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It’s a well known saying that one should never mix cats and dogs together—or any of their related species. Not only is it a surefire way to bring in a heap of unneeded trouble, nature and history have also shown time and time again the futility of attempting to foster any sort of harmony between the two species. Cats and dogs have famously never gotten along for as long as either of them have existed, and there is nothing to suggest that they ever will.
It is a good thing, then, that Alhaitham has never been one to let such trivial matters get in the way of what he wants.
For all of Kaveh’s flaws and shortcomings, the man can be surprisingly intuitive about the most unexpected things, so Alhaitham knows that he has only one chance to do this right. A single misstep and it will spell the end of not just their unique cohabitation, but also their years of friendship despite how tentative it stands between them.
He is a wolf while Kaveh is a tiger; the fact that they can remain in the same room for more than five minutes without attempting to claw each other into bloody pieces is either proof of Kaveh’s miraculous ability to rein in his natural impulses, or Alhaitham’s perceived inability to care about what nature dictates as right or wrong by the masses. The truth is, of course, very different from either of those trains of thought—the fact is that Kaveh simply fights in other ways; shouting, arguing, disagreeing with him every chance he gets and cleaning up the house as a poorly disguised excuse to scatter his scent around.
Rishboland Tigers are, after all, known to chase after their prey to the ends of Teyvat if need be, and it is a trait that Kaveh embodies with gusto, Whatever Kaveh sets his sights on he works tirelessly towards with laser focused determination. In that respect Alhaitham is very much the same—save for one key difference.
The difference is that he does not chase. Instead he stalks, he circles around ever so slowly, drawing his prey in little by little until they’re right there in his grasp before he strikes, needing nothing more than a single hit to claim his prize.
And soon, he’ll have the most wonderful prize of all—his roommate, ripe and ready for the taking.
It’d been a meticulous plan months in the making, but Alhaitham is nothing if not patient when it comes to the things that he desires most. A wolf, after all, knows how to wait, to follow the trail of a prize most exquisite, prowling along with utmost patience as he waits for the chance to sink his jaws into his prey.
The night where his plans finally come into fruition is one just like any other—an important thing to keep in mind, for he knows how any sort of ‘special’ day tends to rankle Kaveh’s defenses. If he is to make this work it has to be when Kaveh’s defenses are completely down, so—a perfectly ordinary day it is.
And then, after that, the next thing—that he does it on a day Kaveh returns from one of his extended work trips. While Kaveh never says anything outright, years of knowing his habits and patterns have given Alhaitham the insight he needs to know that Kaveh beelines to his bed almost as soon as he’s done winding down from any of his extended trips away from Sumeru City. He’d asked about it once, when Kaveh was deep enough in his cups that Alhaitham knows he won’t remember anything the next morning, and Kaveh had told him with earnest honesty on how much he misses his bed anytime he has to spend more than a day away from the house.
Nothing ever feels right, you know? Kaveh had said with a wry smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. I mean, I know we’re not really of the same species and all, but you know what I mean, yeah? Not having your bed smell like you… there’s just no way I can relax.
It’s a sentiment that Alhaitham can certainly agree on, even if he doesn’t say it out loud for Kaveh to hear (it would’ve been useless anyway, since Kaveh wouldn’t have remembered). He, too, very much enjoys the comfort that comes with being able to smell himself off anything that belongs to him, which is just another reason why this needs to be done; to ensure that Kaveh, with all his beauty and grace, will belong to no one else but him.
The clock starts ticking as soon as they are done with dinner. Alhaitham does the dishes for once, mostly to keep Kaveh in an agreeable mood and to ensure that the tiger hybrid does not have a chance to suspect that anything is up on this most important night. Alhaitham is confident, of course, but it never hurts to be doubly certain, for if something messes up now there’s no telling when he’ll ever have the chance again, if at all. He needs everything to be perfect.
The dishes do not take long to be dealt with, and as soon as he’s done Alhaitham goes to curl up in his usual corner of the divan with one of his favorite books—The Care and Domestication of Rishboland Tigers. Perhaps a bit too on the nose, but it's not as if Kaveh has ever paid attention to the things that he reads, and on the off chance that he does notice it, Alhaitham has long since prepared a whole slew of answers to any and all inquiries. The only one he’d ever have to be wary around would be Tighnari, but the Forest Ranger is far, far away from either of them now, and Alhaitham has every intention to keep it that way—at least in the near future.
