Whether or not they are directly linked, or the characters know each other, I think of my stories as all having happened within the same little world! In my stories. I frequently mention things that have happened in others I have written, but most of them should be able to be read stand alone without issues.

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Idiots

Idiots.

Alhaitham and Kaveh were blind idiots. Lumine cared about both of them, but she was tired of watching them bicker. She wondered how much of it might have been for show. One thing was obvious, though, the two of them cared for each other deeply. Their bickering was their own intimate language, and even when Lumine first met the two together, she could see it clearly.

The two scholars couldn't see it, and neither could Paimon with her innocent mind, but to Lumine it was as obvious as the sky was blue. She hadn't been sure if the two would ever figure it out. Alhaitham saved a certain type of sass just for Kaveh. Contrary to his saying that he preferred the quiet and lack of interruption, and would ignore most people, for Kaveh, and Kaveh alone, he would say things just to keep him talking. He would look directly at him, where he'd look past others, not caring to meet their eyes, and where anything resembling a smile was rarely directed at others, they came quite often for Kaveh.

So, what happened next wasn't much of a surprise to Lumine. She was about to knock on the door, when the scribe opened the door. It was just in time to have Kaveh lunge into his arms, so Alhaitham had to wrap his arms around the blonde to hold him up, and they were kissing deeply.

Realizing they hadn't seen Paimon and herself there, Lumine wanted to try and slowly back away, and go unnoticed. Unfortunately, Paimon's squeak of shock drew the attention of the two men. Honestly, Lumine didn't think Alhaitham was capable of physically showing surprise, and while it was mountains less than poor Kaveh, it was still clearly visible.

Kaveh quickly dropped to his feet, his face red, and straightened his clothing, "Ah… haha, Lumine! So good to see you, right here, at this very… exact minute." He looked at Alhaitham again, "Have a nice, um, day at work, uh -roomie," he said while giving Alhaitham a gentle punch to the arm, before he turned and scrambled off.

Lumine couldn't think of a single action Alhaitham had ever made that would constitute her laughter, he was always very straight forward and stern in his actions. However, something about him standing there, arms still outstretched where he had just been holding Kaveh, looking on in shock as the architect rushed away, had her trying to hold back.

"What happened?!" asked Paimon, "I thought you two hated each other!"

Alhaitham blinked, "Roomie."

Lumine looked at the floating fairy, "They've never hated each other, Paimon."

"Huh? Paimon doesn't understand! They always fight, and pick at one another…"

"I'll explain later," Lumine said, turning to Alhaitham, "… Do you need a minute?"

The sounds of Kaveh freaking out were quite clear from the doorway.

"You can come in. I'll be ready in a moment."

Alhaitham disappeared into the house, while Lumine sat quietly on the couch. She wouldn't have thought things could get more awkward than they were now, seemed that wouldn't be the case.

"I- I can't believe you tricked me into kissing you in front of the traveler!"

"How did I trick you?"

"You tried to leave without saying goodbye!"

"You were FINALLY asleep. I wasn't about to wake you."

"Well if you had woken me, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Is it really that bad? Lumine and Paimon are our friends. Cyno and Tighnari know."

"I… well, no. It's… it's not that bad, I guess. I just wasn't ready."

"We can talk about this more later, I have to go… but now that you're awake…"

It was the muffled moan that had Lumine and Paimon out the door in seconds. When Alhaitham came out soon after, with nothing but the slightest blush to his cheeks, the traveler crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow at the scribe.

"Well, it seems I have an announcement to make," he said and walked away.

"Hey! You can't just say something like that then leave!" Paimon squeaked.

Lumine wished she was surprised when he simply stopped there, and walked away instead of making an actual announcement. She rolled her eyes and caught up to him.

"Hey! You can't just walk away like that!" Paimon squeaked.

"You didn't tell Kaveh where we're going today, did you."

It wasn't a question, and it didn't receive an answer.

"It's dangerous. You should go tell him."

