[ And now, Kaveh needs gentleness. That's what Alhaitham decides when he watches the other man look up at him with such big eyes, such open vulnerability on his face. He knows he needs the reassurance, to know that Alhaitham isn't just saying it to say it but truly means it. There's no way his anxious brain will accept it otherwise and Alhaitham knows it.

So, he moves a hand, cups Kaveh's cheek while his other arm remains braced against the wall. With his hand he tilts Kaveh's head up to him so he can lean down and kiss him ever so gently. It's a soft, sweet kiss, none of that desperate hunger from before and just soft intimacy instead. He'll kiss him for a long moment before pulling away and he doesn't pull away too far. Just enough so he can rub his nose against Kaveh's, sweet. ]

Of course I am. I — [ He cuts himself off, uncharacteristic. But he's never had to voice these feelings before, never had to put them into words. He never had a friend he could talk about this with because really, that friend would've been Kaveh. Vulnerability doesn't really have a place in Alhaitham's life.

But he swallows, he takes a breath, he explains himself. ]

When we were students together, I was... smitten but I never did anything about it. Then you ended our friendship and I thought that was that. When we met again, when I offered my place, it wasn't because of my feelings but after being with you a while, they resurfaced. Stronger now. It's not just childish teenage affection. I know you and I want you.

[ Because really, isn't that love? To know someone so entirely and so thoroughly as Alhaitham knows Kaveh and to still want them, to still desire them, to still crave them as he does? He knows he's in love. He knows it more than anything else. ]