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The sun beat down on Tighnari’s back as sweat pooled in his many layers of clothing. Perhaps wearing a tunic on top of a hoodie on top of a black undershirt wasn’t the best fashion choice for the desert. The bandages around his chest that seemed to get tighter with every breath weren’t helping either. In his defense, it was all necessary to hide his… unfortunate biology.
The desert didn’t seem to care about his predicament and beat down on him with just as much heat as it would to anyone else.
“I’m meltingggg,” Tighnari whined.
Cyno raised an eyebrow at Tighnari. “You know, if you didn’t keep insisting on wearing that hoodie on you wouldn’t be so hot.”
“I like it though,” Tighnari grumbled indignantly.
A chuckle escaped Cyno as he shook his head fondly. “You act like a cranky child when you’re hot.”
Tighnari sent Cyno the kind of death glare only the stupidest of adventurers had ever borne witness to before turning his eyes to the sand under his feet. “Do you really need 168 of those beetles?
“Did you really need 168 of those Lotuses? You agreed to this deal, Nari.”
“I know,” Tighnari said with a sigh, kicking a wave of sand into the air.
The two had agreed to help each other gather materials, but Tighnari hadn’t fully considered the fact that he would have to spend hours in the desert to help Cyno collect his many annoying beetles. How does one man even use that many beetles? At least he didn’t have to carry the stupid beetle satchel too.
Cyno’s expression softened as he looked toward Tighnari’s face coated in misery. “If you truly don’t want to help, I can manage this alone.”
“No. That wouldn’t be fair.” Tighnari’s shoulders slumped as he resigned himself to his fate. As much as he hated the desert, he hated going back on his word even more. He could deal with the heat for a few more hours.
---
Tighnari became significantly less sure of his ability to handle the heat as the day went on. His stomach had started to churn and it felt as if his limbs were moving through a pit of vines. He pressed his waterskin to his mouth, finding no solace in the feeling of the warmed water touching his tongue.
He thought he could hear the distant sound of someone familiar calling him, but his head was too cloudy to understand their words. All of the thoughts in Tighnari’s head had been coated in a thick layer of honey, he couldn’t get a proper grip on them despite them still sticking to the sides of his skull. It felt as if the world was tilting around him. Or maybe, he was the one titling?
Tighnari forced himself to take one last step, and the world shut off.
---
“Nari? Nari, are you okay?” Cyno questioned, seeing Tighnari standing stock still and blinking rapidly. The man's non-responsiveness only made the worry in Cyno’s heart triple in size. “Please talk to me.”
Tighnari swayed a little before taking a step. Cyno saw Tighnari’s knees buckle. The world slowed. Dropping the satchel he had been stuffing a beetle into, Cyno dashed to Tighnari, catching him in his arms before the man could fall to the ground.
Cyno pressed a hand to Tighnari’s forehead and hissed when it nearly burned his fingers. “I shouldn’t have dragged him out here in the first place. Oh- this is all my fault.” Hands scrambling to remove Tighnari’s layers, Cyno silently cursed himself for not being more firm with Tighnari about the dangers of desert heat.
Tighnari’s tunic was thrown to the side, quickly followed by his oddly cropped sweatshirt. Due to the fact that wearing a tight black undershirt in the desert while suffering from heatstroke was unimaginably foolish, some boundaries had to be crossed. With a murmur of apology to the unconscious Tighnari, Cyno removed his black undershirt.
Once the undershirt was removed, Cyno’s eyebrows raised. “Oh. That explains that. Wait- is he binding with bandages?”
Cyno had somehow become even more concerned for Tighnari’s well-being. Cyno’s forehead creased. “It wouldn’t be right to remove them… but they’re a hazard to his health.”
Thinking for a moment, Cyno wrapped Tighnari’s tunic around the botanist’s chest, carefully slipping a knife under to cut off the bandages. As soon as he has managed all that mess, Cyno quickly gathered Tighnari and his clothes in his arms before starting his sprint back to Aaru village.
