HELP THIS WAS SO CHAOTIC AND LOVABLE WJSKJDKS - Blog Posts

໒⦂ 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒.

synopsis. in which you go from utterly despising what you’ve dubbed as your ‘rival’, with every fiber of your being, to loving his stupid ass self.

academic rivals to lovers ( alhaitham’s version )

for @reiqings <3

tw. mildly suggestive, mentions / consumption of alcohol.

alhaitham x gn!reader.

“look at him, sitting all smug with that stupid little book of his.” you grumbled to your best friend, layla, taking a bite out of your pita pocket. “i bet he’s reading smut, i can just feel it.”

“smut?” the female repeated, nestling her head in her arms. “alhaitham-san is super serious about his reading and reputation.. doubt he’s reading that.. sort of content..” she trailed off into a snore and you nearly face palmed. there goes your friend again.

unlike him, sadly layla didn’t share the same major as you, as she was into astrology, rather than languages and writing. so it was only around lunch hour that you could hang out.. although it was more like nap time for her while you sat in silence.

with a huff, not wanting to be shown up, you finished the last of your meal before grabbing the book you’d been reading as of late. if alhaitham could read without it being for an assignment, so could you!

except he didn’t care.

his eyes barely lifted from his novel as he flipped to another page, deeply immersed in the story.. which in turn, frustrated you each time you peeked at him.

what could you do? there had to be something.

and like a metaphoric light bulb flashing, an idea came to mind.

opening your school bag, you reached for your linguistics notebook, recalling the newly assigned homework.

silly alhaitham was busying himself with his dumb little book, blissfully unaware of the homework you had just received. only a good noodle would make it the day it’s assigned — and that.. would be you!

as you buried your nose in your text book and notes, writing the necessary notes for the homework, you failed to notice groan of the chair few tables away.

until the culprit was standing across from you, overshadowing your work with their stature. it didn’t take any guesses to know who it was, but you were a petty shit.

“can i help you, dear alumni?” you asked without lifting your head, words like knives covered in honey. if you had your way, they’d be covered in bees, too. “your breasts are blocking the natural sunlight.”

“are they now? i hadn’t noticed.” the person in question answered, his tone low, yet there was a hint of amusement. “does that mean you were eyeing them each time you glared over at me?” he inquired, and you scoffed.

“me? eyeing your rack? that is preposterous. i would never do something so absurd. you flatter yourself too much, alhaitham-san.” who was he to think so smugly of himself? like you would be staring at that terrifyingly gorgeous physique of his.

but the silver haired male wasn’t buying it, not one bit. “hm, perhaps i do when flattery is in order. maybe next time you should try being more stealthy if you wish to stare.” he advised, turning on his heel with a faint smirk on his lips, knowing precisely how to rile you up.

and it worked like a charm, as your jaw nearly dropped. “flattery is NOT in order and never in a million lifetimes would i be caught red handed staring there of all places!” you blurted, slamming your books shut before dashing past him to your next class.

alhaitham only rolled his eyes, knowing damn well you would tire your legs before even reaching half way. like the turtle and the rabbit, he would come in like the wise turtle to beat the naive little rabbit.

from the lunch table, layla stirred at the sound of the bell, looking around tiredly before blinking. “y/n-chan?”

and alhaitham was correct, once again, for you did tire yourself before even reaching the doorway to your next class.

he passed you wordlessly, an innocent smile on his lips as he took his seat, watching as you dragged yourself into the seat next to him — the only one that remained. how touching.

“not a word.” you hissed to him, fixing your hair up as best as you could before taking out your materials.

the male ignored your comment, shrugging with indifference as he took out his own things.. along with that book of his. just what in the world was he reading that was so much more important than today’s lesson??

as your eyes darted to the book, you noticed it was unguarded while alhaitham reached into his bad for pencils. an opportunity.

with a wicked grin, you reached out for the book, nearly snatching it from alhaitham’s desk.. had it not been for the hand that encased your wrist. foiled again.

“i believe you should ask before taking one’s belongings, wouldn’t you agree, y/n-san?” the dendro user spoke, his words like a chill breeze. it made you shiver as you looked up at him before trailing your eyes to his hand. yeah, yours was going nowhere.

“quick, think of an excuse!” you warned yourself, clearing your throat as you did so. “you think so illy of me, alhaitham-san. i wouldn’t dare take that abstruse book of yours.” you huffed out, snatching your wrist back. “i was waving a fly away like a good classmate of yours! i should have known my actions would always go by unappreciated with you.” you pouted further, turning away from the gray haired swordsman, who only rolled his eyes, as he knew.

