Chapter Text
Port Ormos, by virtue of its location, functioned as one of Sumeru’s foremost centers of commerce. With easy access to the entirety of the Nation of Wisdom by land or water, nearly all of the materials imported from nations like Liyue, Mondstadt, and Inazuma entered through one of the harbor's many, many visiting merchants.
This same quality made Port Ormos an exceptional place to visit for anybody looking for a bit of… anonymity.
You see, it's easy to become a nameless face in an overbearing crowd. With the decommissioning of the Akasha network, going unrecognized to make a few purchases was more simple than ever. If you knew where to go, that was.
Many took advantage of such abrupt freedom. The sale of Canned Knowledge, for example, had exploded in the months since the abrupt release of the nation's archon. With the Akasha network down, desperate scholars turned more and more frequently to the purchase of such knowledge rather than waiting in extensive lists for a chance to borrow a much-needed book from the House of Daena.
(Alhaitham was not particularly fond of this development. Luckily, the General Mahamatra was already well on his way to addressing the sudden boom in business, aided and abetted by a familiar figure topped with blond.)
However, there were plenty of perfectly legal merchants to be found as well.
Why might someone make the journey from Sumeru City to the portside town just to purchase a few things? Well.
Alhaitham stepped into too-warm tent and let the cloth curtain fall closed behind him. The air was heavily perfumed, almost dripping with the cloying scent of cinnamon and musk and artificial flora. His nose wrinkled in distaste.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the low lamplight. Even with the sun beating down on the fabric, casting a red glow over the low tables of wares waiting to be perused, it was difficult to make out more than vague shapes after the sharp brightness of the sunlight outside.
A tinkling laugh alerted him to the presence of the merchant this tent assumedly belonged to. Alhaitham turned and offered an obligate tilt of his head.
“My, what a handsome young man,” the shopkeeper simpered. Alhaitham ignored her.
The table nearest Alhaitham was draped in golden cloth. He approached it, allowing his eyes to scan over the array of phallic objects on its surface.
“Mmm, right to business then, are we?”
Alhaitham said nothing. Many of the dildos on the table's surface came with small tags. Cramped handwriting on peachy parchment indicated the inspiration behind each model. Alhaitham picked up the one that claimed to be modeled after the most recent Grand Sage, analyzed it for a moment, and set it back down gently.
(Not even close.)
“If you're looking for an insertable,” the woman began, voice sticky-sweet like summer sap from a fresh cut tree, “might I suggest–”
“I'm not.”
She stopped, eyeing him for a moment, before offering him a slightly strained grin.
“Ah, of course, my mistake, my mistake. Our penetrables are on the far side, sir.”
Alhaitham turned without acknowledging her. True to her word, there was a table pressed against the tent’s far edge that seemed to offer far more useful objects.
“We offer a number of models,” the woman said. She seemed to almost scurry through the shop. The jewelry on her wrists and ankles chimed with each step she took as she rounded Alhaitham to approach the table at his side. Much like the first table, its surface was covered with a selection of items in a myriad of colors. She picked up one from the center, its fleshy material colored a shimmering gold, and proffered it to him.
“This one, for example, is meant to be modeled after the Tianquan of–”
“I do not want anything of the sort.”
She frowned, and Alhaitham enjoyed the slight spark of humor at the way her jaw tightened.
“Then what, my good sir,” she said, her voice carefully controlled, “might I help you find?”
“I want nothing modeled after a person.” The idea was… strange, to put it mildly. Was that something others enjoyed? Imagining what it might be like to have sex with someone they would never get the chance to speak with? Alhaitham took in the collection of labeled items, even the ones claiming to accurately imitate archons, and barely resisted the desire to curl his mouth in distaste.
The women eyed him. In her hands, she still held the false gold toy. Its channel flexed as she squeezed the material between her palms.
“That's an odd request,” she finally said. There was something strange in her eyes that Alhaitham did not care to decipher. “Perhaps you already have somebody on your mind?”
Alhaitham crossed his arms.
“Do you have what I want, then?”
