: ̗̀➛ IN TIMES OF LONELINESS. yan! kaveh / gn! reader
you'd hope your lover would be more than supportive after a rare job opportunity comes your way. but you know how this story goes, not when the job listing needs you to be seas apart from this man.
( emotional dependence, emotional manipulation, you 👊👊 are a sucker for this blondie, subtle yandere )
kaveh is breathtakingly beautiful.
golden locks meticulously pinned into place, cascading down into a dark brown, once kaveh pulls the pins out and lets them free, he lowers his head to you. you're free to do whatever you want— tug it, pull it, ruin it, but you opt to run your hand through it. tenderly massaging his scalp, twirling the honey strand around your finger as he rests his head on your lap.
it’s a sight one might behold— the beauty of domestic bliss between lovers. the words pouring out of his mouth, however, leaves the air with a sour tang.
“please don’t leave me,” he whimpers. he’s been crying for an hour now, and as you wipe his newest tears off his delicate face, you wonder how he hasn’t run out yet. “i’ll do anything, anything. just– just don’t go, [y. name]. i’m begging you, don’t leave me alone.”
you sigh, and kaveh’s body seems to shake even harder at that. like every breath of air that comes from your lips holds nothing but contempt and disappointment for him. he’s heard you say the same reassurances again and again— that no, it’s not him, he’s never the problem, he’s just overthinking. he’s long kept quiet about those kinds of thoughts, but it’s still there, plaguing his mind till it goes mad with insecurity.
“i’m not leaving you, kaveh,” you try to explain to him for the nth time. “i’m leaving sumeru. there’s a difference.”
“i’m in sumeru!” his cries grow frantic as he clutches onto you. “our life is in sumeru! what– what do you expect me to do without you!"
pretty as your lover might be, there is a time when too much becomes too much. yet you try not to exhale too deeply, twist your lips too much, anything that might make his thoughts turn for the worse. you of all people now how bad that could be.
"kaveh..." you start as softly as you can, yet he still flinches. you pat his blonde hair down to soothe his badly shaken nerves, not knowing what tragic scenarios he's already imagined in that pretty lil brain. "i'll be gone for maybe, like, two months. tthreee months at most, maybe." you wince. maybe you shouldn't have added that last part. "in that time i will be writing you letters, sending you trinkets... there's fontainian desserts that i'm sure you're dying to try. it's like i never even left!"
he lifts his face from the wet patch of tears he's stained your pants with, staring at you with wide red eyes like he can't believe you. "are you even hearing yourself?" he sniffles, wiping his tears away. "it's not the same. letters and souvenirs won't change the fact that you're not here by my side."
you bite down your lip, frustrated. "is it really that bad?" you try to plead with him. "just give me two months at most and i'll be back. you have plenty of projects to keep your mind off of me. before you know it, i'll be right back here with you!"
again, he stares at you. it's not the pleading, teary ones that remind you of a neglected labrador but more like the academic that he is— looking into your eyes to strip you of every layer till you laid your soul out bare. you hate it when he looks at you like that; the jarring shift between the clingy crybaby and the man you've barely begun to know.
"you think that's enough to keep you off my mind? projects?" he tucks back a strand of your hair and trails his finger down your chin, absentmindedly taking in every detail of your face. when he becomes like this, you feel like one of his art projects rather than his partner, but you stomach it. "there's not a single second i don't think of you, priya. even if i toil the nights away, even when these unreasonable clients drive me crazy, you will always be the one to ground me. so you see—?"
twirling a strand of your hair and bringing it to his lips, his gentle red eyes take you in so lovingly and fondly that you feel all drive and determination shatter within you.
"it'd be punishment to derive me of you."
you suck in a breath. he's done this many times before; take you in and plead with you so lovingly that you bend to every whim of his. but not today, surely not—
"don't leave?" he murmurs, a poor man begging for crumbs. "please?"
he watches you. you watch him. and when your body folds and the light flickers from your eyes, he sighs happily and kisses you like you're the sweetest nectar in the world. you wonder if you can even forgive yourself after this.
