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“Oh, Alhaitham!” Cyno growled, summoning his staff to his side. “I swear on the Lesser Lord—!”
He shoved the traveler’s hand from his shoulder, stalking closer to Alhaitham in a rage. Unlike Cyno, however, Alhaitham was standing perfectly still, barely even looking up past his book at his opponent.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Alhaitham said dismissively. “Don’t get all tilted now.”
“You…” Cyno tightened his grip on his staff. It took all his willpower not to hurtle his weapon into Alhaitham’s chest. “I swear on Lord Kusanali’s name that I will take you out.”
At that, Alhaitham finally set his book down and raised an eyebrow, looking at Cyno for the first time since he’d stormed in.
“Take me out?” Alhaitham slowly took a stride forward, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “Are you proposing we go on a date? Where to, General?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Cyno could see Dehya burying her face into Candace’s shoulder in an attempt to stifle her laughter. He gritted his teeth, pulling the edge of his blade up to Alhaitham’s chin.
“I-I mean that as a threat.” He spat out.
But the possibility of death didn’t seem to phase Alhaitham apparently as he simply pushed the spear aside and grabbed onto Cyno’s chin instead. “How about I decide for us, then? Puspa Café at 6 sound good? Shouldn’t be any trouble for the General Mahamatra to show up for just one date.”
Cyno didn’t know what frustrated him more: the amused glimmer in Alhaitham’s eyes or the fact that his face was getting hotter and hotter the longer he looked into them. He was pretty sure this was some sort of disease.
“Fuck off,” he hissed, shoving Alhaitham’s hand off of him. The Scribe gave a smug laugh before pulling his book out again and brushing past Cyno to the room’s exit.
“I’ll see you then… puppy.”
The second the door slammed closed behind him, Dehya burst into a fit of laughter, banging her hand against the table in between giggles. “Oh my… that has got to be the funniest thing… I’ve… ever seen…” she cried, wiping a few tears from her eyes.
“Dehya, you sh-shouldn’t l-laugh at things like that,” Candace scolded her, but it was clear from her expression and the waver in her tone that she was struggling to keep a straight face as well.
“Excuse me,” Cyno forced out in a dark growl, flinging his staff back onto his back. Without another word, the general flung the door of the room open and walked out, slamming it shut behind him.
“Oh, Cyno…” Paimon said sympathetically.
Frustrated, angry, and utterly humiliated beyond belief, Cyno took off running through Aaru Village—running until his mind cleared of everything but the sound of the sand beneath his feet and the feeling of the wind blowing against his face.
Fuck him. Fuck Alhaitham. Cyno was going to look for a potion to cure this disease that made his heart race and his face heat up whenever that man was around him.
-
[New Quest]
Cyno’s Troubles
*Tap to Navigate
“I think we should check up on Cyno. He seemed a bit sad just now. Let’s head out!”
The traveler rolled his eyes as he headed out the door of the building, leaving Candace and Dehya to laugh themselves silly. Sure, he was concerned about his friend, but by this point, it was getting a bit old. He was tired of seeing these dumb men pretend like they hated each other when everyone else around them could obviously tell they had it bad.
“Alright, come on, Paimon,” Aether said exasperatedly, holding his hand out for his companion. Closing his eyes, Aether focused in on a specific teleport waypoint hidden deep in the desert—almost in the middle of nowhere. “Ain’t no way he ran all the way over there.”
Aether inhaled sharply, and when they opened their eyes again, the two had successfully teleported to the sand dunes just above the Sobek Oasis. They didn’t take long to spot Cyno’s hunched-over form overlooking the ground below.
“Cyno!” Paimon called. They slowly made their way over to him. “Are you alright? Alhaitham was being a big meanie back there!”
“I’m fine,” Cyno said, completely monotone. He slowly turned around to face them. “You didn’t have to come looking for me. Alhaitham… He—Look, I can deal with Alhaitham. No need to worry about me. That man may be good at talking, but I know he knows that if we were to go all out on a fight, I will come out victorious.”
“Weird flirting method, but okay,” Aether muttered.
“Hey! Be serious!” Paimon scolded. She turned back to Cyno. “So, what are you going to do about tonight?”
“I’m going to go to Puspa Café and fight him.”
“No! As much as Paimon wants to see Haitham get beat up, that isn’t the answer! How are we supposed to work together if the two of you are constantly at each other’s throats? Cyno, you have to be the bigger man.”
“So what do you suppose I do?”
“Go to Puspa Café tonight and actually treat it like you’re going on a date!” Paimon suggested, pointing her finger into the air. “Don’t let him laugh at you. You have to play along with his joke as if it doesn’t bother you at all!”
“Th-there’s no way I’m going to do that,” Cyno protested. He crossed his arms and turned his face away in disgust. It was definitely disgust—not embarrassment.
“Aww Cyno, you’re blushing!” Paimon squealed.
“How cute,” Aether chimed in with a smile.
“I-I am not blushing! I just…” Cyno paused to calm down and clear his throat. “I just… need to get rid of this disease.”
“Disease?” Paimon’s amused expression quickly changed back to one of worry. “Oh no, Cyno, are you sick?”
“What’s wrong?” Aether asked.
“Nothing. It’s just… every time someone mentions Alhaitham’s name, or when he comes close to me, my face gets really hot and I have this uncomfortable burning in my chest. That man angers me so much, I get ill at the thought of him.”
When Cyno looked back up at the traveler and his companion, he found them staring back at him with the most dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
“Cyno…” Paimon started. But before she could continue with her sentence, the traveler burst into a fit of laughter, clutching his stomach to keep himself from falling over.