The woman nodded and returned the toy to its original place. From beneath the table, she pulled a wooden trunk. Its latches opened with dull metal clicks. From inside its cotton-lined core, she pulled a perfectly average looking item. Unlike the ones on the table, this one did not feature any decorative markings or pops of color. It was simply flesh toned, about half the length of Alhaitham's forearm. Other than the rounded entrance, it might as well have been a simple cylinder of fleshy material.
“This one,” the woman said. “Modeled after nobody, and therefore able to be anybody.”
Alhaitham reached for the mora pouch at his waist. “Acceptable. How much?”
Five minutes of haggling and a lighter mora pouch later, Alhaitham stepped out of the tent and into the fresh air with his package securely wrapped and under his arm. His business in Port Ormos completed, he followed the path out of the bustling town until the stone beneath his feet returned to loose dirt and the sounds of people faded away to be replaced with running water and the call of distant dusk birds.
It was a hassle to travel this far to make a single purchase. In the past, Alhaitham had simply wandered down Treasures Street to the bazaar and purchased anything he might need, personal or not, at one of the many stalls that could be found there. But that was before the mantle of Acting Grand Sage had settled heavy on his shoulders. Gone were the days of quiet anonymity as the Scribe. Now, people he did not know called out to him by name.
Alhaitham felt no shame in his purchase. Meeting his needs was a perfectly acceptable use of his mora and time, and it was far preferable to the thought of finding a faceless partner to satiate his desires. However, he now ran the risk of the person running the booth recognizing him, or worse, wanting to talk to him about something.
Once again, Alhaitham thought about turning in his resignation. He had tried thrice already, only for Nahida to talk him into just another week, another month. Annoying, to be sure, but Alhaitham couldn’t argue with her logic. Sumeru needed somebody trustworthy in this most important position of power. It needed someone who would not be moved by the power struggles happening across all the darshans.
Which meant that, quite unfortunately, they needed Alhaitham.
Alhaitham sighed and set his mind to other matters as he followed the path along the river and back to Sumeru City.
The city was quieting itself by the time Alhaitham entered the city gates. Twilight was settling its blanket over the city streets, bringing with it the sounds of nighttime and a blissfully cooling wind.
When Alhaitham unlocked his door, it was to an empty home. Kaveh wasn’t meant to be home until later in the evening, as he had not-so-kindly reminded Alhaitham that morning as he’d breezed out the door with Mehrak in hand. A client had invited him out for dinner and drinks to celebrate a finished design, and Kaveh was not the kind of person to turn down such an invitation. It was, in the end, why Alhaitham had chosen today to make his journey to Port Ormos. The promise of some quiet time to himself meant that he could clean his new implement thoroughly before his roommate returned.
(Alhaitham felt no shame over his purchase, but he was sure Kaveh would not share his sentiments, and Alhaitham had neither the desire nor the patience to listen to Kaveh ream him out over using one of their cooking pots to disinfect his new toy.)
He shrugged out of his cloak and hung it on its hook by the door. His boots followed close behind.
First, he would set a pot of water to boil. Then, while the water heated, he would gather the other things he would need: a bottle of oil, namely, along with something to eat for dinner. It seemed unlikely that Kaveh would bring anything home for him, given that he was out with a client and wouldn’t want them to know that he shared a home with someone else. There was some leftover tajine in the fridge from a couple of nights ago that would do well enough.
By the time dinner was reheated, the water was bubbling merrily in its pot. Alhaitham unwrapped the package that he had set on the counter. In the center of the tissue paper, unassuming but clearly meant for one purpose, laid the toy he’d purchased earlier. Alhaitham picked it up and turned it over in his hands. While he’d inspected it for flaws in the woman’s shop, he hadn’t really thought about its purpose other than the bare minimum necessary to make the decision. But now, he couldn’t help but gently prod at the puckered entrance off the toy with his thumb. The material of the toy was remarkably lifelike, really. Almost like flesh, but without the heat. Alhaitham pinched a bit of the rounded material alongside the channel’s entrance to test the resistance and found it surprisingly strong.
