Chapter Text
"You know what, I think it's alright now..." Tighnari spoke to himself softly, admiring the plants he had in his living room. It's his final year of studying at the academia, and after last years calamity of being stuck with Al Haitham, Kaveh and Dehya in a shared dorm, he decided that a single room would be best for his last year of studies. Well, not exactly a single room, the best he could get is a double room, with a 'promise' from the academia's dorm organiser that a roommate will be extremely unlikely. Thinking back to it, Tighnari felt almost pleased with himself after sending over 8 letters requesting a single room.
The living area was perfect for him, a couple of spider plants in hanging baskets near the window for plenty of sunlight, a row of padisarahs beneath them, and a couple of succulents dotted around wherever he could fit them. Plants that required little upkeep, therefore maximising his time he could spend on studying, with his tutoring job of working with a first year student named Collei and a part time job at a flower shop providing enough income to cover his tuition fee.
He sat down, and closed his eyes, finally at relief that there was no more shouting or arguing, just him and his plants. The distant footsteps in the hallway were the only sounds, until a pair of footsteps stopped outside his door, making Tighnari's ears perk up.
Groaning, Tighnari spoke harshly "Kaveh, for the last time, it's your responsibility to get a jo-" he stopped when the door opened, despite locking it earlier. He quickly turned around to see a man with medium length white hair, a black hoodie with a jackal on it, skin the shade of beautiful sepia with warm undertones and a big suitcase in his hand.
"Who are you? This dorm was assigned to me, so I recommend you pack your things and leave immediately" the man spoke harshly, taking off his shoes and carrying the large suitcase effortlessly into the living area as he observed the plants.
"Excuse me? You don't have any right coming into my dorm and demanding who I am and telling me to leave. I think you should be the one to leave, before I get the Matra for the dorm rooms." Tighnari crossed his arms and tried to grab the other man's suitcase before the man swiftly grabbed his wrist and pulled it away, and glared Tighnari in the eyes.
"I AM the Matra for the dorm rooms. Do you not recall my speech earlier, infront of the dorm residents for this building?" The man exclaimed, almost growling out his words.
That's when it clicked who this harsh figure was. It was Cyno. Some guy who spent 30 minutes listing the rules for the dorms earlier on, in which Tighnari zoned out and thought about what plants would look nice in his bedroom.
Tighnari felt his face turn red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "Well then why the hell do you need a dorm room if you work here? And besides, I got my key and was told this was a single room"
Cyno paused, seemingly confused, "I was also told that... I will go talk to the dorm room organiser and make him get me a new room. Also, I am a student here, in my final year just like you Tighnari"
"Good I'm going with you... Wait how do you know my name?" Tighnari paused and eyed up Cyno. Whilst he was hardly taller than him by an inch, he seemed calculative and swift, as rumors of the Matra physically throwing people out of their unassigned dorm surfaced his memory.
"I've read some of your research papers before, they interest me greatly. If you want to come, let's go sort this out now" Cyno said in an almost monotone voice, creating a stoic aura around himself.
"Okay let's go sort this out then... I'm sure it was just a mistake anyway..." Tighnari sighed as he grabbed his keys and academia ID.
Silently, the two men walked down the hallways and staircases towards the dorm staff's office, and Tighnari noticed how anyone within Cyno's way immediately moved aside, almost as if they were scared of him, yet Tighnari didn't feel the same way for some reason.
When they reached the office door, Cyno didn't even bother knocking as he entered, headed straight for the dorm organiser's desk.
"Ah Cyno! And Tighnari..." an older man sitting at the desk said, his tone shifted to a more stern one as he mentioned Tighnari's name, "What brings you two here?"
"We got assigned the same dorm room when you made separate promises to us that we would receive a separate one" Cyno crossed his arms, unrelentlessly eyeing down the old man who quickly changed his relaxed demeanor to a more worried one.
"I thought you did get assigned different dorm rooms, I made special note of it when I asked my assistant to sort out the dorm rooms for your floor..." the old man quickly leaned forward, avoiding eye contact with Cyno as he typed away at his computer, "It will probably take a while to find out what's gone wrong, so you can wait outside if you'd like"
"I think I'll stay here, thank you very much, I don't have time for this today" Tighnari said, catching an eye roll from the old man.
"I agree, I need time to set up my genius invocation TCG deck for my club" Cyno said so seriously that it almost made Tighnari laugh at the absurdity of it.
"Alright fine... By only because you're the Matra for the building..." the old man sighed and continued typing.