“Cy-Cyno… that isn’t a disease—you’re lovesick!”
Lovesick?
Cyno blinked. There was no way. No, he couldn’t possibly be.
“E-Enough of this,” the general grumbled out, stalking past Aether and Paimon. “I’m not going to this date. It’s stupid and foolish and a complete waste of my time. I have more important things to deal with, so I’ll be heading back to Aaru Village.”
[Quest Complete: Cyno’s Troubles]
-
Cyno went.
“Wow, you’re here early,” an all too familiar voice sounded from behind him. “Were you excited?”
Cyno took a deep breath before turning to face Alhaitham. He fought every cell in his body to keep from hurling an insult into the other man’s unsightly face.
Remember what Paimon said .
“Yes,” Cyno forced out with much difficulty. “Were you?”
“Of course,” Alhaitham answered with a sly smile. Cyno didn’t want to think about how Alhaitham was telling the complete truth when delivering those words. “Actually, I got you a gift.”
From behind his back, Alhaitham pulled out a bright purple artifact—the Thunderbird’s Mercy. “I treat all my dates well.”
Once again, Cyno felt his face getting hot as Alhaitham reached out and gently clipped the artifact onto Cyno’s headpiece, just behind his ear.
“Th-thank you.” For just a second, Cyno forgot that he was supposed to hate Alhaitham. “I… didn’t get you anything.”
“That’s alright,” Alhaitham replied, “you can pay me back later.”
He held out his arm with a small smirk. “Now, shall we?”
“You must be out of your mind if you think I’m going to—” Cyno bit his tongue and swallowed his pride. “Lead the way,” he grumbled, grabbing onto Alhaitham’s… strong… arm.
Together, the two of them headed into the café, making their way around the waterfall to the counter at the end of the shop. A kind-looking woman greeted them from behind the counter.
“Welcome. What can I get for you two this evening?”
“I’ll have a Padisarah Pudding,” Alhaitham responded. He turned to Cyno, “and what about you, dear , what would you like?”
Cyno dug his elbow into Alhaitham’s rib.
“I’ll have some Baklava, thank you.”
“Of course!” The woman answered with a smile. “I’ll have both your orders ready in no time at all.” She turned away and Alhaitham instantly grabbed at his side in pain.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“Call me dear one more time and I’ll eviscerate you.”
“So sorry… babe.”
“You—”
“Order up!” The woman called, cutting Cyno off. “That’ll be 12,750 mora.”
“I got it,” Alhaitham announced, pulling out his pouch of coins.
“No, I got it,” Cyno hissed back, pushing Alhaitham to the side and setting his mora on the counter.
“Aren’t you jobless now? Save your mora for something else.”
“We’re on the same boat, Alhaitham. Once the Akademiya finds out you’ve been working with us you’ll be tossed out, too.”
“Oh, but—”
“Will one of you just pay?!”
“Here,” Cyno said, pushing his coins across the counter toward the woman. He turned back to look at Alhaitham. “Payback for the artifact.”
Grabbing their desserts, the two made their way to a secluded corner by the entrance of the café. Finally, they wouldn’t be disturbing the general public anymore. There had been a huge shift in the mood since the start of their pretend date. It was almost as if they were making a competition out of getting on each other’s nerves.
Cyno set his plate down next to Alhaitham and sat down.
“You’re not going to sit across from me?” Alhaitham teased. “I heard it’s more romantic.”
“I don’t want to see your ugly face while I’m eating,” Cyno shot back, shoving a spoonful of Baklava into his mouth.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cyno saw Alhaitham’s jaw drop open.
“You should be addicted to shutting the fuck up.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cyno turned to him with a small smile and raised an eyebrow. “You want to kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid.”
Wrong joke, Cyno, wrong joke!
“Uhh, I mean…” Cyno scrambled to change the subject, but when he paused to read Alhaitham’s expression, the look on his face was nothing like what Cyno would ever have expected.
His lips were parted slightly and his eyes wider than usual in shock. A faint blush covered his cheeks. He looked… unguarded. Vulnerable. Cyno swallowed hard, noticing how Alhaitham’s eyes had flickered down to his lips and then back up again.
“Can I?” He whispered, almost too quiet to hear.
“... Yes.”
Before either of them could fully understand what was happening, Alhaitham had wrapped his arms around Cyno’s waist, pulling him close and locking their lips into a hard kiss. Cyno reached up, digging his fingers into Alhaitham’s thick, fluffy hair, trying to pull him impossibly closer. The kiss lasted a good few moments, but when they pulled away, Cyno found that it wasn’t enough.
“Alhaitham…”
“Let’s get out of here,” Alhaitham spoke softly. He gently pulled Cyno up, and the two of them left the café in a hurry, their uneaten desserts forgotten. They were only a few steps out the door before Alhaitham pulled Cyno into a nearby alleyway, lightly pushing him against the wall before kissing him once more.
But as much as Cyno was enjoying the moment, he knew he had to stop Alhaitham before they both did something they would regret.
“Wait, wait—Alhaitham!” Cyno gently pushed the other man off him, holding him a few inches away by the shoulders.
Alhaitham frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“No!” Cyno said quickly, reassuring him. “Well, I just—I do really… like you, I just don’t want us to do something we might regret. Once we… once this is all over, let’s have a talk.”
Alhaitham smiled, reaching up and grabbing onto Cyno’s hands with his own.
“Alright. But can I kiss you one more time before then?”
“Yes,” Cyno responded, pulling Alhaitham back toward him again, “you can.”