Chapter Text
Kaveh was always a promise for that world of art, he had demonstrated it since he was little. He could ramble for hours and hours on that topic, and what more to say, it was something he 'inherited' from her mother. His mother is a famous artist, he made several illustrations for children's books, he also participated in some films and animated series. And the boy with ruby eyes was fascinated by everything he did.
It is well known that remembering school days is beautiful, even more so if you meet a person with whom you would spend hours, a person with whom you are comfortable. This is what you could say the friendship of Kaveh and Alhaitham was like.
They both met at school, Alhaitham was two years younger than Kaveh but he did not take away the fact that they would forge a friendship. The one with blonde hair was very attached to the one with silver hair, it didn't bother him much. They ate lunch together; They left classes together, if one left before the other, the other would wait for it. Kaveh even once accompanied Alhaitham to the class he was in and then went to his own class.
But of course, what starts well ends badly. In a disconcerting moment, their friendship broke down. It happened early in Kaveh's last year at school. At that time, the school decided that students from different years could participate in a group project, you would only have to write down your name and that's it.
At first there were 8 people in the group, they all left little by little until only Kaveh and Alhaitham remained. The project was about "Sumeria." There was a person in charge of the origin of the name and history, another of social organization, another of administration and politics, another person of religion and beliefs, one of agriculture and livestock, another of military characteristics... .
Kaveh was in charge of culture, encompassing architecture, mathematics, medicine and literature. Although in the end he ended up helping other people with their assigned tasks, ending up with more work than he should have done.
And Alhaitham took care of the language and writing. Which was about the Sumerian language.
“The Sumerian language is considered a language isolate, as it is not related to any known linguistic family, although many unsuccessful attempts have been made to relate Sumerian to other linguistic groups. Both languages used cuneiform writing, originally developed by the Sumerians and whose use surpassed that of the Sumerian language itself by more than a millennium.
Therefore, typologically, Sumerian differs notably from other languages of the region since Sumerian preferred to use affixes to express the same thing.”
he You should not have agreed to help others, now you are doing topics that are not of interest to you.
"They had said that they could not carry out this, the most logical thing was to provide my help. You could have done it anyway.”
"They, now they have crossed their name off the list, they just wanted to leave the project.”
Kaveh looked frustrated, Alhaitham couldn't really say why it was; He had heard from teachers that Kaveh's mother had left the country for another, but he never asked Kaveh if it was true or not.
"If they wanted to leave, it must have been because of your exasperating attitude. You have been a very irritating person during the times we have invested in doing this as a group.”
"Doing this project is becoming irritating."
There were raised voices, glances towards them and a bang on the table, leaving an Alhaitham alone and a Kaveh leaving the place. And as it was, the next morning their friendship ended.
Alhaitham's name was crossed out on the list, called 'Participants of the "Sumeria" project. 'And at the end of the day, Kaveh broke his part of the project. And when he repented, he was "fixed" by taping each piece of paper together.
That year, he was able to see Kaveh most of the breaks in the library or having lunch in the cafeteria. He was able to witness discussions that the older boy had with his friends, he observed that the one with ruby eyes was always on the defensive, but he had never intervened. He sometimes saw him with other people, other times only with one person but they were never the same. He didn't give it any importance.
Kaveh had graduated that same year. He saw him take his graduation diploma, dressed in that toga, the cape and that cap with the tassel; He had a kind and nervous smile, also noticing those dark circles under his eyes and it is most likely that they were from the nights that the blonde stayed up late while studying for his final exams.
And after the ceremony, he did not see the ruby-eyed young man again.
Alhaitham still had to finish his remaining years, which passed quickly. Soon he found himself taking his graduate diploma. And dressing the same way Kaveh dressed two years ago.
Thanks to Alhaitham's intelligence and wealth, he was able to afford to study outside the country. So that's how it was. Alhaitham moved to another country, and began studying a degree in 'Language and Literature'. And it went quite well.