It took a couple of minutes, in which Cyno did not break his eye contact with the old man who was trying to read something on his computer screen.
"It seemed my assistant made a mistake... You'll have to forgive him, he is new here... KAVEH!" The old man shouted into the adjacent room, as Kaveh came through the door, with a smug grin on his face.
"What's wrong? Oh hello Tighnari, Cyno, what a coincident!" He said, as Tighnari realised this must be some form of revenge after telling Kaveh to shut up about Al Haitham one too many times.
"I told you that these students are top priority for single rooms... And here they are, making my job more difficult because you can't follow basic instructions. Do we have any single rooms for either of them?" The old man exclaimed with anger, yet Kaveh held his nerve and pretended to sigh melodramatically.
"We don't unfortunately, I had to give away the last one earlier to a first year student... Do you want me to see if I can convince any single room students to move?" Kaveh said, smiling sickingly sweet.
"Of course I do! Now go on and sort out that rubbish before I rethink your little job..." the old man said, rubbing his eyes with frustration. With a polite nod and a wink to Tighnari, Kaveh left, "I'm sorry boys, but for the time being you're going to have a share the dorm room until we can sort out something for you, is that okay?"
"No. I want a decrease in my rent, after all, I am being forced to share a dorm now." Tighnari said as the old man glared at him and chuckled.
"Do you really think you have as much power as to demand a decrease in rent just because you're upset with your dorm room. No can do" he stated as he crossed his arms.
"Actually, yes we both demand a decrease in rent. The rent price per month of a shared luxury double dorm room is 2,435 mora higher than that of a single standard dorm room, so I believe we are entitled to that decrease in rent" Cyno stated, glaring at the man with such strong anger in his red eyes that Tighnari was convinced he was about to throw the man out of the window.
"Oh for fuck sake... Fine! Yes you can have that decrease in rent! Now can you both please leave my office so I can focus on my job?!" The man said, spitting out his words as he seemed to have reached his breaking point.
"With pleasure." Tighnari said, equally eyeing up the man as he turned around and left, with Cyno following him.
Tighnari expected the walk back to the dorm to be even more awkward, but instead, he felt proud of what he had done, knowing that a few months earlier he wouldn't even dream of being so sassy, face to face with the dorm room organiser.
"Thank you for accompanying me. Even if we haven't got the result we wanted, I feel like both of us being there will force him to give us our rightfully entitled rooms." Cyno said, looking at Tighnari, however still keeping the same expression on his face.
"It's fine, honestly. I've wanted to give that man a piece of my mind for a while now... Also I apologise for my rude first impression earlier, I got a bit too worked up" Tighnari said, sighing as he realised he wasn't this snappy with people before attending the academia, "my previous roommates were quite a handful..."
"I accept your apology and also apologise. It was rude of me to demand you leave before even greeting myself" Cyno said as the two entered their dorm room together.
"It's fine, If we're gonna be sharing this dorm room for a while, I suppose it'll be easier to do so on good terms" Tighnari spoke gently, and extended his hand to Cyno, who grasped it firmly and shook it.
"Agreed. Also, I like the plants you set up. They're nice" Cyno said as picked up one of the potted sumeru roses by the kitchen counter before quickly putting it down, "Sorry, I shouldn't touch them, I should leaf them alone," he spoke, a hint of nervousness in his voice as he looked to Tighnari, who seemed stunned into silence, and barely muttered out a "what?"
"Leaf, as in the leaves of a sumeru rose but also as in, I should leave them alone and not touch them" Cyno explained, yet Tighnari seemed even more confused and lowered his eyebrows as he glared at Cyno, "Leaf sounds like leave, do you get the joke yet?"
"Of course I get the joke, you don't need to explain it, I didn't even realise it was a joke... Jokes are supposed to be funny" Tighnari said slowly, as he picked up a spray bottle and began gently misting the plants.
"You don't think my jokes are funny...?" Cyno said, for the first time changing his tone to something other than angry or emotionless, as he almost sounded defeated and embarrassed.
"Well... I can see that it's suppose to be funny, I do like the joke, it just caught me off guard, that's all" Tighnari gritted his teeth as he told the white lie, purely to avoid annoying Cyno anymore than he already has.
"Ah I see... I'll make sure to come up with more jokes in time, so make sure you aren't going to be caught off guard" Cyno said, as he picked up his suitcase effortlessly and carried it down the hallway, and into his bedroom, adjacent to Tighnari's.
Tighnari could only sigh in utter confusion as he began looking through the fridge to make something for dinner and thought to himself about how much he's going to kick Kaveh's ass.