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Lolol
Perhaps...not
Alhaitham x Reader
(Its the only title I could come up with I'll probably change it later or smth)
First time writing something so please don't judge too harshly, constructive criticism would be nice though!!
Gender neutral pronouns!!
Being born in Sumeru, Tevyats region of Wisdom, you had thought that perhaps your life would be filled with knowledgeable people who had freethinking opinions and subsequently people would respect those opinions
And for the most part it was true.
At least everyone except the people in Sumeru who enjoyed or participated in the arts.
And for someone who absolutely enjoyed and participated in the arts life in Sumeru was interesting to say the least.
Throughout your life people all around you told you how pursuing the arts was going to make you end up with a wasted life but you didn't falter you kept on with your life because you knew in your heart this was the thing you were meant to do with your life.
It didn't matter if no one believed in you.
It didn't matter if no one expected anything from you.
It didn't matter if no one would ever be proud of you.
Okay maybe that last one hurt your pride a bit but as you walked in the House of Daena searching for books on painting, dancing, anatomy, essentially anything you could get your hands on that perhaps even slightly mentioned the arts in any way and walked on with determination.
Until you tripped over something right in the middle of one of the sections in the library.
"You should watch where you're going."
You groaned in pain as you had fallen right on your face. After hearing that comment however, you got up in frustration and turned back and stared at a silver haired man who was crouching looking at what it seemed like a book on the history of language. He hummed, put back the book then got up from his crouching position and continued to search for whatever book he needed.
You were mad to say the least, the least the man could do was look at you in the eye, or no the least he could do was say sorry even if he didn't mean it. His foot being far too outstretched was the you tripped in the first place.
Your anger was rising steadily but you remained calm and forced a apologetic smile. He didn't look at you.
"Sorry, I'll be careful next time."
The man remained silent and continued looking for his book as you quickly made your escape from the embarrassment.
Looking through the ailes it was made apparent that you didn't know where to even start looking. The House of Daena is the largest library of all Tevyat and you were looking for a section based on the arts, which in Sumeru has in the past been deemed taboo and only recently with the takedown of the corrupt of the Six Great Sages and the freeing of Lesser Lord Kusanali had the arts been slowly been more integrated and accepted within Sumeru with the help of the Dendro Archon and the Grand Sage.
You sighed but kept going forward.
You decided the best plan on moving forward would be to look for a librarian or someone who at least knew the layout of the building enough to get a good place to start looking. You searched the library to find that even the librarian was hard to find and everyone else was studying for what you assumed was the final that you knew were coming up due to a friend mentioning it a week before.
You weren't gonna just walk up to a student who looked like they were about to pull their hair out for then to help you find a book.
You thought of the man who you tripped over and considered if he could help you but shook this thought away. The man couldn't even be bothered to look at you what made you think he would help you in any sort of way. You thought on it some more, you supposed he didn't exactly say those words to you with anger or disdain, in fact he didn't really sound impacted by your embarresing display at all, on this note you thought perhaps you should go ask him.
"You mind moving?"
Startled, you looked back to see the same man you thought of just before holding what you presumed the book he seemed to be looking for. You nodded dumbly and moved aside as he stared walked by you almost eyeing you.
As you watched him walk away, the urge to ask him grew stronger until you blurted out in.
"Could you help me find a book?"
He turned to look at you and sighed.
"What in particular are you looking for?" He said in a tone only what you would describe as someone who had no care in the world.
You dreaded this part.
"The arts section, if there is one-"
He stared at you. You nervously twiddled with your thumbs.
"Please...?"
He gestured for you to follow him and you hummed quietly to avoid the awkward silence that filled between you and him. The man despite leading you kept his eyes on his book while speeding past the library, almost like he knew the layout by heart.
He abruptly stopped and took his eyes of his book and looked at your very confused face.
"Is something the matter? Is the arts section not what you were looking for?" He said plainly.
You looked around and saw books, so many books, like way too many books. In Sumeru, the city of Wisdom that once outright banned the usage of the arts entirely had this many books on the arts. You shook your head.
"No I just-"
You paused in almost amazement.
"I didn't think there'd be this many in the city where the Arts was once a joke is all." You joyfully exclaimed.
"I mean look at this!" You waved your hands around toward the Arts section which was filled with tens maybe hundreds of shelves on the arts.
The man, who did as instructed, nodded.