Although what he dedicates himself to is writing scientific articles, his hobby was writing novels. He had met several people, although he did not form a friendship with any of them, there was one who did.
Her name was Kazuha, he had studied the same as him. He knew that the boy wanted to be a poet, he had uploaded some to related websites, he even uploaded some to Twitter and Facebook. 'This guy really is an edge in this field.' It was something Alhaitham thought.
He was currently in a cafe, while writing a new article. He had his headphones turned on while he was listening to some music, so he couldn't notice the arrival of the boy with the red hair. When he realized it, that's when he noticed a light touch on his arm.
The one with white hair touched him lightly with his index finger, giving him a small wave. At that moment, he stopped the music to remove his headphones and although he was still writing, he was paying attention to what the young man was saying.
“What are you spending time on now?” He asked in a soft voice. Any scientific article or a new novel?”
“A new article” he answered without looking up from his writing.
“So, did they offer you to participate in any?”
A feeling came from the one with turquoise eyes, putting aside the pen to grab his coffee and take a long sip. The one with carmine eyes nodded, he had a cup of matcha tea between both hands from which he took a sip. He carefully placed it on the table, now looking towards the window.
It was autumn and it was raining, the feelings of nostalgia would not take long to reach the thoughts of the one with hair like snow. Being able to hear the dull sound of a gunshot, the screeching sound of a car's wheels hitting the ground, and a sudden brake as it made a sudden turn around the corner coming out of the alley. And then, thunder, puddles of rain covered in red.
This day was like that night, a story of a young man that may be for another time.
He looked back at the silver-haired person, saw above him what he was writing, thus resting one of his cheeks on his right hand.
“Have you ever thought about returning to your country? My apologies if the question sounds sudden, but I always noticed that on vacation you always stay here. And even more so when having the magnificent opportunity to return…”
Alhaitham looked up, not blaming him. The young man with carmine eyes is a born observer. And his words are far from offensive; It's as if when this boy speaks, the only things that come out are flowers and not words. He is able to turn every word into a flower.
“There is no need to apologize, Kazuha. And…” he thought. “I never really brought it up. I don't have any family or friends waiting for me, so the point of going doesn't exist.”
“I understand, it's hard to go back to the place where you have nothing. There will be regret in your heart every time you know that that person is no longer in this world.”
Haitham knows who he is referring to. He didn't comment on anything. Kazuha likes to indirectly (sometimes directly) mention her deceased friend, but also her father and grandfather. And Alhaitham thinks about his grandmother.
“Why the question?”
“I was thinking about moving back, going back to where it all started... I was going to ask you if you would like to come with me.”
Both of the silver-haired man's eyebrows raised, was that what he said? He closed his eyes to take another sip of his coffee, picking up the pen again and continuing to write. As he drew out a light hum and then a final sigh.
“It would be nice to go back. When would it be?”
“It could be in a week, or when you finish that new article.”
“A week is fine, I have little left to finish this. You just have to transfer it to the computer and send it.”
“So, in a week?”
He nodded, and Kazuha gave a small laugh and smiled. He took a sip of her tea, then took out a notebook from her backpack and opened it. It was something simple, a pastel orange cover, somewhere between gray and orange although it looked more orange. It had an ornament in the shape of a maple leaf and at the bottom you could see some leaves of the same tree drawn, you know that the boy with red hair loves autumn.
Although her pen didn't seem to fit the notebook, it was one that had a cat design. Even if it's not the same theme, for some reason in her mind those two things complement each other perfectly.
“Writing a new poem?”
“Of course. A new haiku will be accompanied by an illustration that is related to what he wrote.” He commented. “This rainy day brings back memories and in turn makes inspiration bloom from the depths of my mind.”
“Actually, you are right. Days like this fill with inspiration.”
They both continued with their activities, although Kazuha was the first to leave. He had to go shopping and other things. He told Alhaitham that they will continue talking later.
Alhaitham left an hour later, to do more or less the same thing.