Alhaitham sighed, "It's not that dangerous, and if I tell him… he'll be pulling his hair out all day -or insist on coming with me."

"Well, if it's really not that dangerous, then it shouldn't be a problem."

As it turned out, he didn't have to go back and tell Kaveh at all. Kaveh came right to them, Mehrak floating behind him and sword strapped to his back. Twice in one day now, Lumine got to see shock cross Alhaitham's face.

"What are you doing? You should be sleeping."

It always amazed Lumine how indignant Kaveh could look with just one -true- statement.

"I took a nap!" Kaveh put his hands on his hips and glared at Alhaitham, "Do you really expect me to believe that wherever you are going isn't dangerous, when you continuously avoided telling me, and the traveler shows up? I won't argue, you two aren't getting into trouble without me! At least this way we'll all go down together."

"There's no need to be overly dramatic, Kaveh."

"Overly dramatic?! I'll have you know, there is nothing overly dramatic about making sure the two of you don't get yourselves killed!"

Lumine and Paimon watched silently as the argument raced back and forth between the two, words being said that had underlying meanings. Kaveh was worried about Alhaitham getting hurt, or worse, and Alhaitham was worried about the same for Kaveh. It was actually pretty simple. Did they fight this much when they were alone? She had a difficult time picturing them as being domestic at home, but stranger things had happened.

"Alright, you two. This has been going on long enough."

The two onlookers jumped at the voice that came from right beside them. Cyno had been standing right next to them, but for how long?

"Cyno! Tell Alhaitham that he's being ridiculous! No, never mind. He won't listen to you either." Kaveh pouted, "Wait. Why are you here?"

"That sounded accusatory. I could have simply been passing through."

Kaveh put his hands on his hips, "Are you, then?"

"No."

The architect rounded on Alhaitham once more, "Were your recent Bimarstan visits not enough for you? What, did you think 'I'm Alhaitham, and I'm invulnerable', hm?"

"Wait, wait, wait. What visits to Bimarstan?!" Paimon nearly yelled, bringing her hands up to her cheeks.

Alhaitham looked unperturbed, "It wasn't because I did anything dangerous. You already know that."

"In all the books you've read, have you really never looked at the definition of dangerous? I believe one way it's defined is likely to have adverse consequences. I believe that covers things like checking yourself out of the hospital by getting zapped by harmful particles, or not letting friends know that you are ill, and needing emergency surgery so that you don't die! Those are dangerous things, Alhaitham." Kaveh looked close to tears.

Alhaitham didn't argue with that. Had he really not thought of it that way? He should have, and Lumine couldn't believe she was just now hearing about any of this. The surprises just kept coming, even Paimon was quiet at this point. She watched as the scribe stepped up to Kaveh, and took his hands. Another move she would never have expected to see.

"It was never my intention to worry you. Not now, not ever. I was…" he paused, taking a breath, "I was… wrong to not seek help on those occasions."

Everyone stared at the scribe, mouths open.

"I've officially seen everything now," Lumine said quietly, and the General nodded in agreement.

Kaveh came back from a small trance, and glared at Alhaitham, "And Cyno just happened to show up right here, where you were on your way out of town with Lumine? Please, Alhaitham, tell me you don't think I'm that stupid."

"I don't. I know it's quite the opposite."

The architect rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Please, tell me where you are going today."

Alhaitham took a minute to answer, but he was just delaying the inevitable. Kaveh would just follow them at this point, and even Alhaitham wouldn't be able to stop him. Lumine knew the scribe was searching for any outcome that this wouldn't happen, but there were none. Alhaitham came to the same conclusion.

"There is a group of Eremites who have become erratic. While many groups have become less hostile, thanks to Dehya and Lumine's efforts, this group has been becoming increasingly violent."

"Eremites." Kaveh swallowed.

Lumine had heard all about Kaveh's kidnapping, from both Tighnari, and Alhaitham. She knew that there were Eremites involved, and that Kaveh had nearly died.

"That's why you didn't tell me?" Kaveh asked.

