Haikaveh No Fallout-Long Distance Pining AU: Repost from deleted account
Instead of Kaveh working on a thesis project with Alhaitham, he got a once in a lifetime opportunity to work in Liyue to design and build the Jade chamber. Kaveh accepted the offer and promised Alhaitham to stay in contact.
Over the years, Kaveh and Alhaitham kept in regular contact. They were unable to visit one another due to their busy schedules. Kaveh did make the trip back to Sumeru to attend Alhaitham’s graduation ceremony. Kaveh was the only reason Alhaitham had decided to walk because while his grandmother could not attend his graduation, at least he will have someone cheer for him.
After 10 years, Kaveh heard about the corruption of the sages and how they were building a god. He received details from the Traveler about how they rescued Lesser Lord Kusanali and saved Sumeru with the help of the General Mahamatra, the Chief Officer of the Forest Rangers, and the Scribe of the Akademiya (Kaveh already met the traveler in Liyue since he works very closely with Ningguang).
Kaveh thought it was a funny coincidence that his best friend and one of the saviors of Sumeru work together in the Akademiya.
Kaveh received a letter from Alhaitham asking him to come back to Sumeru. This was a great opportunity to help improve the lives of the desert dwellers, which was a dream of Kaveh’s ever since he visited some relatives with his father when he was 5. Kaveh started to make plans for obtaining materials strong enough to reinforce the foundation of houses to withstand sandstorms. He had also started making plans to build a library and a school (he’s super rich, he built the Jade chamber and was a very successful architect in Liyue). Kaveh sent his agreement to Alhaitham and asked him for more information about the crisis.
Alhaitham started preparing for Kaveh’s arrival. He had discussions with Candace and Dehya about the help Kaveh can provide. Both ladies were excited to meet a friend of Alhaitham and had spilt the beans to the rest of the Sumeru crew. Cyno, who still had a very rocky relationship with Alhaitham, had started a betting pool on how Kaveh would be like. He bet on Kaveh being an Alhaitham 2.0 while Tighnari thought that Kaveh would be a massive pushover due to Kaveh’s reputation in the Akademiya (my head canon is that Kaveh is too friendly that students thought he was a pushover since he would help anyone regardless of his workload).
The first of the Sumeru crew to meet with Kaveh is Cyno due to his job as the General Mahamatra. He was in the area where Kaveh entered Sumeru and was processed. When Cyno heard the name, he wanted to meet the man and see what type of person Kaveh was. In the end, he found out that none of the Sumeru crew won the bet. Kaveh was unlike their expectations. He was an extrovert with a sunny personality. There was none of the cold demeanor nor people pleasing personality they expected.
Cyno introduced himself and invited Kaveh to dinner with the Sumeru crew. Kaveh thought that dinner was a great opportunity to meet the heroes of Sumeru. He trusted the characters of the acquaintances of the Traveler. He also wanted to meet the scribe and see if they attended the Akademiya together.
During the dinner, Alhaitham and Kaveh finally reunited. Kaveh arrived earlier than expected so Alhaitham was surprised to meet him at dinner. Kaveh was surprised that Alhaitham and the Scribe who saved Sumeru were one and the same. He was also surprised that Alhaitham was built like a brick wall. What business does a scribe have with muscles? What happened to the cute junior he had ten years ago?
On the other hand, Alhaitham was in awe of his senior. He had always known his love was beautiful, but he didn’t think a person could become more beautiful with age.
The Sumeru crew was amazed by how different yet similar Alhaitham with Kaveh. His tongue was still sharp, and he could throw barbs at Kaveh, but there was a softness to his features that they’ve never seen before. He tolerated Kaveh’s energy and loudness and hung onto his every word. Normally, he would normally just use his noise-canceling headphones and ignore them.
At the end of dinner, the Sumeru crew admitted that they were unprepared for Kaveh. No one won the bet, but they were glad they won’t deal with Alhaitham 2.0. Especially, since Kaveh is planning to stay and help long-term.
Alhaitham and Kaveh became roommates. Alhaitham convinced Kaveh to live with him to save money since Kaveh will finance the library and other projects. It took Kaveh a year for him to realize that Alhaitham is an adult now. He is no longer a child who needs camaraderie and protection from bullies. As Kaveh’s view changed, his feelings also changed. He eventually fell in love with him and decided to confess his feelings. Kaveh realized that Alhaitham would prefer a direct confession without a grand gesture. One evening, when Alhaitham was rereading a book on the different types of mushrooms over the different nations of Teyvat, Kaveh made his confession. Alhaitham, who dreamt of living with Kaveh forever since he was 10, accepted the confession.