After the countless times he’s read this particular book Alhaitham has long since been able to recite the words by heart, and so this particularly nightly reading is light at best, eyes skimming over the words once in a while before they flick back up to his true target, amber pupils peeking right over the top of his book to keep watch over his roommate as the seconds and minutes tick by. It takes a while (it always does, and though Alhaitham understands the necessity he is glad that he will no longer have to exercise this much patience after tonight) but slowly but surely he sees the signs—the droop in his ears and tail, the faint haziness that clouds over his otherwise sharp vision, and of course the loud, explosive yawn that signals his growing tiredness.
Alhaitham gives himself five seconds before speaking up. “Maybe you should head to bed. You’ve had a long day, after all.”
It is a simple suggestion, all things considered—nothing that deviates too far away from the norm. But nonetheless Alhaitham holds his breath, for Kaveh would not be Kaveh without his patented idiosyncrasies, and for all that Alhaitham does his best to plan around them there have certainly been moments where Kaveh had forced him to improvise and kept him on his toes.
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like things are going to go down that particular route. “...yeah, I’ve got to meet with the client for a debriefing first thing in the morning,” Kaveh sighs out before yawning again. “Bed definitely sounds good right about now.”
Alhaitham simply hums in response, doing his best to not seem too eager. This, more than anything else, is the most critical moment—Kaveh needs to be assured that everything is exactly as it is, for he knows how even a smidgen of worry is more than enough to unsettle Kaveh, and right now that is the last thing he needs. An unsettled Kaveh means he will not rest well, and Kaveh not being comfortable will only serve to potentially upset his plans. He’s waited long enough as it is to accept nothing less than perfection.
Fortunately, Kaveh seems to have taken his reserved agreement well, and with one final bid of goodnight he makes his way back to his room to retire for the night. Alhaitham watches him as he leaves, seeing how his roommate sways on his feet without even realizing it. His feline inclination to naturally keep himself upright is now actively being weaponized against him, or perhaps because Kaveh has already become used to the drowsiness that settles onto him like a weighted blanket once the appointed time arrives. Alhaitham has, after all, always made sure to be careful of exactly how much sedative to put in to Kaveh’s dinner so that the other man never suspects a thing; that the sleepiness that comes creeping over him not long after dinner is to be taken as nothing more than a natural progression of his bodily functions and not an indication of something else entirely.
His ears perk up the instant he hears the telltale sound of Kaveh’s door clicking shut, and for all the patience he’s told himself to muster Alhaitham still needs a moment to reign in his baser impulses before they can take hold and ruin this. Kaveh is a light sleeper and will need time to fall deep enough into slumber even with the sedatives in his system. He’s come too far to let a second of impatience become his undoing; just a few more hours, he tells himself, and months of careful planning will finally come to fruition.
Alhaitham tries to go back to his reading in order to let the time pass faster but it's surprisingly hard to continue now that there is no reason for him to keep up the act; focusing also becomes a monumental task when all he can think about is his prize just mere meters out of reach.
One last time, Alhaitham reminds himself as he sucks in a breath and tells himself to wait. He’s already had to wait for months (if not years) at this point; a few hours more is nothing.
Still, even with that being said, Alhaitham finds himself counting down the seconds until enough time has passed for him to be confident that Kaveh has fallen asleep. Regardless, he makes sure to keep his movements quiet as he finally gets up from the divan and heads over to Kaveh’s room. Both his ears and tail stay still and alert as he reaches for the door and slowly cracks it open, making sure to angle his own body in a way so that the light from the rest of the house doesn’t spill into the room completely.
Just like every other time, the first thing that greets Alhaitham once he steps inside is the smell. Sharp and unpleasant, bitter in the worst ways, a most torrid stench. But this much is to be expected as they are both alphas, and from opposing species to boot; nature and biology dictates them to be wholly incompatible, down to the very core of their being.
Perhaps that is part of the reason why Alhaitham is so determined to go through with this. He has never liked being told what he can and cannot have, and Kaveh, in a way, represents the culmination of that want. Not being able to have him only makes Alhaitham desire him even more—and very soon, he will.
Alhaitham closes the door behind him once he’s in, making sure to do it with the same carefulness that he used when opening. His eyes quickly adjust themselves to the darkness not long after he hears the soft click coming from the door, and it is there where Alhaitham stills, all of his keen senses tuned in the direction of the figure currently slumbering in his bed.