A shivering spark of anticipation caught him by surprise. Then again, it had been too long since Kaveh had gone out for the evening, and even longer since Alhaitham had done more than hastily jerk himself off in the bath, one hand around his cock and the other covering his own mouth to muffle any sounds that might escape. It made sense that his body would respond to the promise of relief. Nothing more.
Still, the woman’s voice seemed to echo back to him as he dropped the toy into the boiling water.
“Modeled after nobody, and therefore able to be anybody.”
Alhaitham turned his back on the pot to spoon his food onto a plate.
“Perhaps you already have somebody on your mind?”
How embarrassing, to be seen through so quickly.
Alhaitham finished his food quickly. He was on a time limit, even if it was rather generous. Kaveh would probably stumble home around midnight, cheeks bright and eyes brighter with the flush of wine and success, and Alhaitham would be sitting on the divan pretending that he was only up because he was engrossed in his reading and not because he wanted to see Kaveh get home safely.
He dumped the dirty dishes in the sink without washing them. Kaveh would take care of them tomorrow, or he would get them after his bath if he wasn’t too tired. He had better things to spend his evening on, after all.
Carefully, wary of the boiling water and the possibility of damaging the toy, he pulled the implement from the boiling water to lay it on a towel on the counter. Steam rose from the artificial flesh surface. The rest of the boiling water went down the drain. The pot joined the dishes in the sink, but the toy and the towel it laid on went with Alhaitham down the hall and into the bathroom.
It didn’t take long to run a bath, and soon Alhaitham was settled with his back to the tub’s wall with the still-warm toy in his hand. He was half-hard already as he gently pressed his thumb into the opening of the toy just enough to allow him to see inside of it. The inside was the same material as the outside, with ribbing and texture throughout. His cock twitched.
With his free hand, he worked the stopper off of a little vial of oil. While the water would ease the slide a bit, the oil would help, and Alhaitham didn’t want to tear his new toy so soon. The oil added a shine to the opening that glistened in the low light.
He shifted, spread his legs a bit wider, and brought the opening of the toy beneath the water to rub his cockhead against it. A low groan echoed off the bathroom walls. Unbidden, Alhaitham’s eyes closed. His head fell back to rest against the cool edge of the tub.
As he dragged the toy along his length, smearing the heated skin with oil, he let his mind wander. It was familiar territory for moments like this.
When he had been younger, he had fought this particular habit as well as he could. He’d keep his mind purposefully blank, focusing only on the sensations of his hand or whatever makeshift toy he’d fashioned. When that hadn’t worked, he’d tried thinking of other people, but that was worse than thinking of nothing at all.
Nowadays, he simply allowed his mind to go where it always wanted to return to anyway.
“Kaveh,” he moaned as he shifted his hips and allowed just the head of his cock to press inside the toy. It was tight, so much tighter than Alhaitham had expected.
He wondered if Kaveh would be this tight, then dismissed the question. It wasn’t like he’d get an answer. Still, the thought stuck around, and Alhaitham was accustomed to allowing himself to sink into the fantasy, so he let it go without too much of a fight.
The Kaveh in his head was confident, smirking up at him with that familiar fire behind his eyes. Alhaitham wanted to kiss him, but that wasn’t unusual either. Kaveh had a mouth meant for kissing. Alhaitham rocked up into the toy as he pressed it down. He’d known that doing this in the water would render the oil less useful, but the tightness felt good , and the water helped enough that the friction stayed just on the right side of good as he slowly sunk into the toy to the base.
Alhaitham set a slow, lazy pace with his hands and his hips. He had no reason to rush, after all. It was peaceful, in a way. Just the sound of water rippling against the sides of the tub and the occasional low moan or exhale as Alhaitham let himself fade into the fantasy in his head.
They always varied. Sometimes, he would fuck Kaveh with every ounce of strength he had, on his hands and knees as he fucked into his palm with gritted teeth until he was left with stained sheets and sweaty skin. Other times, he would lay on his back and imagine Kaveh riding him, his thighs quivering on either side of him as he rose and fell onto Alhaitham’s cock.