Alhaitham nodded, and Lumine could only describe the look he was giving Kaveh as soft.

"I… I understand why you did it, then, but Haitham, you can't just not tell me. You should know by now that it's only going to make me worse." Kaveh shook his head, "Seriously, you are so thick-headed sometimes!"

Lumine inwardly laughed at Kaveh of all people saying such a thing. Standing in front of her were two of the smartest people she knew, and they were both massive idiots. A person could seriously get whiplash just from listening to these two. She loved them both dearly.

"We won't be gone all day, I'll probably be back before you are from your client meetings." Alhaitham said, with that seemed like a sigh of relief, "I'll see you at home tonight. We can have friends for dinner."

"Hah. you'll be seeing me all day, because I'm coming with you." Kaveh put his hands on his hips, and straightened his back.

"Kaveh-"

"Cyno, lead the way!" Kaveh cut Alhaitham off.

The General let out a quiet laugh and simply started walking, Kaveh, Paimon and Lumine following behind. Kaveh had grabbed Alhaitham's arm and was pulling him along. The scribe looked like a child who had just been caught, head drooped, and feet scuffling along the ground. Who would have ever thought that someone could affect Alhaitham that way. Lumine was squealing inside with joy. She loved it when her friends found that kind of happiness.

"Paimon's tired just from listening to all this. And hungry too!" The little fairy put a hand to her head.

"You just ate forty minutes ago, Paimon," Lumine said, but pulled some bread out of her pack.

Paimon happily took the offering, "Yeah, but these two take too much brain power to be around! Paimon needs more food to keep up with it!"

Lumine looked at her friends. Paimon was munching away on her bread, talking about the next meal she wanted. Cyno was telling jokes to the scribe and architect, who were arguing about the value of beauty and aesthetics being as important as function in architecture. Paimon was munching away on her bread, talking about the next meal she wanted.

The saying "There's someone for everyone" must have some merit to it, she thought. She had only ever know Alhaitham as someone who wanted to be left alone, and others had no problem stating that he was exactly that, a loner. However, just as when she'd first met Kaveh at Alhaitham's house, the scribe was something of a different person. Kaveh could bring out what no other person in all of Teyvat could.

Lumine was reminded of a certain Yaksha who would come out of his shell when she was around. The thought made her heart ache a little, she hadn't seen him in too long. After this mission, she'd make sure to go see him. She had been practicing her almond tofu recipe.

"Lumine?" Paimon's voice invaded her thoughts.

"Hm?"

"You were falling behind, Paimon was worried."

Lumine laughed, "I was just thinking about visiting Xiao after this. What do you think?"

"As long as you make extra tofu for Paimon! Ooo, I can't wait!"

Epilogue

Alhaitham had hoped to be far away before Kaveh had thought about the fact that he hadn't been told where the scribe was going. He didn't want Kaveh anywhere near what was about to happen. While the goal was to try to sort it out peacefully, the odds weren't in their favor for that outcome, and that prediction proved to be true.

The Eremites had set up camp just inside the forest, making plans to attack the newly appointed sages, and even Lesser Lord Kusanali herself. They hardly gave Lumine's group a chance to say a single word before attacking.

Kaveh could certainly handle himself in a fight if the situation called for it, he just usually chose not to inflict harm on other living things, frequently coming home with cuts and bruises from being beaten up by random animals. Alhaitham warned him many times that this wouldn't be a situation that he'd have a choice, and they all fought for their lives.

Alhaitham had to force himself to focus on the fight, rather than Kaveh, but the blonde held his own, and was the only one, other than Paimon, who came out without a scratch. Though he still wished the architect had just stayed home, where Alhaitham knew he was safe.

Now that they had made it back into the city, and settled down at Lambad's, where Tighnari was waiting, Alhaitham could breathe again. He watched Kaveh joyfully chatting with all of their friends. It was loud, but for once, he didn't hear a thing. Kaveh and his smile drowned out all sound, and everything else around them.