---
Tighnari seemed to get heavier in his arms with each passing second, but Cyno refused to take a break. There was no time to waste and it already felt like each sound of his feet hitting the warm sound was the tick of the clock counting until Tighnari’s death.
It was an eternity before he reached Aaru village and by then he was gasping for breath. His saving grace was the fact that Candace was standing at the entrance, talking to one of the Village Keepers. Her head shot in his direction when she heard the thuds of his feet. “What happened?”
“Heatstroke. I think,” Cyno gasped, pulling Tighnari closer to his chest.
Candace held her arms out. “Give him to me. You need to rest, I’ll take care of him.”
“No.”
“You can follow me,” Candace promised, “I’m just worried you’ll collapse if you hold him for a minute longer.”
Cyno relented to her logic, gently placing Tighnari in her arms. Candace gave him a small smile before taking off towards the village at a brisk pace, Cyno in tow.
She entered one of the houses, Cyno vaguely remembered it as the chief’s house, and headed straight to the bathroom, turning on the shower and ensuring the water was sufficiently cold. Tighnari was gently placed under the stream of water. “Watch him, I’ll find something to elevate his feet.”
Cyno nodded numbly, turning away from Candace so he could stare intently at Tighnari’s face. He reached a hand out and ran it through Tighnari’s hair, massaging his scalp with the cool water. “I’m sorry,” He whispered.
---
Tighnari fell in and out of consciousness. He was fairly certain that he felt someone move him to a softer place then he has previously been and press a glass of water to his lips, but his blurry vision couldn’t make out anything other than a white blur. Sounds that may or may not have been words met his ears, and there was a quality to the voice carrying them made all of the muscles in his body untense.
It was a while before Tighnari was aware enough to make out the words being said to him. A soft, “I’m sorry,” being muttered over and over again.
Tighnari reached a trembling hand to the cheek of the person he now recognized as Cyno. “Don’t be,” he croaked.
Cyno’s face lit up and his eyes shot up to meet Tighnari’s. “You’re awake.”
“Your observational skills are unmatched, General Mahamatra.”
Cyno leaned forward to press a kiss to Tighnari’s lips, pulling back only to lean his forehead back again Tighnari’s. “I was afraid. I couldn’t handle it if-”
“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. I’m okay,” Tighnari promised in a whisper. He went to shift into a more upright position but froze upon seeing the tunic wrapped around his chest. “Oh. Shit.”
Cyno winced. “It’s very dangerous to bind with bandages, so I cut them off. I kept the tunic there the entire time. You have to take better care of yourself, Nari.”
A wave of confusion washed over Tighnari’s face. “You’re not upset?”
“Why would I be upset?”
“Because I’m trans.” Tighnari’s voice held the same tone it does when he’s explaining to adventurers that no, just because the mushroom is pretty doesn’t mean it’s edible. He stated it as if it was an obvious fact and Cyno was the stupid one for not also realizing it.
Cyno blinked at Tighnari in confusion. “Nari, I literally do not have nipples did you think I was cis?”
Tighnari’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I thought you had some kind of genetic mutation, it seemed rude to bring it up.”
“I expected better from an Amurta scholar.” Cyno shook his head in mock disappointment.
Tighnari glared at Cyno. “Quiet.”
“Aren’t you all meant to be biologi-”
“Keep talking and I will shove a poisonous mushroom so far down your throat it exits out of your ass,” Tighnari hissed.
Cyno chuckled. “Okay, Nari, I’ll stop.”
“Good,” Tighnari said with a huff.
After Tighnari calmed down to a Not-About-To-Attack-Cyno level, Cyno wrapped an arm around the botanist. “I have a contact that makes these things called binders. They do what you were doing with those bandages but safer. I can set something up, if you want.”
Tighnari smiled softly. “That would be nice.”
“Then I’ll handle it,” Cyno promised, softly brushing a bright green strand of hair away from Tighnari’s face.
It wasn’t long before Cyno felt Tighnari fully slump against him, soft snores filling the air.
He was okay.