seraphine

Though, Alhaitham is kind of the type to be seduced by someone’s brain and not their heart. Theoretically, she could actually give him a full-fledged essay on Valentine’s Day and he would be absolutely smitten. She knew better than to let Celestia take hold, though. If it’s anything she learned from the research that was apparently done, it’s that her message wouldn’t mean anything if it wasn’t from the heart. An essay that somehow spawned before her in the middle of the night wasn’t from the heart.

She had no choice but to think. It should be easy, but it was proving to be an awful task for two reasons: one, she was starting to fall asleep on herself, and two, the lack of energy made it almost impossible for her to think straight. Whenever she thought about Alhaitham in this state of mind, her thoughts would wander all over the place as if she were some lovestruck maiden drunk at a bar.

Well, if that’s how she thought about him, then maybe she should let Alhaitham know that, right?

Layla grabbed her quill and started sloppily writing away at the blank piece of paper. She only hoped that the end result would be somewhat coherent and that Alhaitham would interpret her message properly. Alternatively, she could splatter down a paragraph that resembles more of that of a salad recipe.

If that was the end result, then so be it. Alhaitham might find some charm in that. He finds her charming, and she sleeps for 20 hours a day, so it wasn’t a total improbability.

After a few minutes of writing, she no longer had the ability to form a coherent thought, so Layla sat her pen down and slid the card off to the side. She hoped that the cosmos wouldn’t decide to proofread it against her will ruining the intentions of her original message. Exhausted, she laid her head on the table, relieved to have finally finished her surprise for Alhaitham, and didn’t even last five minutes before falling asleep.

“Hm? What's this, might I ask?"

Layla was awoken by the feeling of a large, familiar hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw with her sleepy eyes, Alhaitham looking down at her. His eyes were gentle with a shine of curiosity, as something had piqued his interest.

Then, she remembered. Before passing out at her desk, Layla scribbled down whatever came to mind to give to Alhaitham as a valentine. She hadn’t had a chance to read over what exactly she wrote to him as a precaution in the event of anything too...embarrassing. In a way, she was leaving her fate to the stars after all.

"Uhh...you mean the card?" she asked, sleepily.

Alhaitham nodded his head in response. Layla looked on her desk for it, thinking she had it stashed away from the stars for the night, but it was laying out in the open on the side of her desk. She hoped that the stars didn’t feel like playing a clever trick and decide to warp her thoughts, but she also hoped that it was at least semi coherent and they made some…necessary changes as well.

She grabbed the card and handed it to Alhaitham. No use in attempting to proofread it now.

"Here," she said. "I apologize in advance for what I probably wrote while on the verge of unconsciousness."

Alhaitham took the ink scribbled card and glanced at the pen strokes, as if he were trying to translate its meaning. Then, much to Layla’s dismay, he began reading it aloud.

"Alhaitham chest big. Alhaitham heart bigger. Good man. Quiet. Great naps together. Love that guy."

At least…it wasn’t a soup recipe? Even that would’ve been less embarrassing that whatever that was, though.

Layla's eyes became as wide as they could for someone with her degree of sleep deprivation. Her fears were not helped when Alhaitham smiled ever so slightly while allowing himself a laugh for the first time in a while.

"So uh....happy Valentine’s Day? I think?" Layla said, unsure if she had slept through the night.

"It is indeed, which is why I’m here to see you right now. I wanted to give this to you personally."

Alhaitham handed Layla a beautifully decorated envelope, closed with what she recognized as the seal of Kaveh's construction company.

"Kaveh insisted in contributing to the aesthetics, so I had no choice but to oblige. The words, however, are mine and mine alone."

Layla gently peeled the envelope open, careful as to not ruin Kaveh's design job. Inside was a beautifully decorated card, with drawings and cutouts of various Sumeru flora. It was likely Kaveh’s job as well, seeing how Alhaitham was better with words. She opened up the card and read aloud what he had wrote.

"Like Polaris guiding my way through the night,

“My love for you will always shine bright,

"The Sumeru roses bloom only for you,

"Through winter and summer, they forever grew.”

Now Layla sort of felt bad. Alhaitham worked with Kaveh to create her a beautiful work of art, and all she had to show in return was some sleepy drabbles? Maybe she should’ve sought out the assistance of the stars to make something at least somewhat sensible.

“You wrote this yourself, didn’t you?” Alhaitham said, still looking at Layla’s card.

“I…think so…”

“I can tell. This is exactly what’s on your mind, isn’t it? Not the ‘stars’ speaking for you?”

“Uhh…”

“You look as if you have seen a ghost. There is no reason for such fear to be struck into your heart, as I find your truth thoughts quite endearing.”

Her…true thoughts? Layla was too tired for this. She was always too tired for this. She continued staring at Alhaitham as if she were caught red handed.

“I’m so used to reading your thoroughly edited works that it’s refreshing to have a glimpse into your own thoughts. Its quite adorable.”

Layla was at a complete loss for words. She pulled her hood down over her face as far as she could in order to avoid eye contact with him. No matter what she did, she could not escape the embarrassment of her sloppily made card and Alhaitham’s unusual fawning over it. Layla shut her eyes tightly to further ignore Alhaitham.

“I look forward to seeing more of your writing like this, dear,” Alhaitham said, gently stroking her on the back. Layla remained unresponsible, with her hood still being held over her head and eyes shut tight. Alhaitham took quick notice of this, and gently lifted up her hood.