“sure, we’ll go with that.” he retorted in his usual monotone, missing the irritation on your visage as he refocused his gaze on the lecturer.

the twin tailed female below averted her gaze from the bickering pair, clearing her throat. “perfect, now that we’re all listening, allow me to commence today’s lecture with returning your test papers to you.” the teacher — faruzan spoke, smiling while half the students groaned. “i will be going over the all the answers, so should there be any mistakes in my corrections, do approach me after i finish.” the anemo user finished, grabbing the stack of sheets off her desk before handing each out.

as she reached where you and alhaitham sat, she sent your a proud grin. “amazing job on last week’s test, y/n-chan! your story was lovely to read!” the professor praised as you took your sheet from her hands, blinking in surprise. a perfect score!

curious, you looked over at alhaitham’s paper, wanting to shove your grade in his face.. only to find he had also gotten a perfect score.. with a bonus point.

you nearly wanted to smack yourself.

“you’re staring again, y/n-san.” the taller mocked, a smug look on his annoyingly attractive face. who made brains and good looks legal, and why did it have to be him?!

you puffed your cheeks out, tearing your eyes away from his paper. “i’m not staring, you’re imagining it with how inflated your ego must be!” you retaliated, folding your arms over your chest as you sank back into your seat.

stupid alhaitham and his stupid games. it’s like he wanted you to taste the bitterness of defeat while he soaked in the sweetness of victory. what an ass.

his only response to your outburst was a hum, and if that didn’t throw you over the edge, you weren’t sure what did.

“him being right, probably.” you answered in your head before muttering a curse under your breath.

just who does he think he is?

“alhaitham-kun, w-would you go out with me??” a female squeaked, holding out an envelope to the haravatat student as she bowed her head.

a confession a second after the bell rang.

you nearly gagged at the sight, wondering to yourself who in their right mind would want to date the likes of him. he was despicable! annoying, and egotistic! there was absolutely nothing attractive about him other than those horrifyingly gorgeous features of his.

and yet.. there was this strange bitterness you felt, as your gaze lingered on the pair longer. you weren’t sure why, but there was this nervous feeling of what he might answer with.

“sorry, but i’ll have to decline. i have my eyes set elsewhere, hope you can understand.” he responded curtly, rising from his seat beside you as he passed the girl to take the stairs.

the poor maiden barely got a word in after his answer as she watched his retreating figure disappear through the doorway, letter still in hand. “he.. didn’t even take it..” she muttered to herself, frozen in place. all eyes were on her, including your own.

somehow you felt this sense of relief, hearing alhaitham say no. and yet.. you couldn’t help but feel for the scholar as you placed a hand on her shoulder. whether to comfort or wake her from her trance, you weren’t sure. but the female lowered her hands, keeping her head down as she descended the stairs before taking off at the doorway.

it stirred something in you other than that strange relief but rightful pity. fear, was it? you weren’t sure why.

though something else boggled your mind impossibly more.. that being alhaitham’s response to her confession.

i have my eyes set elsewhere.

and just where on teyvat was that?

“your rival sounds awful, y/n! breaking the poor heart of a girl..” the blond across from you sighed out, draining his glass of wine. “reminds me of someone i know..”

you nodded vigorously, lowering your glass in front of you. “see what i mean, kaveh gets me! i can’t stand being around that man,” you hissed out, wiping your maroon stained lips. “he’s always reading his dumb book half the time — i don’t get how he scores higher than i do?!” you groaned out, clenching the column of your glass. “it makes no sense!”

“perhaps if i meet this fellow, i can rob him clean of his tcg deck as revenge.” the albino haired male across from you spoke, twirling a card between his middle and index fingers, which drew a low exhale from the male beside him.

“tcg isn’t to be used as gambling material, cyno.”

the male question sunk back in his seat, grumbling. “who put the sigh in cy-no.”

silence.

“moving on..” you cleared your throat before looking down at your watch. “when is this roommate of yours is supposed to arrive, kaveh? he’s awfully late and we’re already on our second glasses..”

“wow, i didn’t picture you as the alcoholic type. perhaps that’s why you stare so often where you’re not supposed to.”

it couldn’t be.

almost instantaneously, you whipped your head around to look up at the newly arrived figure, widening your eyes. “a-alhaitham?!” you blurted before turning to the blond beside you. “you live with him?!”

kaveh sank back in shame, draping a hand over his forehead. “unfortunately.” he muttered back, sending you a glance after a short pause. “you know him?”

