Chapter Text
Bright green eyes.
That was the first thing Kaveh had noticed, when he met Adler.
He had large, wide, beautiful and bright green eyes that were of the same shade as Alhaitham's.
They had met entirely by coincidence- Kaveh had been meeting up with a new potential client, discussing terms for a commission, when Adler had swept in from nowhere and exposed the client as a fraudster.
He had introduced himself as a visiting scholar from Mondstadt.
That was how Adler came into Kaveh's life- like a whirlwind and a bright and warm sun on a spring day.
"Senior Kaveh!" Adler exclaimed, running over, a delighted smile on his face. "You're early today." He stopped right in front of Kaveh, grinning, as he swept his fringe to the side where it joined the rest of his long dark blond hair.
"Of course, I was the one who asked to meet here, how could I be late?" Kaveh said, a smile automatically forming on his own face.
Adler smirked, his eyes twinkling slightly. "I don't know, perhaps you got distracted by another fraudster, asking 'Oh Lord Kaveh, will you build me a house'?"
"It was that one time," Kaveh said, his cheeks burning slightly. "You just happened to find me at a bad moment."
"Certainly, certainly," Adler said, mirth in his eyes, “How could anyone possibly fool the great Light of Kshahrewar?”
“Oh, stop it,” Kaveh said, covering his face with one hand in mortification. If this were Alhaitham, he would have continued to relentlessly tease Kaveh, but Adler was different. Adler was nice, unlike Alhaitham.
And because Adler was a nice person, he instead changed the subject. Casting a glance to the side, he said, “Since you’re early today, shall we head over to the worksite now? If we have time after, we could have dinner at the tavern.”
Kaveh hesitated.
Initially, he had planned to head home and cook dinner, and if Alhaitham were around, he would prepare enough dinner for both of them-
But Alhaitham was never around nowadays, and having dinner with Adler did seem nicer than eating all on his own at home...
“Why not?” Kaveh said, shrugging slightly, “I don’t have any other plans.”
“Excellent,” Adler said, and started striding forward, his heeled boots clacking rhythmically and his light blue coat drifting behind him.
Kaveh raised an eyebrow.
“Do you even know where The Greenhouse is?” Kaveh called out, hastily catching up with the other man, “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned to you where it was?”
“It’s obvious,” Adler said, slowing down slightly to match Kaveh’s pace. After a pause, he added, “And thank you for agreeing to show me around your worksite- it would be very helpful to my studies in architecture, Senior Kaveh.”
Senior Kaveh.
There were many in Sumeru who addressed him in this way, so when Adler had started calling him that, he had not thought much about it.
But as Adler continued to say it, it had started to feel... different.
Adler would say it with a teasing grin- a little like how Alhaitham had once said it, in the days of their youth when their friendship had not been marred by the tangled prickly history that they now shared. But Alhaitham had not said it like that in a long time- the only time he would ever acknowledge Kaveh’s seniority was when he was deliberately poking fun at Kaveh’s shortcomings, or when he wanted a favour from Kaveh.
Maybe this strange feeling must be because Kaveh had missed how things had used to been.
This must be the reason why something stirred in his heart when he heard it.
“Senior Kaveh?” Adler said quietly, and gently, coaxing Kaveh back out of his train of thought.
Kaveh smiled back at him. “You are most welcome, Adler.”
---
The Greenhouse was still early in the stages of construction, with piles of glass neatly stacked up by the corners. Only the scaffolding was finished, and the overall intended shape of the building could be vaguely seen if you knew what you were looking for.
"Fascinating," Adler said immediately, as they drew close. "You've designed it in the shape of a tree."
"Yes!" Kaveh said, pulling up the blueprint scroll, "I'm surprised you recognised it."
Adler continued to stare up at the scaffolding above and let out a thoughtful hum. "An Athel Tree, to be precise?"
Kaveh, still mid-unfurling the scroll, widened his eyes. "How did you know that?"
"The size and shape of the 'trunk', in proportion with the branches," Adler said, a small smug grin on his face.
"I don't think most people know what an Athel Tree is," Kaveh said, continuing to unfurl the scroll. "Even in Sumeru."
Adler laughed lightly. "I did say that I'm a scholar of many things. I dabble in a bit of everything."
"Right," Kaveh said, unable to keep the admiration out of his voice.
In some ways, Adler was a lot like Alhaitham.
Even though they looked nothing alike (other than the colour of their eyes), there was no denying the fact that Adler possessed a mind just as quick as Alhaitham's.