“Hmm? Are you perhaps asleep?” he asked.  

Layla always fell asleep shortly after Alhaitham would arrive. Unfortunately, because of her seeking outside assistance, the stars would deem her unworthy of their blessing, so she never woke up to find any of her projects magically done. In a way, she viewed that man as a setback to her academic future.

It was why that more than ever, Layla needed to remain awake. She was going to make considerable progress, whether she liked it or not, and Alhaitham was going to help make sure of it.

She organized what she could ahead of time, categorizing her notes into somewhat sensible groups and laying out disappointingly empty pieces of paper in front of her. Her eyes were weighing heavy with sleep deprivation, blankly staring at the page hoping for words to magically manifest before her. Unfortunately, that was not how writing worked, despite the endless wishes of countless drained Sumeru scholars echoing into the night. Layla could manage to write down a few words, usually constructing sentences that sounded as if they were strung together by a young child who had just found a dictionary. Before she would even be able to finish a paragraph, she would hate herself for the results of her nowhere near completed rough draft, then crumple up the page and toss it off to the side.

Alhaitham was greeted by the usual distressed Layla, surrounded by scrapped ideas and careless ink stains. Unlike a certain architect that constantly burdened him on a daily basis, Alhaitham was confident in Layla’s skills and value as a person. He always thought highly of her being a hard worker, perhaps too hard of a worker. Alhaitham at least knew how to pace himself, but Layla didn’t know when to allow herself a break.

Because of this, these little study dates of theirs were a cover-up for a larger plot of Alhaitham’s to allow for Layla to get the one thing she desperately needed; a well-deserved rest. Did it result in Layla hating herself for allowing herself to doze off? Perhaps, but it was a sacrifice that had to be made for the betterment of her health.

Alhaitham quietly made her aware of his presence, making sure as to not startle her out of her skin. He was greeted by her usual sleepy, half aware gaze, though her face lit up with a subconscious smile at the sight of him. Layla allowed for Alhaitham to take a seat next to her, practically taking up the entirety of the seat itself. There was just enough room for Layla to comfortably nestle herself between the arm of the chair and Alhaitham’s body.

He instructed for her to show him the notes that she had accumulated over time, pleasantly surprised with the amount of effort she managed to put into the organization. For someone who spent the majority of her life walking the boundary between the waking world and the dreaming stars, he was quite impressed at the coherent organization and reasoning of her gathered ideas.

Despite how much effort she had forced herself into preparing for their little date, Layla was fighting a losing battle from the start. Alhaitham’s presence was simply too much for her drained body, making the act of resisting sleep a near impossible task. A mere blink felt like agony to her, with each second of shut-eye causing Layla to crave longer and longer periods of restful darkness.

At this point in time, Layla’s accumulated hours of sleep likely totaled to less than ten for the entire week, and her lack of energy was causing her to fall further and further behind. To her sleepy, spaced-out mind, Alhaitham practically felt like a giant pillow, comforting the entirety of her body and drawing her in for a restful night’s sleep.

She wanted to fight it off. She knew she was better than this.

Alhaitham refused to show any mercy to her poor, drained soul. Without so much as bothering to brush over the unfinished work that lay before him, he lifted his arm to wrap around Layla’s body. He pulled her in as close to his body as he possibly could, careful as to not forcefully restrain her, but just enough for Layla to become engulfed with the strength of his body.

Layla couldn’t help but allow herself to relax under the gentle pressure of Alhaitham’s hold. She leaned her head against his chest, sinking into the muscle mass that she now claimed as her pillow. His steady heartbeat soothed Layla, who was already in a weak position from neglecting her sleep schedule for such a long time. Sleep was quickly beginning to conquer her.

A few minutes wouldn’t hurt, she would think to herself. Surely, after hours of staring at what felt like the same combination of five different constellation related words, she deserved a brief moment of shut-eye to refresh herself, right?

Alhaitham knew that he was successful in getting to her. He shifted his body ever so slightly so that Layla would be able to fall into him and drift off to sleep without the effort of keeping herself upright. Within moments, she was out cold for what he assumed was the first time all week.

With Layla now asleep, Alhaitham tightened his grip on her body ever so slightly so that her workaholic alter ego would be unable to wake and write the entire course of an essay in the span of an hour. He imagined that any attempts by her to break free would be met with such great resistance from Alhaitham that she would deem the effort not worth it and simply pass out in his arms once more. Strangely enough, this never once happened, as Layla peacefully slept through the entire evening. No disturbances, no restlessness, nothing.

It was a simple, yet effective plan for him to coax his beloved into taking care of herself. Alhaitham often wondered if Layla ever caught on, as she was no easy woman to fool herself. Perhaps she simply allowed him to constantly do this, yet refused to admit that she knew all along.

Regardless, it also provided Alhaitham with an excuse to hold her so close to himself, although, he wasn’t entirely immune to his own devious scheme. He would have nothing to occupy himself with for the duration of their “study session,” as he would be unable to move without the fear of disturbing Layla’s rare period of uninterrupted slumber. Plus, having her so close was quite comforting to him.

Compared to Alhaitham, Layla was quite small, yet his heart was struck in a certain way by gently holding her frail body ever so close. It was like cradling a baby bird, filling his normally lone heart with a happiness that could only be explained with the definition of love. Eventually, with a gentle smile on his face, Alhaitham would too, drift off to sleep.