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At long last, it was the final week of Alhaitham’s duties as Acting Grand Sage. He had been looking forward to it since the very day he took up the temporary position. It would be a rough week, wrapping up all the last little details before stepping down, but it would all be worth it when he could return to his laid-back lifestyle as the scribe.
He had been working overtime the past few days, desperate to crank out the last of his work and not leave anything behind. The last thing he wanted was for someone to come knocking at his door because he had forgotten to complete something, or left out a few details in his instructions on how to handle one thing or another. His only desire was to step down and be left alone, and he was determined to accomplish that.
A familiar knock sounded on the door to his office as he poured over some academic papers. There were so many research proposals awaiting approval. It was the one aspect of the job Alhaitham actually found interesting, seeing what fellow researchers were interested in and the topics they were trying to pursue. Unfortunately, it seemed like lately the proposals were less than impressive, so more often than not they ended up getting rejected.
“Come in,” the Acting Grand Sage called, not even bothering to look up.
One of the assistants entered with a tray of food, a routine Alhaitham had become quite accustomed to. She would always enter at the same time each day with his lunch. He glanced up at the clock quickly. It read 1:00pm. Huh, so it really was that time already.
“Thank you,” he said as she placed the tray on the corner of his desk. Once again, he turned back to his work without even sparing the woman so much as a glance.
He wasn’t there to form personal relationships anyway. But instead of retreating silently like she usually did, she remained standing on the other side of the desk, looking nervous.
“Did you need something else?” he asked her once she still hadn’t left.
“N-no! I just wanted to say that, um, I noticed you’ve not been taking many breaks lately, but the juice today has, um, a lot of vitamins that are good for your health so be sure to, um, drink it. Yeah, t-that’s all,” the woman stammered before quickly shuffling away and out the door.
The scribe raised a confused brow. He didn’t understand why the woman was acting so bashful all of a sudden. They had many normal conversations previously. Ultimately, he just shrugged it off. It likely wasn’t his concern anyway. Soon enough, he would be out of there and not have to see any of those people again.
He ate his lunch as he worked, not even pausing to enjoy it fully. It was a well-cooked pita pocket that was decent in flavor. He also drank the juice at the assistant’s recommendation. More vitamins couldn’t hurt, and he really had been working long hours. It was sweet and left a pleasant aftertaste as he downed the remainder of the liquid.
For a while, everything was normal. Alhaitham continued slaving away through his paperwork as usual. Only after about ten minutes passed did he begin to feel… strange. Something was off. Was it food poisoning? No, it was too fast acting. Regular poison, then?
In an instant, he was lightheaded and his heart was pounding like crazy. He clutched at his chest as he stood up, attempting to reach the door and get help. Whatever was wrong, it was too late. His vision began to blur and before he knew it, he fell to the ground in a heap, losing consciousness completely.
Meanwhile, the General Mahamatra was on his way to the Acting Grand Sage’s office. Cyno needed Alhaitham’s approval to sign off on a last-minute reconnaissance mission. A rogue group of Eremites had encroached a bit too close to Sumeru City and were causing trouble for traveling merchants. However, they were suspected to have some ties to researchers from the Akademiya and conducting shady deals, thus the assistance of the General Mahamatra was requested.
Cyno was still an employee of the Akademiya, therefore he needed the Grand Sage’s approval before acting. Of course, he could always act first and ask for approval after, which he had done several times before. Alhaitham never seemed to mind what order Cyno did things as long as he did his job and involved him as little as possible.
But since this case involved potential suspects within the Akademiya, Cyno figured he should consult Alhaitham first. Plus, he already happened to be at the Akademiya, so making a quick extra stop was no big deal. Cyno was surprised, however, once he knocked on the Acting Grand Sage’s office and got no response.
He knew the man was practically glued to his desk chair. Alhaitham would never leave his office unless absolutely necessary, so it was odd for him to not be in. Deciding to just enter first and apologize later, Cyno pushed the door open without further hesitation. But what he saw left him shocked. The Acting Grand Sage was currently sprawled on the floor, unconscious.
“Alhaitham!” Cyno called, rushing inside.
He ran up to the man and immediately checked his pulse. Still breathing, good . His vitals seemed fairly normal as well. What was wrong? Passed out from exhaustion maybe? He held Alhaitham’s head in his hands, looking for any sign of consciousness. I should bring him to Tighnari , Cyno thought to himself.
But before he could move the scribe, Alhaitham’s eyes fluttered open. He blinked slowly a few times before he seemed to focus, eyes fixated on Cyno’s face. He stared up at him with a faraway gaze, and immediately the matra snapped to attention.
“Alhaitham, are you alright? What happened? How do you feel?” he asked him, spitting out words a mile a minute.