Kaveh would never admit it aloud, but Alhaitham was the smartest man he had ever met. There were definitely scholars who knew more than Alhaitham in a certain field, but when it came to breadth of knowledge, Alhaitham was unsurpassed. And even if Alhaitham knew nothing about a field, he could easily become an expert in it in an afternoon. That was how he could hold his own when they verbally sparred about Kaveh’s fields of interests, such as architecture or art history.
But perhaps, Alhaitham would meet his match in the form of this clever visiting scholar from Mondstadt.
Adler was just so quick with everything. Kaveh could vaguely allude to something, and Adler would immediately grasp what he was referring to, and even could give suggestions on it.
It was almost a shame that Adler wasn’t from Sumeru, because he was sure that places other than the Akademiya surely could not do justice to this man’s brilliance and intelligence. Even the librarian of the Knights of Favonius had been a student of the Akademiya.
But despite the fact Alhaitham and Adler’s minds were comparable, their personalities were like day and night. Like the sun and the moon. Adler was all easy smiles and a friendly countenance, while Alhaitham was a quiet tempest that whipped past people without regard nor care.
“Senior Kaveh,” Adler said, tilting his head to the side slightly, “A mora for your thoughts?”
“No thoughts,” Kaveh answered, as he proceeded to happily point out his other planned features for The Greenhouse. While it was no Palace of Alcazarzaray, being severely constrained by budget, Kaveh was very proud of what he had managed to come up with despite the limitations.
“It’s wonderful,” Adler affirmed, nodding as he surveyed the site around him with practised ease. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Light of Kshahrewar himself.”
And therein lay another key difference between Adler and Alhaitham.
Alhaitham would not praise him so openly- his compliments lay hidden behind the syntax of his words, buried amidst the thorns of his insults.
Kaveh knew that Alhaitham did appreciate his work, but sometimes he did wish that Alhaitham was not so critical all the time.
Because Kaveh was a people-pleaser- that much he was self-aware. And he often sought for the approval of those around him. Especially for the approval of Alhaitham.
On certain days, he did wonder why he bothered. Alhaitham himself certainly did not bother nor care about how Kaveh thought about him.
But no matter how hard Kaveh tried to steer his attention away, he always found himself hopelessly and helplessly running back to Alhaitham.
“You understand so much of the technical details- surely there is not much more you can learn from following me around,” Kaveh said, cutting off his own train of thought, trying to brush aside the painful memories, “Sumeru has other masters of their craft, might you be interested in following them around too? I have contacts in the Akademiya that I can-”
“Why?” Adler asked, tilting his head to the side again curiously. His large eyes were wide as they looked at Kaveh imploringly. He blinked once. “Are you sick of my presence already?”
“No, of course not!” Kaveh said quickly, waving his hands, flustered, “That’s not what I meant at all! It’s just that... Since you’re only visiting for awhile, I thought you might want to maximise your time, and there’s not much you can learn from just me-”
“You sell yourself short, Senior Kaveh,” Adler said, batting his eyes at him. He smiled, and Kaveh melted. “I like spending time with you. I thought you felt the same.”
“I do like spending time with you!” Kaveh said, tucking his blueprint back into his pocket, “In fact, I was wondering if you would like to meet for lunch some time soon? Perhaps... two days later?”
“Another worksite?” Adler asked, “Where would this one be?”
“No, I meant- purely for lunch,” Kaveh said, clearing his throat self-consciously, “Like a social call.”
Adler regarded him for a moment. His bright green eyes were glittering strangely, as though he could see something in Kaveh beyond what there was on the surface. Kaveh squirmed slightly. What was there to see? There was absolutely nothing. All there was to see was Kaveh, and Kaveh was just a complete mess. “I suppose we could meet for lunch,” Adler agreed, finally breaking his gaze away.
“Great! That’s arranged then,” Kaveh said, “So shall we head for dinner now?”
Adler responded with a brief nod.
Kaveh sighed internally.
What am I doing?
He just could not help himself- Adler was fun to be around, and it was a nice change of pace to take his mind away from thoughts of a certain annoying housemate.
A certain annoying housemate who never seemed to be around.
Alhaitham had been... distant, recently.
Nowadays, Kaveh would return home to an empty house. That was extremely out of the ordinary, given that Alhaitham absolutely hated working overtime. While his duties as the Acting Grand Sage doubtlessly required more of his time and attention now, even at the start of his appointment Alhaitham had still made it back before dinner time every night.
The only logical reason, Kaveh concluded, was that he must be caught up in some sort of major investigation. Because Alhaitham has not been back on time for a very long time, and some days he did not return at all.
Nonetheless, when Kaveh pushed the door open that evening, he hoped to see a familiar pair of boots on the threshold.
But no one was home.