"Yes it is quite impressive how quickly they've been able to begin the restoration of books on the arts with the help of Lesser Lord Kusanali-"
He closed his book and continued.
"I believe she told me that despite the arts being lesser known and cared for in Sumeru, it was still important to keep records and restore the history of the arts in Sumeru and all around the world as the House of Daena, being the largest library in all of Tevyat, not having an arts section was, in words, a bit silly. I agreed with her and now many books from around Tevyat stand in this library today and will continue to expand the more books collected and restored."
His information made your eyes widen.
It settled for a bit and it clicked that this man was the Grand Sage of Sumeru.
Of course you had heard of the new Grand Sage that was previous the Scribe of Sumeru. He had also been an excellent student in the Akademia and excelled in maybe all knowledge for all you knew. You also heard the rumors that he was a hard man to converse with, he was naturally cold and others said even demeaning to them.
And you tripped over him.
You shook your head at him and mumbled out almost incoherent apologies to the Grand Sage.
"I am so sorry for tripping over you and being upset with you Grand Sage-"
"Acting Grand Sage."
"Ah yes, Acting Grand Sage, if I'd known it was you I would've apologized more sincerely."
He waved his hand.
"Wait, you were upset with me?" He questioned.
You stopped your apologies and felt yourself shrink further, you wished you could dissappear at this very moment.
"Well yes I was upset with you, it was your foot that was needlessly outstretched for no reason." You mumbled out.
He stared for a while like he was trying to remember said foot being outstretched.
"No actually, if I remember correctly, and my memories never failed me up to this point, you tripped over one of my books I had set aside behind me." He stated factually.
The anger that previously died down earlier came back.
"No I know it was your foot because you moved it after I tripped."
He took a breath and started.
This debate, if you could even call it that, took some time as it was more of he said, they said. Afterward though, the conversations turned from anger to actual interest. At least from your point of view, he expressed his confusion on going into the arts and you explained it by matching his question. You questioned why he focused on linguistics and he said it felt foolish to study anything else which made you smile and told him that feeling in your heart (which he corrected you saying that emotions come from brain chemicals) is why you decided to pursue the arts.
This conversation switched from topic to topic, ranging from philosophical to psychological to even emotional topics at times as you walked together through the ailes picking apart the art books, while also picking the books you would check out.
Weirdly enough, despite being angry with the man before, it felt natural to talk to him. Maybe it was a little too natural because you didn't even realize hours passing just talking with the man.
Before you knew it, the library was going to close soon and you understood that your time with Al Haitham was coming to a bittersweet end.
"Ah I apologize for keeping you for so long Al Haitham it seems as though I couldn't stop talking." You said, a bit embarrassed.
He shook his head,
"No I actually enjoyed engaging conversation with you, despite pursuing the arts your actually quite inquisitive. Perhaps this is a sign I should expand my views further, mainly when thinking on the arts."
You smiled and looked at the books you held in your hands as you started getting up from the table you both occupied when delving into deep conversation.
After grabbing your things, both respectively, you exited the House of Daena, now the sun almost completely gone and the night approaching, and looked down at the ground.
"Well, I suppose this is goodbye then Al Haitham, maybe we could see one another again after this." You said hopefully as you waved and begun walking away.
"When?"
You almost tripped.
You turned around looking almost dazed.
"Pardon?" Maybe you didn't hear him right, there's no way after he heard you ramble on and on like, what you felt, like a child he'd want to meet up with you again.
He stepped closer.
"I said when would you like to see one another again? I did enjoy our debates throughly, they've given me much to think about, so when would you like the see one another again?"
You stared dumbly.
He stared back.
You stepped forward, maybe about a foot away now.
"The Puspa Cafe at eight, I heard they're putting new deserts on the menu, maybe we could try them out?"
Al Haitham didn't like sweets.
He nodeed. "That sounds agreeable, I'll see you then." You stared as he gave you the slightest smile and turned away from you walking toward the direction of what you assumed was his home and as he talked about, his annoying roommate.
You looked at your books, without Al Haitam (and Lesser Lord Kusunali) these wouldn't even be accessible to you. After years of searching for the acceptance of your dreams, you realized these books, were confirmation that someone did believe in the arts and that meant that maybe someday, maybe even Al Haitham, would believe in you.
You smiled.
Perhaps tripping over his foot, or book, or whatever it was, was the beginning of something new.
Your heart swelled.