The toy around his cock was warm from the bathwater, almost enough for Alhaitham to convince himself that it could be Kaveh, that the artificial flesh squeezing his cock could be real, that Kaveh would allow Alhaitham to spread him out on the too-large bed in Alhaitham’s room and fill him. The image was enough that Alhaitham had to slow down to keep himself from cumming already.
He shifted onto his knees and turned to pin the toy between himself and the side of the tub. He would fuck Kaveh like this, bent over the side of the bed, or the divan, or the desk in the study. Anywhere Kaveh would allow it, honestly. Alhaitham wasn’t picky, other than that it was Kaveh whose heat surrounded his cock, that it was his name Kaveh called out when he came.
Alhaitham groaned, louder this time, as his hips sped up. Water sloshed over the side of the bath, covering the tile of the bathroom, but Alhaitham didn’t care. He would clean it up later, when he wasn’t on the edge, when his cock wasn’t twitching as he imagined Kaveh’s hands scratching along the dark wood of Alhaitham’s desk as he moaned. Kaveh, up on the balls of his feet, his ass presented to Alhaitham. His cheek pressed to the wood so he could look back and see Alhaitham, those dark eyes shimmering with promise. His lips, red from being bitten, damp with saliva as Kaveh licked them. The way they’d shape themselves around Alhaitham’s name as Kaveh’s eyes closed tight, as he–
Alhaitham came with a loud grunt, the toy tight around his cock as he slammed into it once, twice, before filling it fully with his cock. He rocked his hips into it through the aftershocks, until the friction tipped over the borderline between pleasure and pain. Alhaitham slid it off of his cock with a groan and released it in favor of falling back to lean against the wall of the tub.
For a time, Alhaitham simply allowed himself to float. The water was warm, and his muscles relaxed. But the nagging reminder of Kaveh’s eventual return to their home finally motivated Alhaitham to fish the toy from where it had settled on the base of the tub. He set it aside outside the basin and reached instead for his soap. He’d wash quickly and return the toy to his room before Kaveh’s key ever entered the lock.
Twenty minutes later, Alhaitham was settled on the divan in sleep clothes when Kaveh came stumbling through the door. He looked a little worse for wear as Alhaitham looked him over. The telltale flush of alcohol was there, settled high on his cheekbones, but the sweat that shimmered on his brow and at his throat was unusual. It wasn’t a particularly warm night out, and surely drinking wasn’t such a strenuous activity that Kaveh had somehow worked up a sweat at the tavern, had he?
“Rough night, senior?” Alhaitham asked as Kaveh shucked his cloak. Even shaken as he was, he still hung it neatly on its hook. A good sign.
“None of your business,” Kaveh replied. Alhaitham raised an eyebrow, but Kaveh ignored him.
“Suit yourself.”
Kaveh moved through the room with a strange delicacy, as though something was hurting him and he was doing his best to deal with the discomfort. Finally, he dropped himself onto the divan at Alhaitham’s side and let out a long sigh.
Alhaitham eyed him out of the corner of his eye. Kaveh looked tired. He normally looked tired when he came home from the tavern, but not like this. As Alhaitham watched, Kaveh shifted uncomfortably. He pulled a leg underneath himself and relaxed immediately after. He laid his head over the back of the divan, eyes closed.
They sat side by side for a while. Alhaitham reached for the book on the coffee table after Kaveh’s grumbling and squirming settled itself. Kaveh wasn’t usually this fidgety, but maybe something had happened while he was out. Kaveh could get like this when he had something he wanted to talk to Alhaitham about but wasn’t sure how to approach the topic.
He peeked at Kaveh out of the corner of his eye just in time to watch Kaveh scowl and pull a leg up and underneath himself. It was almost as though he was trying not to put too much pressure on his rear while he sat. As though…
Alhaitham's mood soured abruptly.
In theory, it was none of Alhaitham's business where Kaveh went. Any claim Alhaitham might have once had to decide what Kaveh could or could not do had been long surrendered to the sands of time.
In practice, though… well. Alhaitham had thought they were healing. Not enough to delude himself into thinking there was something between them, but perhaps it could be enough for Kaveh to tell him about his evening plans truthfully. Alhaitham didn't care one way or another if Kaveh wanted to dally with strangers. It didn't affect him if Kaveh wanted to wander the tavern until he found someone to take him home.
