[ Funnily enough, for the first time ever Kaveh isn't genuinely asking if there's more he could have done. In a way, the question is rhetorical— something to make Alhaitham realize that the feeling was something insidious, something that took them both in its grasp despite everything between them being otherwise perfect.
(That said, he still would have made an effort to do more had the other man told him he could, and so the scribe's quick rejection is probably a wise move on his part.)
But despite that small misunderstanding, the architect's message seems to have gotten across, and he finds his smile turning to something a little more fond.
The questions that Alhaitham poses are wise, sensible, and Kaveh has answers to all of them as well as queries of his own: If the other is happy with it, he wants to move back in. Chalking it up to a misunderstanding makes the most sense, but some vulnerabilities have been uncovered— on both their parts— that may mean they have to tread more carefully for a while. They'll need to learn to be better about communicating with each other.
And as for the scribe: does he want his money repaid to him? The guilt says doubtlessly yes, but the Kaveh who is learning, the Kaveh who is trying to be an adult man in a semi-functioning relationship, says it's a question that has to be asked. Does he want it repaid— and if not, should they start saving instead, putting money aside for that house Kaveh has designed for them, or for something similar, something they can dream together?
His lips are halfway parted in reply when Alhaitham continues talking, and drops— with the straightest, most stoic face he's worn in the whole time Kaveh has been in his orbit— a bomb so powerful the blonde nearly staggers off the bed in shock. His eyes wide, he stares, and the tears he's worked so hard on keeping back the last week (largely failing, but he tried) spring instantly to his eyes, brimming and overflowing before he can voice more than a single syllable in reaction. ]
Good tears— [ he gasps out with a wet, breathless laugh, lest Alhaitham misunderstand as he has before; he reaches up to brush the tears from his lashes, shaking his head. ] I love you too.
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(That said, he still would have made an effort to do more had the other man told him he could, and so the scribe's quick rejection is probably a wise move on his part.)
But despite that small misunderstanding, the architect's message seems to have gotten across, and he finds his smile turning to something a little more fond.
The questions that Alhaitham poses are wise, sensible, and Kaveh has answers to all of them as well as queries of his own: If the other is happy with it, he wants to move back in. Chalking it up to a misunderstanding makes the most sense, but some vulnerabilities have been uncovered— on both their parts— that may mean they have to tread more carefully for a while. They'll need to learn to be better about communicating with each other.
And as for the scribe: does he want his money repaid to him? The guilt says doubtlessly yes, but the Kaveh who is learning, the Kaveh who is trying to be an adult man in a semi-functioning relationship, says it's a question that has to be asked. Does he want it repaid— and if not, should they start saving instead, putting money aside for that house Kaveh has designed for them, or for something similar, something they can dream together?
His lips are halfway parted in reply when Alhaitham continues talking, and drops— with the straightest, most stoic face he's worn in the whole time Kaveh has been in his orbit— a bomb so powerful the blonde nearly staggers off the bed in shock. His eyes wide, he stares, and the tears he's worked so hard on keeping back the last week (largely failing, but he tried) spring instantly to his eyes, brimming and overflowing before he can voice more than a single syllable in reaction. ]
Good tears— [ he gasps out with a wet, breathless laugh, lest Alhaitham misunderstand as he has before; he reaches up to brush the tears from his lashes, shaking his head. ] I love you too.