sound of a throat being cleared abruptly snapped Kaveh out of his lustful delirium.

For a split second, Alhaitham’s fingers dug so roughly into Kaveh’s thigh it felt as though he would rather die than release him, each firm muscle in his body bundled with tension just as tightly wound as Kaveh’s... but Kaveh’s heart dropped with an ache for something that could never truly be his as Alhaitham released his thigh and pulled back.

Kaveh’s cheeks flooded with heat as the world slowly came back into focus. Alhaitham hadn’t yet released his hold on Kaveh’s waist, preventing him from toppling over onto the desk, though he dropped one hand down to the wooden surface beside Kaveh’s hips to steady himself.

Kaveh chanced a glance up at him - and archons, Alhaitham’s face nearly undid him more than the kiss.

Alhaitham didn’t look even remotely like his usual emotionless, stoic self - not in the slightest. His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide and gaze scorching, cheeks flushed and lips parted as he panted as though he’d just sprinted the entire length of the city.

Kaveh had never seen Alhaitham so much as blush before, but now... he looked utterly destroyed. The sight alone stole what little air remained in Kaveh’s body straight from his lungs.

Alhaitham’s fingers trembled ever so slightly as his palm glided to the small of Kaveh’s back, as if the force of what had just happened was too much for his body to contain.

It was as hypnotizing as it was disorienting.

Heart pounding, Kaveh opened his mouth to attempt a shaky apology to the judge, but Alhaitham released a soft, almost pained sound - nearly inaudible - and drew Kaveh in for one final, chaste kiss.

Though gentle and quick, this kiss somehow felt laced with even more desperation than the rest combined. The intimate brush of lips, while brief, ignited an entirely new sensation in Kaveh; it set him aflame not only with desire, but with a bittersweet, bone-deep sorrow he’d nearly forgotten to feel as Alhaitham’s lips reincarnated every atom in his body.

It was a sobering reminder that Kaveh would never again get to feel the warmth of Alhaitham’s lips on his - that none of this was real, no matter how desperately Kaveh wished it were.

“Ahem,” the judge cleared her throat, eyebrow raised in amusement. With supreme effort, Kaveh forced his gaze away from the man before him and glanced at the woman who’d just witnessed the most passionate kiss of his life. “Young love. Nothing like it. Your ceremony is complete - I hope you two have a long and happy life together.”

Clearing his throat gruffly, Alhaitham withdrew his arm from around Kaveh.

Immediately, Kaveh’s body screamed in protest, suddenly far too cold without the solid warmth of Alhaitham’s body against his... but, in a familiar, practiced denial of his deepest desires, Kaveh shoved the ache down and forced himself to appear at least somewhat composed.

“Thank you,” Alhaitham responded, his deep voice rougher than Kaveh had ever heard it.

Utterly drained, Kaveh attempted to steel himself as he stepped away from Alhaitham. He avoided the gaze he knew would tear him apart if he looked into those darkened teal eyes for another second - lest he be tempted by the idea that Alhaitham was doing anything more than putting on a show.

The judge chuckled softly and packed up her paperwork, waving genially as she turned to exit. “You two seem quite compatible. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fun on the honeymoon. Congratulations again.”

Kaveh could only muster up an awkward smile and a strangled grunt in response - but Alhaitham remained quiet, his usual impassive mask firmly back in place despite the lingering redness on his cheeks.

The door clicked shut behind the judge, and the silence that fell in the office was almost as deafening as Kaveh’s pounding heart.

Staring blankly at the wood paneling of Alhaitham’s door, Kaveh drew upon every ounce of strength he possessed to remain upright rather than collapse in a boneless heap on the floor as his body was threatening to.

Every breath ached more than the last as Kaveh fiddled absentmindedly with the ring now adorning his left hand. He wondered, with near-hysterical desperation, if he’d ever recover from the devastation of being so freely given the most sensual experience of his life - let alone without removing so much as a single article of clothing - then forevermore denied the warmth of the only intimate touch he had ever truly desired.

The sting of tears behind his eyes should’ve surprised Kaveh... but it didn’t. The burn only grew stronger as Alhaitham turned away and sat down at his desk, rolling his chair immediately into place and picking up his pen.

“I have work to do. See you at home. Lock the door on your way out.” Though Alhaitham’s tone was dismissive, there was an odd, unreadable edge to his voice.

Kaveh nodded numbly, unable to form a single word through the roil of emotions suddenly clouding his throat. Of course Alhaitham would react like this - the world hadn’t just been set on fire for him as it had for Kaveh, no matter how deeply Kaveh wished he wasn’t alone in his desire.

It shouldn’t have hurt, really - after all, Kaveh knew that this was nothing but a financial agreement. Still, seeing Alhaitham return so quickly to his usual affect as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred felt like a brutal slap to the face.

“Okay,” Kaveh croaked, clearing his throat and trying to steady his expression. With one final lingering glance at Alhaitham - who refused to even look at Kaveh - he stepped out the door and locked it with a click as his vision blurred.