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“Oh, come on. Surely you can bring the price down more than that,” Havrin, Kaveh’s current client complained.
Why?
Why did people always think that there was next to nothing involved with building something beautiful? Where did they think the supplies came from? That they simply appeared overnight from the supply fairy? Did they think you just put in a wish, go to bed, and woke up to a nice stack of building supplies waiting at the end of your bed?
How could it be possible that they didn’t realize that it took man power to cut the wood, people who needed to be paid. That this wood was then shipped by more people who needed to be paid. Then the wood was processed by a whole new group of people who would need to be paid… just so that eventually, someone like him could take that wood and turn it into something beautiful.
With this man being a merchant, his expectations almost seemed worse. He should know better.
Chocolate. Kaveh needed more chocolate in his life.
“I have brought the price down as much as I possibly can for this design. I’m sorry, I can’t cut anything else here,” Kaveh said with what felt like the patience of a god at this point. “If I do, it’ll either be to labor, which would be bad for construction, or materials, which would cause the structure to be unsafe. I can’t do that.”
Havrin looked at him, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. “Why is it so expensive? Surely your labor couldn’t cost that much. I mean, you’re just a fancy carpenter. This shouldn’t be so difficult.”
Mehrak let out an indignant beep, Kaveh automatically put a hand on her top to calm her.
Fancy. Carpenter.
Had he really just heard that right? Did this man just call him a fancy carpenter?
Even with his hand trying to calm Mehrak, she let out another string of beeps.
“I agree with Mehrak’s assessment, and I assure you,” a calm voice came from behind him, “that Kaveh is much more than that. I’m sure you are already aware of that, though. Perhaps, before you start throwing such accusations that a highly educated architectural prodigy is nothing more than a “fancy carpenter,” you should consider your own lack of extravagance. Where Kaveh is the famed Light of Kshahrewar, you are nothing more than a simple merchant.”
That, right there. That was one of the reasons he loved Alhaitham so much. Truthfully, as long as it wasn’t aimed at him, he found it far more attractive that he should to watch Alhaitham eat someone’s ego. Why? Because it was Alhaitham.
“Also,” Alhaitham continued, never taking his eyes off his book, “you are implying that carpentry is a simple skill. If you are able to build such a magnificent home on your own, then you don’t need someone like Kaveh to do it for you. I guess your business is concluded then.”
Havrin paused, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I-I– Well, I… Yes, I suppose you’re right. Perhaps the figure is fair, given the scope,” the man stuttered. “I’ll have to… take another look at my finances and get back to you…”
“It is a very fair price,” Kaveh agreed, trying to unclench his jaw.
“I’ll have to… take another look at my finances and get back to you… but I should have the deposit to you by the end of the week.”
“That would be wonderful. I’ll have the revised timeline to you within three days.” Kaveh rose, signalling that the meeting had concluded, and this meeting had very much concluded. “Thank you for meeting me, Havrin. I think you’ll be very pleased with the result.”
By this point in the day, and dealing with a man like that, the pleasantries made Kaveh almost nauseous. It was a great consolation to watch Havrin leave with far less swagger than he’d come into the meeting with, though.
Sometimes, on rare occasions, it was nice to have Alhaitham nearby during a client meeting. He would never tell him that.
Alhaitham still hadn’t moved from his spot, calmly reading as if he didn’t just tear a man down seven notches from Sunday, sounding no more enthusiastic than someone simply observing the rain.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Kaveh said.
But thank you.
“I know,” Alhaitham replies simply, nose still buried in his book.
It must have been an extra interesting one. He peeked at the title.
‘A Revised Linguistic Analysis of Bureaucratic Redundancies in the Interdarshan Reports: Volume Three’
Kaveh’s brows furrowed as he looked from the book cover, up to his husband, and back to the cover again, just to make sure he’d read that right. For a moment, and for the first time in all of his life, Kaveh regretted learning to read.
Then the horrifying realization that Alhaitham had read, not one, but two other volumes of this willingly.
Worse, he seemed genuinely invested in the subject matter…
Kaveh questioned the man’s sanity, and every one of his own life choices that lead to him marrying this man where only a few minutes prior he’d been practically drooling at how protective he was.
“I had it handled,” Kaveh said, trying to physically shake that book title out of his head.
“You did.”
Kaveh waited for the rest of it. “You did. However, your self-sacrificing tendencies could have easily brought you to taking this job at far too low of a price.” He could hear that in Alhaitham’s voice as he thought it.
Nothing came.
“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”
Alhaitham turned a page. “What else would you like me to say?”
What else? Kaveh exhaled through his nose, the way he did when he was thinking something too big and complicated to simply say. He dissected Alhaitham’s interaction with that annoying man, remembering the things that were said. The things that were most important.
“You called me a prodigy,” Kaveh said, aiming for something neutral, but he couldn’t stop some of his excitement from seeping through.
“I was merely stating a fact.”
Kaveh sat next to Alhaitham, the comfort of their usual booth at Lambad’s. Privacy, comfort, quiet. He laid his head on his silly scribe’s shoulder, and Alhaitham let his head rest on top of his.
“Thank you.”
After a while, he noticed Alhaitham hadn’t turned the page in quite some time. “Distracted?”
Alhaitham closed the book, and set it down. “I was simply making sure you had ample time to read the entire page.”
That was some pretty sad rage bait, really.
“I’m too tired, and comfortable to bicker right now. Maybe later, though…”
Alhaitham put his arm around Kaveh’s back. “You could always take a short nap here while we wait for our friend.”
Normally, Kaveh would have said that was ridiculous. It was rude to take a nap in public, but there was no one around, and Alhaitham would wake him if someone came to the second floor. He hoped, anyway. Whatever the case, the offer was too tempting to pass up, especially when that muscly shoulder was so comfy.
Alhaitham hummed a song quietly.
When it came down to it, even if they sometimes fought like cats and dogs, bickered day and night, or disagreed on how the cupboards should be arranged, Alhaitham would always have his back.
Mehrak beeped contentedly as she tucked herself at Alhaitham’s other side.
With a small smile, Kaveh let the world fall away.