(Alhaitham had never been good at lying to himself.)
Kaveh shifted again. It was subtle, but Alhaitham had eyes enough to recognize that Kaveh was clearly sore.
He stared, unseeing, at the page in front of him.
It wasn’t his problem. Kaveh had every right to go home with anyone he pleased. And yet, this didn’t stop his brain from supplying him with all kinds of imagery. Kaveh, eyes softened and sultry from the buzz of wine in his veins. His artist fingers dragging along the skin of someone’s inner arm. Had the stranger held Kaveh’s waist between their palms? Did they appreciate the subtle softness that had finally begun to come in over the sharpness of his bones? Did they know that Kaveh would stand in front of their shared bathroom mirror and pinch at his skin, picking himself apart the way he would with a piece of art, as though he wasn’t more beautiful than every sculpture that had ever come beneath the appraising eyes of each and every master that came before him?
Kaveh on his knees, his mouth open and inviting for someone else to drag their cock along his tongue. On a bed, chest pressed into the sheets as he lifted his ass in invitation. Kaveh, his normally sharp voice gone shivery with need as he begged this stranger to fill him, as though anybody would be able to take care of Kaveh the way Alhaitham could–
The book in his hands closed with a snap. Kaveh jumped at the sound only to hiss as the movement put weight on his already-sensitive body. The reminder did nothing to alleviate Alhaitham’s already miserable mood.
“I’m going to bed,” he said without any preamble. Kaveh blinked at him. The wine dulled his reflexes, rendering him less lion and more kitten trembling in the cold.
“Oh,” he replied softly. “Are you… sure?”
Alhaitham stood without responding and dropped the book on the coffee table with a dull thump.
“Well, goodnight then,” Kaveh called after Alhaitham’s retreating back. The only response offered was the thud of the door closing between them.
Alone once more, Alhaitham sat at the foot of his bed and tried to calm down. He was being ridiculous. Worse, he knew it was ridiculous. He was not the kind of person to jump to conclusions without evidence, and he was not so far gone as to pretend that he had any sort of evidence for his conclusions.
Kaveh always managed to be his exception, didn’t he.
Alhaitham yanked his shirt over his head. He’d be true to his word and call it an early night. Maybe some extra sleep would help him regain control over himself.
He went about his evening routine without much thought. He determinedly did not think about Kaveh as he did so, even though he could hear him shuffling around in the living room. It was a relief when he heard the click of Kaveh’s own door closing. Maybe he would call it an early night as well, and they could both pretend like Alhaitham’s behavior hadn’t been strange the night before.
It was only when Alhaitham opened his bedside drawer to deposit his earpieces on their chargers when he spotted the toy from earlier. He’d wrapped it in a scarf to protect it, but it wasn’t hard to guess what might be wrapped up like this in his drawer.
Alhaitham pulled it out and unwound the silky fabric from around it.
He shouldn’t. Laying around and fantasizing about Kaveh once was already enough for one day. And yet…
The images from earlier flashed through his thoughts again. This time, instead of a faceless figure, it was Alhaitham with his hands wrapped around the dips of Kaveh’s waist. It was his cock Kaveh knelt before, a smirk on his face as he wrapped his hands around Alhaitham’s calves and waited for Alhaitham to guide his cock into his waiting mouth.
“Fuck,” Alhaitham groaned quietly as he reached for the vial of oil in the drawer.
Maybe that was what he needed. Get it out of his system, like pulling a splinter from his skin. Just once more surely couldn’t hurt.
He used two fingers to pull at the opening enough to drizzle some oil inside of it before setting the vial aside. The toy pressed back at his fingers, trying to close around his fingertips in a way that sent heat straight through him. He shifted until his back was against the headboard of his bed, supported as well as he could by the few pillows he kept on his bed, and turned his attention back to the toy.
The entrance of the toy was damp with oil, and this time Alhaitham allowed himself to give in to the thought he’d had earlier. He wasn’t under time pressure in the same way, so if he wanted to gently press a finger inside the toy to the second knuckle and imagine the way Kaveh would moan for him, well… maybe it was just what he needed.