“I don’t know… I think… my lunch was poisoned,” Alhaitham answered, but he sounded unsure.
“Poisoned?” Cyno reiterated seriously, but the scribe seemed distracted.
“I don’t feel too bad anymore though… Hey Cyno?” he inquired suddenly.
“Yes?” the white-haired man replied.
Alhaitham raised one hand up and cupped the side of Cyno’s face, slightly startling the matra. “Why are you so pretty?”
“...”
Cyno was stunned. It took some time to fully process the words that had left Alhaitham’s mouth, but once he eventually did, he could feel his face heating up rapidly.
“What?” he finally managed to choke out.
“The way you’re looking down at me… I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest,” the scribe said completely seriously.
Once again, Cyno was speechless. What the hell was going on? It was a strange enough thing to say after just waking up from unconsciousness, but the fact that it was coming from Alhaitham of all people made it ten times weirder. He could never picture the scribe saying such a thing in his life, unless…
“Did you hit your head?” Cyno asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Alhaitham responded, eerily calm.
“... I think I should take you to see Tighnari,” Cyno stated, mind made up.
Even if Alhaitham said he felt okay, there was definitely something wrong with him. He was acting so unlike himself that Cyno was worried. Maybe he really was poisoned, and it was messing with his brain. But Tighnari would know what to do.
The Forest Watcher was an expert in all the different kinds of poison that could be found in the forest. If the scribe was poisoned, Tighanri could identify it and figure out a solution. Cyno couldn’t think of any other explanation for Alhaitham’s bizarre behavior.
At the mention of Tighnari, Alhaitham frowned, sitting up. “I don’t like Tighnari. Why do you want to go see him?” he pouted. Yes, that’s right. Actually pouted.
Cyno was losing track of how many times he had been rendered speechless in the past two minutes. Cyno, Alhaitham, Tighnari, and Kaveh had gotten drinks together after work just yesterday, and now all of a sudden Alhaitham was saying he didn’t like the Forest Watcher? What happened?
“I want you to go see him,” Cyno clarified. “I think he can help you.”
“I don’t need help,” Alhaitham protested stubbornly. “I just need you.”
Then, he grabbed Cyno and pulled him into a hug so that he was cradling the Mahamatra’s head close to his chest. Cyno let out an oof at the sudden movement and tried to back away again, but the scribe’s grip was firm. Cyno could probably break out of the other’s hold if he really wanted to, but he still didn’t know what was wrong with Alhaitham and didn’t want to hurt him accidentally.
“Um,” Cyno said dumbly, “I really think we should go visit Tighnari.”
Alhaitham pulled back, but kept his large hands firmly on either side of Cyno’s face. “You really want to go?” he asked.
“Yesh,” Cyno answered through squished cheeks.
“Together?”
Cyno nodded.
“Okay, then. We can go,” Alhaitham relented, finally releasing the General Mahamatra.
Cyno was relieved. He didn’t want to end up having to drag Alhaitham through the forest to Gandharva Ville if it came down to it. The scribe was practically twice his size, after all. It would be difficult to even figure out how he would carry him.
The two stood up and made their way out of the office, but almost the instant they stepped into the hall, Cyno felt a weight on his shoulders. Alhaitham had practically draped himself across Cyno’s back, leaning over him protectively. He was also shooting dirty looks at anyone who passed by.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Cyno asked him after one too many baffled looks had been shot their way.
“I just wanna be close to you,” Alhaitham mumbled into the top of his head. He was fiddling with Cyno’s headdress like he wanted to remove it.
Suddenly, a woman that Cyno recognized as one of Alhaitham’s assistants came running up to them.
“Goodness, what happened!?” she asked in astonishment. “I was just on my way to check on you, Acting Grand Sage!”
“I would like to know that myself,” Cyno told her. “I found him unconscious in his office and then he woke up and started behaving like this. Did you notice anything unusual today?”
“Not at all,” the woman stated. “It seemed like business as usual. Oh my, are you sure you’re alright?” As she spoke, she reached out to gently touch one of Alhaitham’s arms that was draped across Cyno’s chest, but the scribe quickly swatted her hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” he muttered.
“O-oh,” the woman sputtered in embarrassment, but her expression darkened as she turned back to Cyno. “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”
“Right,” Cyno said slowly. “Well, just keep an eye on his office for me. If you see anyone suspicious, report it immediately.”
“Of course,” the woman agreed before scurrying away.
Cyno watched her go, interested in her odd demeanor. But soon enough, Alhaitham was back to crowding in his personal space, demanding his attention. They began to walk again.
“Why are you being so… clingy?” the General Mahamatra questioned, for lack of a better word.
Alhaitham didn’t answer. Instead he had stopped leaning on Cyno’s back briefly in order to remove his cape. Then, he wrapped it around Cyno’s shoulders, causing the smaller man to jump.