[…]
The last few days were normal, the one with turquoise eyes finished and sent the written article. He and Kazuha were talking about how the trip would be made. They agreed that they could live together if neither of them minded, Haitham agreed to live with the 23-year-old.
The boy was the one who bought the tickets too, he commented that a friend of his recommended an apartment near the city. Although he remembers how Kazuha's brow furrowed slightly at the mention of the city. It's noisy after all.
He is thinking of giving him some sound-canceling headphones, he knows that the boy has hearing sensitivity. On college days when there were storms, the one with carmine eyes looked terrible. You could see the discomfort he felt, those days he always left early because of the headache.
He let out a sigh, he was now waiting for Kazuha, he had already passed through those detectors. Whose author does not currently remember, excuse me. He had a box wrapped with a little bow. He really doesn't know if he will work or if he will like him. At least, it's the detail that counts.
“My apologies for being late.”
“Don't worry” he said, looking at the boy. “You're not late yet.”
“So... We can go now.”
They grabbed their things, the suitcases had to go to a different place* others could go with them. It was another expense to check in the luggage but if there was no other solution, it would have to be like this.
Alhaitham was not in favor of that, many times the luggage would be lost or something, and it would be difficult to recover it. So since he entered the plane he was thinking about that, the worry went to his luggage. And at the same time he tried not to think about it so much.
When they get to the new apartment he will give her what he had in his hands. Anyway, the trip will take a few hours.
[…]
It was a horror, he had to activate the sound cancellation practically the entire flight. The music was on all the time and still he couldn't rest. Now they were off the plane and with his luggage, at least the suffering ended.
Although they were waiting for a friend of Kazuha's to come for them, the wait was eternal. The constant sound of cars passing by, people screaming and constant beeping made him think his head was going to explode. He glanced occasionally at Kazuha, he had his wired headphones on. Maybe you're listening to a song or something to block out the noise.
“I think he's already there.”
“Are you OK?”
“Uh, yeah. Just... I feel like he's got a headache, I want to get home now…”
A dark blue car stopped in front of them, and a boy with sky blue hair got out. Maybe this is Ayato. A warm smile appeared on the carmine-eyed man's face; he believes they haven't seen each other in a long time. Seeing a person via video call is not the same as in person. Watching as he approached to open the trunk.
Alhaitham and Kazuha came over to leave the things inside, after that, Haitham sat in the back seats and Kazuha in the front. And he didn't pay that much attention to his conversation, he just put on his headphones and music and started watching some things on his phone. Among them, writing.
He didn't pay attention to the outside, he didn't give it any importance either. On the flight Kazuha mentioned going to the city afterwards, they could go to a cafe for a drink and see how everything changed.
A few minutes later they had arrived at the block of buildings, it was not in the center, but you could notice the number of people there. Still, they were in town. Near the center.
And the rest does not need explanations. They left their things in his apartment, later they will see who gets which room.
“There are various stores in the area where the coffee is, there is even one where there are quite a few articles to write. Pens, feathers... We could go later if you want.”
“That seems fine to me. My pen is almost running out.”
Kazuha nodded, they were walking towards the cafe. Maybe I'll give him that on his birthday, is it in October? Yes. They didn't talk much, it was nice to tell the truth, they were both fine with that. They only said something when it was time, he began to see big screens where they announced things.
In one it was a movie, "Elements." An animated film. In others they announced things from an anime series or even video games. He looked away to look at the cafe, Kazuha had entered first.
He was going to enter and he did, he had not paid attention to the music that was playing but for some strange reason that voice seemed familiar to him. Of course, it wasn't until he looked out the window that he saw Kaveh's name on a large screen, and was that voice Kaveh's?
For a moment, his mind had disconnected. I almost forgot what the voice of this boy was like who, unfortunately, I stopped hearing from him for so many years. Now I was listening to him sing.
Had that much time passed?
How much did that boy with golden hair and eyes change you rubies?