He would be the one to prep Kaveh, of course. As much as the opposite image made him shudder– Kaveh on his back, eyes barely slits as he twisted himself up, two fingers deep in his hole as he worked himself open– Alhaitham wanted it to be him. He needed to know what Kaveh felt like around his fingers, how Kaveh would rock himself back into Alhaitham’s fingers. He would do it with Kaveh on his back, so he could watch Kaveh’s cock bob against his stomach and smear precum over silky skin. He imagined Kaveh would be shy at first. He would cover his face with his arms and try to hide from Alhaitham’s searching gaze. But Alhaitham wouldn’t allow it.
“Let me see you,” he moaned, barely a breath, to the Kaveh in his mind as he pressed a second finger inside the toy’s hot channel. His imagination made the faux skin feel warmer than it surely was, a pale mimicry of how hot Kaveh’s hole would be around his fingers, but even the imagined heat was enough to make Alhaitham ache to be inside of the toy.
“So much,” Kaveh would moan, but he would still fuck himself back onto Alhaitham’s fingers with shameless need. True to Alhaitham’s request, he would uncover his face, letting his hands come down to twist up in the dark green fabric of Alhaitham’s quilt. Alhaitham groaned again, a little louder this time, as he pulled his fingers from the toy’s hole with a wet sound. He carelessly smeared the extra oil over his cock, already damp with dripping pre-cum. Another time, maybe, he would move, kneel over Kaveh and make him lick the head of his cock clean.
He lined the toy’s entrance up with his cock and pressed in slowly. God , what he wouldn’t give to have it really be Kaveh in his lap. Alhaitham would be so gentle with him as Kaveh worked himself down onto Alhaitham’s cock. He wouldn’t buck, or move, or do anything other than throw his head back and moan as he was surrounded in Kaveh’s heat until Kaveh was full all the way to the base, and then Kaveh would moan–
Just like that.
Alhaitham went still. Normally, he would miss the sound entirely. Even when he went to bed, he usually kept his earpieces on until he laid down to sleep. It was more comfortable that way, and it allowed Kaveh to have some time to be loud and make noise without Alhaitham daydreaming about dragging him into his bed and forcing him to sleep at a reasonable time.
But tonight, he’d taken his earpieces off. Which meant that he could hear Kaveh on the other side of their shared bedroom wall.
The building had always been meant to be used as a research center. That meant that the soundproofing between the walls was, well… not the best, to put it mildly. Normally, this only meant that Alhaitham would lay awake at night and listen to Kaveh banging away on this project or that repair to Mehrak until he either banged on the wall himself or put his earpieces on to try to get some uninterrupted sleep.
The sound reaching Alhaitham through the walls tonight wasn’t hammering, though.
Alhaitham waited, heart hammering in his chest, cock still buried in his new toy, but no more sound managed to reach his ears. That was fine though. Alhaitham could probably live on nothing but the singular sound he’d managed to hear over the wet sounds of his toy. A little whine, throaty and breathless and stomach-twistingly familiar.
Alhaitham leaned back and let the sound replay in his head. His teeth dug into his cheek to silence his own voice as he imagined what might cause Kaveh to make such a sound. Maybe he had just kicked his bed frame with bare feet, or caught his thumb on the sharp edge of something on his desk.
Or maybe, just maybe, Kaveh was laying in his bed across the hall doing exactly what Alhaitham was doing.
Kaveh, with a slick hand wrapped around his cock, the elegant curve of his spine as he curled over himself to chase his own release into his palm. Long artist’s fingers teasing the underside of his length, thumb brushing across the slit of his cock to gather the leaking wetness there and smear it across his skin, letting it mix with the oils he’d already dripped over himself.
Alhaitham’s cock twitched. He dragged the toy slowly upwards.
In the other room, another small sound. This one more choked, like it had been cut off before it even began.
He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t.
It was only a few feet between him and the wall that kept his room and Kaveh’s separated. He turned and pressed his ear to the wall.
