Chapter Text
It was an uneventful day in the Akademia, but for Cyno, there's always something going on.
"You've got a lot of work." Someone remarked. Cyno looked up from his paperworks to see Sumeru's famous scribe. "Alhaitham."
The scribe hummed, "aren't you chasing someone?"
Cyno threw his pen at the man, "why do you think I'm so frustrated now?"
Alhaitham stood at the door and caught the pen. "I expected gratitude, not a pen flying at me." The pen was a typical one used in the Akademia, popular for its sturdiness. "I thought I'd give you what you needed... but it seems that you're too busy to take it."
Cyno narrowed his eyes, "give it."
"Not even a please?"
"Alhaitham, I will castrate you where you stand."
The gray-haired man scoffed and Cyno's terminal rang. "I don't even know why I'm helping you with this. Invasion of Privacy is a crime, you know?"
Cyno opened his terminal to see various data displayed, along with certain pictures and videos of a pointy-eared forest watcher.
"It's for his safety so it really isn't a crime."
Alhaitham looked at Cyno with smile "If it wasn't for repaying a favor, I wouldn't really do this. Just..." He stared at the pen that he caught and twirled it, "remember to keep an eye out for me as well."
Cyno caught the pen that Alhaitham threw back. "Aren't you more of a rule-breaker than me?"
"Atleast I've already got Kaveh where I want him, how about you?"
Cyno threw the pen but all it did was smear ink on the closed door. "I'll get there so don't get cocky." He didn't forget to notice that Alhaitham kindly locked the door when he left, leaving Cyno to be able to display the live video of Tighnari planting in Pardis Dhyai to his heart's content.
He had paperworks to finish but he needed to see Tighnari's face.
Damn those scholars.
"He's late." Tighnari looked at the clock to see that it was almost nighttime. "It seems that he's got a lot of work."
"Mr. Tighnari, someone's at the door." The forest watcher stood up from crouching and proceeded to sit down at his workbench, "Do you want to meet them or?"
"Is it those researchers again?" Tighnari asked as he picked up a fallen petal on his desk. His assistant nodded to answer him. "Then tell them that I'll be done soon. It wouldn't hurt for them to wait since it was them who wanted to come out of the blue."
He was soon left alone inside the botanical garden. Through the semi-transparent panes of the infrastructure, Tighnari can see the old fools looking frustrated as his assistant gave them his message. His eyes gleamed because of some thoughts unknown to all but him, yet it immediately vanished. It was as if it never happened at all.
Cyno witnessed it all, not letting a minute detail pass by. He clenched his fist as he also looked at another screen displaying the researchers. "They're harassing my Nari again and I've already warned them."
"Sir, they simply won't budge. They said that it's an urgent matter."
Tighnari hummed, "is it?"
His assistant nodded, "they won't tell me any more details. I'm afraid that they'll act in a way that'llー" the assistant stopped in his words as he saw Tighnari give a small laugh. It was so fast that he was afraid that he was imagining it. A thought suddenly occurred to the assistant, "is it...?"
Tighnari, with face as emotionless as ever, looked at the moon and said "there's no way that he'll disappoint me."
It was in that instance that they heard screams and pleas for mercy outside. The assistant looked between Tighnari and the doors of Pardis Dhyai, not knowing if he should comment or do something.
Tighnari thumbed the petals of the Padisarah, trying to examine its texture in more detail. He was about to record his findings when he realized that he seems to have misplaced his pen.
"This is why you needed someone to guard you when you do your research. Your mind is too preoccupied." A hand appeared in Tighnari's line of sight holding the pen that he misplaced. "You left it near the plants."
Tighnari can recognize that hand and voice anywhere, "I think I can protect myself, thank you very much." He took the pen yet in doing so, their hands touched.
Cyno's eyes narrowed, "you aren't wearing your gloves."
Tighnari smiled, "I'm examining the patterns in the petals, there's something quite unusual about it." He moved closer to Cyno and took his hand to place a petal on it.
Cyno's heart jumped but his face didn't show it. "Really?"
Tighnari guided Cyno's fingers to touch the petal, "can you feel it?" He asked and he didn't forget to look Cyno in the eyes.
Cyno tried to control himself as he looked at those two-toned orbs of Tighnari. He was simply beautiful and the matra's eyes darkened at the messy thoughts that appeared in his head.
"Cyno?"
Cyno looked away as he answered, "I can't really feel it. Are you sure you're guiding me right?" Still, he only looked away for a second and proceeded to stare at Tighnari again.
Tighnari smiled and Archons, he looks so mesmerizing, "I think that you're just bad at following my guidance." With that, he let go of Cyno's hand, leaving the poor general to feel empty at the loss of his beloved's warmth.
"You're a mentor so you're supposed to be good at guiding your students."
Cyno was staring at his hand that just touched Tighnari's and he was surprised to suddenly see a close-up of Tighnari's face.
"If I had the General Mahamatra as my student, then my fame would be even more pronounced in the Akademia." Tighnari looked at Cyno's dumbfounded eyes, "I don't want anymore outsiders knocking on my doors."
Tighnari immediately pulled away and turned his back to Cyno, "come on, Collei's probably already done with preparing the dinner. How dare you make your daughter wait."
Cyno immediately got back to his senses, "Sorry, those scholars really made me go through so much today. Let's go now."
Tighnari smiled, "Don't worry, we understand. Aren't you going to refute me calling Collei as your daughter?"
Cyno fixed his headgear as he proceeded to get out to leave with Tighnari, "don't you treat Collei as your own daughter as well? Why can't I?"
Tighnari looked at the moon again and smiled, "how silly of me to ask."
"That's right, she's our daughter." Cyno emphasized.
"That sounds as if we're her parents and that..." Tighnari was still facing his back to Cyno yet he turned his face to get a glimpse of him, "we're a married couple."
Cyno's gaze met Tighnari's, "what's wrong with that?"
Tighnari felt goosebumps and his tail swished, "nothing's really wrong with that."
Cyno's voice dropped an octave lower, "really?" He stepped closer to Tighnari and whispered, "you'd take me in as your significant other?"
The tail moved even crazier that Tighnari had to hold it. "Is there something wrong with that?" He asked, "the one who gets to take the General Mahamatra as their significant other gets so many benefits. Now come on, we've taken too much time."
Tighnari walked away, forgetting his briefcase of tools which Cyno noticed and thus took away. All the while, Cyno was wearing a smile as his gaze never left the forest watcher's figure.
"I'll make sure you get the most benefits so don't worry Tighnari."