“What’s wrong? I don’t need this.”
“You’re too exposed,” the scribe said with a frown. “People are looking at you.”
“I don’t think that’s why they’re looking,” Cyno sighed. They had just reached the entrance of the Akademiya, but he already had a feeling that it was going to be a long trek to Gandharva Ville. He was also certain that they were going to be the talk of the Akademiya for the foreseeable future given how many people had seen them. Oh, boy.
When they finally arrived at Gandharva Ville, Cyno was exhausted. He felt like he was looking after a puppy. Alhaitham kept clinging to him the whole way, meanwhile he would point out various things like “Cyno look at that!” or “This flower species is quite beautiful, but not as beautiful as you” , or just straight up rambling off random facts that the scribe thought were interesting before looking at Cyno for approval. He would keep going until Cyno acknowledged him with a nod or a “Wow, so fascinating!” .
As they approached Tighnari’s hut, Cyno could see the fox’s face go from surprised to amused, like he was trying not to laugh. Alhaitham was still practically hanging off him, and he refused to let Cyno take his cloak off, even though the matra felt like he was on the brink of overheating.
“What’s the matter with him?” Tighnari asked, eyes already scanning for symptoms.
“I think he was poisoned,” Cyno told him. “One minute he was unconscious, and the next he was like this.”
“Let me take a look,” the fox said, gesturing for them to enter.
It took several more minutes of coaxing from Cyno to lead Alhaitham inside and let Tighnari conduct some tests. The scribe only cooperated under the condition that Cyno be next to him the entire time holding his hand. When they were done and Cyno asked why, he only said it was because “I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand.” That had caused Tighnari to burst out laughing, while all Cyno could do was blush.
“Well,” Tighanri began once the tests had concluded, “I had my suspicions but the results confirm it. What Alhaitham ingested was not poison but actually a love potion.”
“Love potion?” Cyno asked in disbelief. “Something like that really exists?”
“Indeed, although it is extremely rare. It can be made with certain ingredients that are difficult to procure, but that could help narrow down your search if you're looking for the one who made it. I’ve actually dealt with one such case of this particular concoction before.”
“How does it work?” Cyno asked. Alhaitham was only half-paying attention, one hand absentmindedly combing through Cyno’s long hair.
“It’s called Love Punch. The target drinks the potion and passes out for a bit, but when they wake up, they will fall in love with the first person they lay eyes on.”
“That’s you,” Alhaitham clarified cheerily, much to Cyno’s dismay.
“S-so that means… Alhaitham is i-in love with me right now!?” he cried.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Tighnari deadpanned, gesturing to the way the taller man was practically wrapped around the tiny matra.
“What do we do!? How do we cure it!?” Cyno panicked. He could only imagine how embarrassed Alhaitham would be once it wore off. Cyno didn’t want the way Alhaitham was acting towards him right now to affect their friendship. That was all, really. Any stinging in his heart to indicate otherwise was ignored.
“I can whip up a cure, but it will still probably take about three days for the effects to fully wear off,” Tighnari told him.
“Three days!? He’s going to be like this for three days!?”
“Why are you upset?” Alhaitham complained. “I wish it was forever.”
“Stop! You’ll regret saying all of this later,” Cyno warned him, face beet red.
“No I won't,” the scribe mumbled.
Tighnari scrambled around his hut, throwing random ingredients into a bowl, grinding them down, and then repeating the process. He did this for several minutes before boiling the contents of the bowl in some water. Then, he poured it into a cup and handed it to Alhaitham.
“Drink this,” he instructed.
The scribe shook his head, looking at the cup in disdain. “I don’t want to.”
“Cyno, ask him to drink it, please,” Tighnari said in exasperation.
Cyno gulped before looking at Alhaitham, who was already staring at him with wide eyes as if pleading for him to refuse. The General Mahamatra steeled his nerves and gently placed his hand on Alhaitham’s arm before smiling at him brightly.
“It would make me really happy if you drank it.”
In a flash, the contents of the cup were gone. Alhaitham practically swallowed it all in a single gulp, coughing a little bit at how fast he had just downed the liquid.
“Woah, woah, are you alright!? Wasn’t that hot?” Cyno asked.
Alhaitham had tears in his eyes but shook his head stubbornly. And then he buried his head into the crook of Cyno’s neck, who sighed. Cyno felt a grip on his wrist as Alhaitham raised the back of his hand up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss there. He leaned back to look into Cyno’s eyes as he said, with a dead serious expression, “Not as hot as you.”
Somewhere to the side, Tighnari choked. Cyno nearly had a heart attack. The next three days would definitely be a struggle. But first, he had to figure out who gave Alhaitham the potion in the first place. Such a concoction was definitely illegal, not to mention extremely immoral. Forcing someone to fall in love with you was a selfish and inhumane thing to do. Whoever was responsible would need to be punished.