There’s nothing. No sounds, no moans, nothing. Not even the scratch of a quill on paper. Disappointment gripped Alhaitham by the throat. It was an invasion of privacy, but right now all Alhaitham could think about was how desperate he was to hear Kaveh.
Please.
If Kaveh were in the room with him, he would beg. Unashamed and without remorse, just for a chance to hear Kaveh moan his name.
He turned until his back was resting against the wall and thrust into the toy as he released the tight grip he kept on his fantasies. On the other side of the wall, Kaveh let out a low groan. Alhaitham’s head fell back to the wall with a thud.
Would Kaveh let Alhaitham fuck him like this? Against a wall, Kaveh’s breath hot against Alhaitham’s neck as they chased their release together? Alhaitham swallowed a moan and set a brutal pace with the toy in his hand. He could almost imagine it was Kaveh instead, hot and tight as Alhaitham pounded into him. The wet slap of skin as his hips collided with the softness of Kaveh’s ass. The curve of his hips into the lithe line of his waist, perfectly shaped for Alhaitham to grip him tight and pull him back onto his cock. He would be so warm beneath Alhaitham’s palms, lips shiny and spit-slick as he fought for air between breathless kisses.
Kaveh moaned again, louder this time. Muffled by the wall, but clear enough. Alhaitham’s free hand came down to his side and pressed against the wall behind him. Maybe Kaveh was just on the other side of the wall, reaching for Alhaitham the way Alhaitham reached for him. Their hands hovering over each other, palm to palm with only thin planks between them.
In the end, it wasn’t the sound of Kaveh’s growing moans that did it, or even the way the channel of the toy seemed to squeeze tighter around Alhaitham’s cock with every thrust. It was the idea of Kaveh’s palm against his, fingers twining together, heat trapped between them that finally pushed Alhaitham over the precipice. He came with a grunt, slamming into the toy until the rounded opening was buried against the skin of his pelvis. His cock twitched, held tight by the way the toy clenched around it.
On the other side of the wall, Kaveh made a muffled sound that rang in Alhaitham’s ears as loudly as if Kaveh had screamed.
Alhaitham’s legs quivered, and he allowed himself to sink down until he was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. He exhaled slowly and pulled the toy off of his sensitive cock before dropping it on the floor beside him. It would probably make a mess, but he couldn’t summon the energy to care. Not when his mind was full of the sounds he’d heard Kaveh making. Not when he was busy imagining Kaveh making those sounds for him.
He sat there, breathing through the endorphins, until he heard the telltale sound of Kaveh’s door opening, followed by the slamming of the bathroom door in the hall.
What did Kaveh look like now? Were his cheeks flushed from the effort? If Alhaitham looked him in the eyes right now, would they shine like they did whenever Kaveh was truly happy?
The desire to know pulsed in time with his racing heart.
It was a bad choice. Alhaitham knew that even as he pulled on the first pair of pants he could find, even as he dropped the toy in the laundry basket to be dealt with later, even as he pulled his door open. Every step he took was another chance to stop, but he didn’t. He couldn’t .
And then he was standing in front of the bathroom door, staring at the thin sliver of light that slipped out beneath the crack of the door. Kaveh was on the other side. Would his heart still be racing, the way Alhaitham’s tried to beat its way out of his chest? Would he tremble? How would he react if Alhaitham finally crossed that last thin line dividing them, if he reached out and cradled Kaveh’s delicate jaw in his hands?
Alhaitham stood there, torn between knocking and throwing himself at Kaveh’s feet or waiting for the door to open on its own. Which would be the right choice? Which one would Kaveh prefer?
Then the door flung open and the choice was ripped from Alhaitham’s hands.
Their eyes met. The light from the bathroom made it difficult to tell what Kaveh’s expression was. Was he upset to find Alhaitham outside the door? Shy? Angry?
Did he feel like Alhaitham did?
“Kaveh,” Alhaitham said. He stepped forward, intending to reach for Kaveh’s hand, but then Kaveh moved and the look in his eyes made Alhaitham still.
“Alhaitham,” Kaveh said, his voice wavering. “Something’s wrong.”