[ It's annoying, but nothing can quite stop the way relief looks on him when Alhaitham tells him to forget what he said earlier about Kaveh needing to find somewhere new to live. It's enough of a positive feeling in fact that he even forces himself to ignore that little jab about him being self-aware, focusing instead on the positives in this momentโ and really, the fact that there are positives at all is somewhat of a miracle considering how this whole mess started.
He should probably, he thinks, check in on the bruise he can see on the scribe's jaw. Despite his anger in the moment, he feels genuinely bad that he's hurt it enough to bruise. He starts to lift a hand, but he's interrupted in the process when a hand comes instead to his face, a grip on his chin and an intense gaze on his face that makes him freeze for a second or two, a stutter on his lips.
Oh, come on...
The reaction is almost instantaneous, once he realizes what's going on; he jerks his head to the side, forcing Alhaitham's hand to fall away. Unfortunately, though, that quick movement doesn't stop the color from creeping darker and higher up his cheeks. ]
What? No, I'm fine. No worse than usual.
[ It's not quite true; it's a bear of a hangover actually. But he's already shown quite enough weakness today, thank you very much... especially with this stupid blush that seems to remain particularly insistent on betraying him.
Thankfully, he's reasonably sure that Alhaitham is clueless when it comes to matters of attraction. Otherwise he might be in some hot water with this.
Although he's still smart enough to put two and two together if Kaveh isn't careful.
Perhaps a pivot, then. ]
...What about your jaw? [ He's careful this time not to follow his original instinct to reach up to touch the injuryโ nor does he apologize just yet. ] I see it left a bruise. Is it tender?
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He should probably, he thinks, check in on the bruise he can see on the scribe's jaw. Despite his anger in the moment, he feels genuinely bad that he's hurt it enough to bruise. He starts to lift a hand, but he's interrupted in the process when a hand comes instead to his face, a grip on his chin and an intense gaze on his face that makes him freeze for a second or two, a stutter on his lips.
Oh, come on...
The reaction is almost instantaneous, once he realizes what's going on; he jerks his head to the side, forcing Alhaitham's hand to fall away. Unfortunately, though, that quick movement doesn't stop the color from creeping darker and higher up his cheeks. ]
What? No, I'm fine. No worse than usual.
[ It's not quite true; it's a bear of a hangover actually. But he's already shown quite enough weakness today, thank you very much... especially with this stupid blush that seems to remain particularly insistent on betraying him.
Thankfully, he's reasonably sure that Alhaitham is clueless when it comes to matters of attraction. Otherwise he might be in some hot water with this.
Although he's still smart enough to put two and two together if Kaveh isn't careful.
Perhaps a pivot, then. ]
...What about your jaw? [ He's careful this time not to follow his original instinct to reach up to touch the injuryโ nor does he apologize just yet. ] I see it left a bruise. Is it tender?