One second passes, then two, followed by three—and once Alhaitham manages to count to ten without anything happening he relaxes, taking in a slow, deep breath despite the cloying stench assaulting his senses to tamper down the rapid fire hammering of his heart. In many ways he’s reminded of the very first night where he’d snuck into Kaveh’s room to begin all of this, where for all of his careful thought and preparations he’s still struck by the reality of the very moment itself. No amount of records and written words will ever be enough to fully articulate what it feels like to be in the present, the steady thrum of nerves and adrenaline that courses through your body as you get ready to perform what many would call taboo, even sacrilegious.
But there has never been anything wrong with wanting, with desiring. Alhaitham likes to think that he is simply one brave enough to actually step forward and actually act on his desires.
Slowly and ever so carefully Alhaitham makes his way over to Kaveh’s bed where the architect lies deep asleep. Even with little more than the faint light of the moon to aid him it's easy enough for Alhaitham to trace out his beautiful form, graceful and lithe in a way that’s fully befitting of his tiger half. His ears are fully drooped down, and his tail rests languidly over his thigh, just as sleek and beautiful as the rest of him.
Just seeing Kaveh like this—so open and defenseless—is more than enough to have Alhaitham’s blood boiling underneath his skin, and in the past the memory of this sight alone has been the fuel of countless fantasies in the privacy of his own head (and bed). But Alhaitham is nothing if not greedy, and once he’d popped open Pandora’s Box it’d only been a matter of time for his boundaries to dwindle down, further and further until—
Now, when Alhaitham shifts himself to hover right above Kaveh on all fours he does so with full confidence and zero hesitation. He doesn’t even flinch when Kaveh instinctively twists to accommodate the new dips on his mattress, the top half of his body now flat against the bed as his slender tail flicks out for half a moment, the tip of it briefly ghosting across Alhaitham’s inner thigh, and it takes almost every ounce of effort within him to stay still and swallow down the groan that nearly spills out from his lips.
Fuck. He already knows this, but Kaveh truly is a picture of decadence brought to life. Already Alhaitham can feel saliva pooling in his mouth, every part of him eager to taste and relish, but—just a bit more. He’s nearly there.
He starts off with the same thing that he always does—scenting. Kaveh half-lying on his back makes this easy to accomplish, and Alhaitham doesn’t stop himself from dipping his head down to press his nose into the crook of his roommate’s neck, at the spot right over where his polarizing scent wafts off the thickest.
The effect is immediate; Kaveh lets out a breathy little gasp as his whole body shivers, a physiological response to having his scent gland getting rubbed on. It’d been the first thing that Alhaitham had worked on when he started this, and at this point he knows the exact angle and appropriate amount of force to use to elicit the right reaction without rousing his roommate awake.
Alhaitham continues this for several minutes, dosing Kaveh’s gland with his own scent until the pungent smell that comes from the blonde begins fading away. It used to be harder to achieve this, and he still remembers how it’d been nigh unbearable the first time, but time and patience has been his greatest aid, and now Alhaitham is able to relish the moment when his own scent now cloaks right over Kaveh, blanketing him in his own smell.
Kaveh’s breathing starts getting heavier now that Alhaitham’s scent is cloaking over his own, though any notion of discomfort is quickly eased away by Alhaitham continuing to nose at his neck. A soft nip draws out another gasp, and when Alhaitham takes his chance to press his body down further he feels the beginning of an erection nudging against his hip. At this point it's still mostly a reaction to having his scent gland stimulated, but it won’t be long before that changes very quickly.
—and the signal comes to him in the form of Kaveh making a soft, quiet moan that would’ve been lost at any other time but now echoes like thunder in Alhaitham’s ears. He feels himself shiver, the fur on his own ears and tail quivering at how lovely and wonderful it sounds. It’s impossible to not crave for more after the first time, and so Alhaitham encourages again with a roll of his hips, only to have a low groan slipping out from his throat as he gets to feel the heat that comes from that simple act. Kaveh is already starting to burn up—rightfully so—but Alhaitham hadn’t anticipated the change to already start settling in that quickly. He’s certainly not complaining, however, even if it does mean that it cuts short the time he has to thoroughly enjoy his prize… though he supposes he can just do that later.