“i wish i didn’t.” you grumbled back when alhaitham sat between you both without warning. it irked you greatly as you looked up at him, brows furrowed together. “do. you. mind?! i was in the middle of a conversation!”

alhaitham only glanced down at you, raising a brow. “did you say something?” he asked, lowering his hand from his ear.

“can he not hear?!” you asked yourself, nearly shattering the glass between your hands. “forget i even asked, you’d probably just annoy me more than you have already today!” you fired back, turning away from your classmate.

already?

that piqued kaveh’s interest as he shared a knowing glance with cyno and tighnari before smiling innocently at you. “say, y/n.. you never did tell us who that guy was.”

the color drained from your face almost instantly as that guy.. was right next to you.

“maybe you could de-scribe him to us?” the spantamad major added and his fennec eared friend groaned.

“can we do without the puns for once..”

a wicked snicker. “well that’s no pun.”

“you guys!” kaveh hissed out before turning to you once more. “so who is it, y/n? you can tell us.” he encouraged, grinning brightly.. for someone who held a similar distaste for the male in question.

it left you in a panic, not wanting alhaitham to know you had been blabbering about him in particular. you’d never hear the end of it if he found out!

“i-i need a drink!” you babbled, nearly jumping out of your seat as you rushed over to the tavern bar, face flushed, and not just from your last two glasses of wine.

when the bartender approached, your ordered another glass of wine and water, smiling awkwardly. you probably sounded like a complete mess as your words jumbled out from your nerves. why was alhaitham making you feel so on edge — so.. flustered. was that the word?

“having too much to drink is no good, you know.” speak of the devil.

startled by his presence, you nearly slapped the boy as you tensed beside him. why was he there??

“sneaking up on people is pretty weird, you know.” you retorted, huffing quietly. “this is the third time today.”

alhaitham hummed in amusement. “and you counted each time?”

“i hope kaveh destroys that book of yours..”

“jealous of the attention i give it over you?” he asked and you nearly choked on your breath.

you? jealous of a book? as if!

“and why would i be jealous of an inanimate object, least of all one belonging to yourself.” you countered, scoffing at his words. “that’s completely ridiculously, even more so when it’s coming out of your mouth.”

“then what was that look on your face, earlier today.” he inquired, side eying you. “when that girl confessed.”

look?

you hesitated for a moment, thrown off by the sudden question, but you didn’t back down. “disgust, perhaps. a normal person would be appalled to see someone confess to you of all people. it’s idiotic when you’re more likely to be committed to a library than a significant other.”

the silver haired male hummed again, which annoyed you, but he wasn’t finished. “funny, it looked like envy to me.” he mused, finally turning to face you. “and repose when you heard me reject her.”

archons, his eyes were so striking — so alluring. was this why he never looked you dead on? or paid you any mind, other than some side glances?

it made the beat of your heart quicken with fear, maybe even excitement. wait.. what were you saying? this was alhaitham — your class rival! he was just trying to throw you off your game!

and yet.. why was he suddenly so close to you? so entrancing? was it the alcohol? no.. the alcohol was bringing it out more — the truth, that which you’d been hiding.

“am i making you nervous? or was i correct with my conclusions?” he asked after a period of silence and you gulped. how long had you spaced out for?! speak!

“a-and why should i tell you anything?” you finally voiced, a puny comeback. “thought you had your eyes set elsewhere.” you elaborated, mustering up whatever confidence remained in you.

alhaitham leaned in closer, a prideful smile on his lips. “correct, i’m looking right at them.”

you blinked once and then twice.

there wasn’t anywhere else or anyone else he was looking at.. except for you.

“that..” you stumbled, feeling your face warm up up. “that can’t be right — you’re joking, you have to be.. did kaveh send you over purposefully? i swear to-mmph!”

and just like that, your disbelief was silenced with a surprisingly soft pair of lips as you felt a hand cup your cheek.

“still think i’m joking?”

notes. this was longer than i expected and oml istg it went everywhere.. ANYWAY here you go rei i hope you liked it BAHAHAHA half of this was me clowning around with an old idea i drafted soooooo yeah.. but i hope i did the boobman justice and fulfilled your request<3

MAIN MASTERLIST. ༝ REQUEST RULES.