Work Text:
"Is this tight enough?" Kaveh asks, tightening one of the little screws, "Try to move it like that."
He sits straight, looking at Tighnari bending his prosthetic arm at the elbow, the front cover still open for further adjustments. Fox's big ears twitch a little, as if he was trying to hear his own body's senses.
"Maybe just a little more, if it's possible." He draws the conclusion, entrusting his hand to Kaveh again, the latter continuing his work with the screwdriver.
"You should really stop using it as a shield," Kaveh scolds the other, his hands of a master steady and fast with the task, "I know it's convenient, but.."
Before he finishes the sentence, soft fingers touch under his chin, making him look up to meet a pair of deep green eyes.
"But it also means I get to see you more often."
Tighnari finishes for him, and a cheerful little smirk on his face forces Kaveh to smile too, while he leans a bit forward to nuzzle their noses together, eyes closed, like a couple of fuzzy foxes would do in the wild. Kaveh then angles his head slightly to leave a soft chaste kiss on other's lips.
"Right, the one and only positive thing about it," he chuckles, before drawing his attention back to the metal hand, "But I'm being serious, Nari. And it's not even about the materials, I would spend everything I have on you, it's just.. it might not protect you as you expect it to. You know it wasn't made for such a purpose."
"I've gotten used to it," Tighnari replies, "I know it's limits."
Kaveh sighs, finishing his work.
"Here, check it again."
Tighnari raises the hand again and bends it, its metal plates glitter in the warm sunlight spilling into the room from the big window right beside them.
"Yeah, that's better.."
"Wait-wait-wait, what is that," Kaveh catches his hand, bringing it back on his lap, holding it gently as if it was real, "wiggle your pinky for me again."
Tighnari does, and Kaveh inspects the movement closely.
"It's delaying a bit, right?"
"Oh," Tighnari makes a sound like he just remembered something, "I know about it. It's not a big deal, really, I barely notice it."
"Not a big deal?!" Kaveh huffs and puts on very theatrically offended face expression, before spinning on his chair and giving himself a big push in direction of his crafting table, "If you have no respect for your own arm, at least have some for my creation, would you? It needs to be perfect, or else what's the point if it doesn't do what it's supposed to? In that case you might as well just glue a wooden stick to your shoulder!"
He hears Tighnari's quiet laugh, when he finally fishes out a tiny green wire from one of the drawers, and pushes himself back to Tighnari, grabbing the small soldering iron from the other table on his way there.
"I'll change the wire, it'll take a couple of minutes." He says, looming over the prosthetic arm once again, "And tell me if it happens again, okay?"
Tighnari nods appreciatively, green strands of hair on both sides of his face waving with the motion.
"So, do you have any plans on moving in here?" Before Tighnari has a chance to answer, Kaveh continues, "I know, I know, it's too noisy for your big pretty ears, too crowded for Collei, and you have a forest to watch." A damaged wire, cut from the inside of the hand, is successfully extracted, "But a man can dream, right?"
He looks at the fox hybrid with a hopeful and apologetic smile, before starting to work on attaching the new wire to its designated place.
"What about you?" Tighnari prompts, eyes roaming around the all familiar workshop, "All the same?"
"Yeah," Kaveh sighs, "The contracts are signed, and the shipment goes here too, so I'm stuck here for at least a couple of years more until I finish those big projects. Are you mad at me?"
He whispers the last question, but it didn't went unnoticed by Nari's amazingly good hearing.
"Don't be silly," Tighnari reassures him, with free hand slightly shuffling the architect's blonde hair.
Kaveh finally finishes the repairing, closing the front cover of the prosthetic, and moves to sit with Tighnari on the couch. They lean on each other, eyes closed, basking in golden rays of sunlight, warm on their faces. It only takes a second for their fingers to interwind with each other in a comfortable hold.
"Collei wanted to see you. I think she finished the book you gave to her last time."
"What, already? That's impressive! Did she like it?"
"You better come and find out for yourself." Tighnari chuckles, squeezing the hand he's holding in his own.
"Your prosthetic is in a good shape overall, despite the damage, not a lot of people take such a good care of them."
"Of course I'm taking care of it," Tighnari huffed, "Maybe even better than I do of the fur on my tail."
As on cue, dark fluffy tail curled around Kaveh's body, warm even through the layers of clothes.
"Wow, well that's a bold statement!" Kaveh exclaimed, "I don't believe you!"
"Would you believe me if I say that I have two more hours to spend in the city?"
"What, two whole hours?! Why didn't you tell me?"
Kaveh jolts upright, pulling the floral patterned apron over his head in a hurry and cleaning his hands off the towel.
"I just did, what's with the hurry?" Tighnari watches Kaveh's excitement with an uncovered curiosity.
"I'm going to show you the new place that opened up recently, they have the best panipuri with mushrooms there." He clips on his earring and makes a quick work over his hair, "Come on, you have to try it!"
He grabs both Tighnari's hands, tugging him out of the workshop, noticing how the fox's tail wags just a little bit behind him.