Part of Cyno was glad that he had been the one to find Alhaitham. At least he and the scribe were already friends, so Cyno could make sure nobody manipulated him while he was vulnerable, and the evil person wouldn’t get to have their way. On the other hand, it would be especially bitter once the whole thing was over, and he even felt a little guilty that the scribe was acting this way towards him all because of a potion. He tried not to think about it.
Back at the Akademiya, Cyno already had his suspicions about the culprit, but he still lacked evidence. It was increasingly hard to investigate with a giant puppy clinging to his side every moment of the day, and Cyno really didn’t want Alhaitham to be any more ashamed than he probably already would be once the potion wore off. He tried to keep the scribe confined to his office, but he refused to stay in there unless Cyno did too.
Not wanting people to see the Acting Grand Sage in such a state, and also for Cyno’s own sanity, he stayed in the office with Alhaitham. Unfortunately, that meant he had to leave the investigating of the matter to the other matra. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his subordinates to handle it, but more so that he really wanted to hunt down the person himself. Both Alhaitham and Cyno had now suffered a lot because of them, albeit for different reasons.
Alhaitham’s behavior was much the same. He hung onto Cyno’s every word, kept his eyes trained on his every movement, and showered the General Mahamatra with nonstop compliments. He was getting slightly less touchy though, so Cyno figured the antidote Tighnari made must have been working. That was, until the third and final day.
Cyno and Alhaitham were in the Acting Grand Sage’s office. Cyno was trying (and probably failing) to assist Alhaitham with his paperwork since the scribe was supposed to step down the next day. Alhaitham’s usually exceedingly efficient work pace had been slowed considerably due to the incident with the potion, but Cyno knew how important it was to him to get all the work over and done with.
The General Mahamtra tried in vain to ignore the heated stare boring into the side of his head as he worked. Finally, the silence was interrupted by a knock. Cyno unconsciously let out a breath of relief.
“Come in,” he ordered.
Two of his matra entered, and with them was the female assistant with her hands tied behind her back. She was glaring daggers at Cyno, no longer pretending to be polite.
“Lord Cyno, sir. We apprehended the main suspect in the love potion case. Records show that she purchased the necessary ingredients for the potion last week, and the schedule shows that she personally delivered Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham’s lunch two days ago. The evidence is sufficient and the initial investigation has been closed,” the matra reported.
“Good work,” Cyno praised, standing up. “You may lock her away and leave the full report in my office. I will sign off on it and conduct a thorough interrogation later.”
“Yes, sir,” the matra saluted before moving to drag the woman away.
“You homewrecker!” she suddenly screeched, loud enough that Cyno was sure the entire Akademiya could hear her. “It was supposed to be me! We were in love! Why did you have to come between us, you slut!”
Cyno sighed as she was finally dragged out the door kicking and screaming. Internally, he was crying. Goodbye, my precious reputation.
He blinked, and Alhaitham was suddenly right next to him. Cyno nearly jumped in alarm as the scribe leaned in close.
“It’s not true, you know,” he whispered, close enough to Cyno’s ear to tingle and send a shiver down the matra’s spine. “I never would have fallen in love with her. It was always you.”
And then, Cyno felt a hand on his chin, guiding his face towards Alhaitham’s and, wait…
IS HE TRYING TO KISS ME!?
Cyno quickly pushed himself away, heart beating wildly. What the fuck just happened? The potion should have been wearing off by now. They were going to have a check up with Tighnari that day anyway, but maybe they should go see him ASAP. Clearly, the antidote wasn’t working after all.
Alhaitham watched him with a mildly hurt expression. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to kiss me?”
“You’re only doing this because of the potion,” Cyno explained to him.
“That’s not true,” Alhaitham argued. “I’ve always wanted to kiss you, and hug you, and touch you, and f-”
“OKAY,” Cyno interrupted, practically shouting. “Let’s go see Tighnari.”
Back at Gandharva Ville, said fox was practically grinning ear to ear, which was really starting to get on Cyno’s nerves. How could he still think the situation was funny!? What about how Alhaitham was going to feel? What about how Cyno feels!? But Tighnari only kept laughing.
“Why are you laughing?” Cyno chastised. “Your antidote clearly didn’t work!”
“Oh it worked,” Tighnari said between gasps for breath. “Also, I lied.”
“Lied? About what?” the General Mahamatra asked in confusion.
The Forest Watcher finally stopped laughing and stood up straight, though his eyes were still sparkling with amusement. “It doesn’t take three days to wear off. It only takes one.”
Slowly, Cyno turned to look incredulously at Alhaitham, who had been suspiciously quiet since they got there. The scribe at least had the decency to look a little guilty.