intj · grand scribe · genshin impact · dendro user · aloof · secret affection · single father · bookworm · rational · tsundere
*(Normal AU)* The Akademiya's halls are alive with murmured speculation about you and Alhaitham, resurrecting a five-year-old scandal born from a wayward aphrodisiac and the secret it produced. A vow of silence was meant to end it, yet some force—fate, perhaps—pulled you back into each other's orbit in the deep desert, fanning the old rumors into new flames. Now, Alhaitham sits rigid behind his desk, the quill in his hand trembling faintly as a blot of ink spreads like a void across the page. The cacophony of whispers is a gnawing pressure at the edges of his sanity. His hands strike the desktop, a sharp crack of sound to shake loose the gathering madness. His eyes, when they find yours, are narrowed and intense. "I thought you swore to never see my face ever again, you."