After all the other times it's easy enough to roll the blonde fully onto his side, and even easier for Alhaitham to slot himself right behind, arms wrapped around his waist as their bodies are pressed flush from back to chest. The heat emanating from Kaveh has already spread further, bleeding into the sheets and against Alhaitham’s skin even through their layers of clothing, making him groan against Kaveh’s neck as mouths at the gland again while rutting against the curve of his roommate’s ass, eager to sink his cock into that blistering heat.
Considering how much action and stimulation is happening Alhaitham is hardly surprised at all to feel Kaveh beginning to stir in his arms. “Wha…?” he hears the architect mumble, mind still clearly in a daze, and Alhaitham uses that opportunity to bite down onto the gland.
The cry that comes out from Kaveh then is the sweetest he’s ever heard from his lovely senior, and the tang of iron that accompanies it is just as sweet. Alhaitham keeps his mouth sealed over now broken gland, drinking deep while keeping up the roll of his hips, doing everything he can to entice and exacerbate the other’s body into responding the way it's always meant to.
With the gland already having been broken it's only a matter of time before the shift truly begins to take hold. The faded tones of Kaveh’s scent return, except instead of his formerly sour and unpleasant odor it's now soft and lovely and sweet, mingling pleasantly with his own. The hazy sounds of confusion that Kaveh had been making turn into quiet, wanton cries of need, and the warmth that Alhaitham can feel soaking through the front of his pants is the cherry on top.
“Alpha…” Kaveh whines, too lost in the surge of lust and arousal that must have come with the shift, and knowing that only makes Alhaitham’s blood boil further. He takes one last dreg of blood and pulls away, kissing over the wound before he brings his mouth over to Kaveh’s fluffy tiger ears.
“Shh, don’t worry,” he coos, nibbling at the tip and then gently blowing into it, delighting in the way Kaveh squirms at something so simple. “I’ll take care of you.”
Because this has what all of this was always meant for, in the end. Kaveh may have been a lovely alpha, caring and generous and oh so wonderful, but Alhaitham knows that he’d fare so much better as an omega—more specifically, his omega. As long as Kaveh is his he’ll always make sure that the blonde won’t ruin himself like what he’s doing right now.
It only takes a moment to get rid of both of their pants, and as soon as they’re dealt with Alhaitham only needs another second to line himself up and slide right into that familiar warmth, now wet and slick and wrapping around his cock in that perfect manner that only an omega could’ve ever accomplished. Kaveh voices out his own approval in a moan, body spasming wonderfully, and he squeals when Alhaitham reaches down to grab the base of his tail and gives it a squeeze.
“Look at how well you’re taking me,” he tells his newly bonded mate as he starts to move his hips, making sure to drive his cock all the way in with every thrust and relishing in the helpless mewl that Kaveh lets out each time. “It feels good, doesn’t it? It’s because you were always meant for me. A pretty omega like you deserves nothing but the best cock to stuff you full.”
Kaveh’s breath hitches at the words, and Alhaitham can feel his ass tense up, the action eliciting glorious pressure all around his cock that all Alhaitham can do is to groan and speed up his thrusts. He’s waited so long for this night, for this very moment, that no amount of self-control and restraint can keep him in check. He’s worked hard to obtain his prize and the Abyss can freeze over first before he gets denied his chance to enjoy it thoroughly.
He lets go of Kaveh’s tail, only to grab his leg that isn't trapped against the mattress, fingers digging into the flesh of his upper thigh so that he can hoist it up in order to spread Kaveh further and give him more leverage to fuck his cock in even deeper. Kaveh wails at the new angle, his whole body shaking with every thrust, and Alhaitham growls when he feels a fresh wave of slick gush out all over his cock, amplifying both the feel and sound of the perfect way of their bodies coming together.
“That’s it,” Alhaitham says as Kaveh’s cries get louder in both pitch and volume, nipping at his ear once more to draw out another needy sound. “Just let go and come for me, kitty. Come for me like the good little omega you’ve always been.” He wriggles his other hand over to Kaveh’s dick and wraps his fingers around the base, squeezing tight around the tiny little bump there—the lingering remnants of the former Alpha’s knot. The moment he does so Kaveh jerks and keens, his whole body tensing up for a split second before he comes hard, trembling violently as warmth rushes out all over both his hand as well as around his cock.
With such an exquisite feast before him, and knowing that he’s succeeded in accomplishing his goals—Alhaitham finally allows himself to claim his prize, and with another bite to the neck he marks Kaveh wholly and fully, sighing in bliss as he stuffs his knot into his newly minted omega and paints his inner walls white with his seed.