Chapter Two

The present thumped on the coffee table with great finality. Alhaitham, flat on his back on the couch, ignored it in favor of finishing his paragraph. But he didn't get more than ten words into the next sentence before a longsuffering sigh broke into his thoughts.

"Can't you at least pretend to be interested in what I got you for Christmas?"

Alhaitham kept his eyes on the page over his face as he responded, "Why? Do you enjoy fake emotions?"

A groan was his only answer, and a second later, the couch jolted as his housemate dropped onto it and proceeded to bury his hands in the depths of his blonde hair. The treatise slipped from Alhaitham's grip and splayed out on his chest, his reading place gone in a heartbeat. He huffed with annoyance, but his housemate spoke before he could.

"Really? Fake emotions? I wouldn't dare accuse you of something so close to actual, human motivations!" Kaveh's red-gold eyes glared at Alhaitham over the spine of the scribe's book.

Alhaitham didn't bother to move at all. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other."

"Just open the present, you stubborn old Sumpter Beast!"

"Resorting to name-calling? Huh, I thought you had at least a bit more intelligence than that." Despite his disparaging words, Alhaitham deigned to sit up at last, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch. He closed his book and set it neatly on the coffee table, eying the thick package next to it. "Dare I guess what you got me?"

"No! No guessing! Last year you guessed all your presents and spoiled everything!" Kaveh crossed his arms and scooted back, tucking his moccasined feet under him as he did so.

Alhaitham shook his head with a slight smirk. "Fine, I'll just guess in my head. And I'll still be right."

He ignored Kaveh's squawked displeasure and began the unwrapping process. It wasn't long before the last shred of paper gave way and slid from the gift. "Ah, as I thought. It's the book on Irminsul that I was thinking of getting. I'm surprised you were able to afford it with your budget."

All the air leaked out of Kaveh as he stared at Alhaitham flatly. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother being nice to you. It's Christmas! Can't you say anything friendly at all?!"

Alhaitham considered. "Well, I suppose I'm grateful that you know my interests so well and chose to spend your ridiculously hard-earned money on something I could've bought myself."

"That's the best you've got? I'm done!" Kaveh leaped off the couch and stormed away, his irritated mutters occasionally pitching high enough for Alhaitham to hear. "Could've bought it himself—yeah right! Hah—'Merry Christmas, Alhaitham!'—worked so hard—thought it was so perfect—"

The scribe watched him go, unoffended. Wait for it…

"Ack! Alhaitham! What—what's this—WHY IS THERE AN INCREDIBLY UGLY STATUE OF AN ARANARA IN MY ROOM?!" Kaveh's outraged voice echoed down the hallway, so loud that his most recently adjusted painting slipped sideways a fraction. Alhaitham watched in silent amusement.

"ALHAITHAM!"

He finally replied as he curled his legs casually underneath him and settled back into the cushions. "I thought it suited you."

Apparently his call was loud enough to drift down the hallway. Kaveh's sputters were practically solid enough to set a book on. "Suited me?! An Aranara?!"

Alhaitham didn't respond, waiting for the next reaction. Sure enough, Kaveh's furious yelps cut off abruptly. "What's that in its hand? Is that a… Alhaitham!"

The architect stormed back into the sitting room, his cheeks flushed bright red. He waved a book over his head. "What's this? Am I supposed to be consoled by whatever this is?! You know I'm an artist, not a reader, right? I'm not so hard up for entertainment that I'll turn into you. I don't like to read esoteric ancient tomes just for the fun of it!" Still with that insulted look on his face, Kaveh flipped the book open. "I don't want to read 'Diagrams Of The Palace—Of—Gurubad—' What?!" His head shot up. "How in Teyvat did you get a book of diagrams from the palace of Gurubad?!"

"Doesn't matter. If you don't like it, give it back. I'll turn it in at the House of Daena." Alhaitham stretched out a hand for the book, only for Kaveh to recoil, hugging the ancient tome to his chest.

"Oh no you don't! Do you have any idea how priceless this is? Oh, the styles I can come up with! The designs just waiting to be read and refined!" Kaveh's red-gold eyes misted as he gazed off into the distance.

Alhaitham waited a moment, then asked dryly, "Are you done?"

The blonde Ksharewar snapped back to reality. "Alhaitham, this is—this is—I can't even tell you how much this means to me!" He clutched the book tighter. "I still can't believe it's mine."

Shrugging, Alhaitham leaned forward to pick up the treatise that had kept him engrossed before the whole gift exchange debacle. "At least it'll keep you out of my hair for a while."

Kaveh's fumbled annoyance was both automatic and halfhearted, all his attention riveted to his new treasure. He wandered out of the room, his nose buried in the antiquated pages.

Softly Alhaitham said, "Merry Christmas, Kaveh." He was glad the architect was so absorbed, because the scribe's satisfied smile couldn't quite hide behind his book.