Chapter Text
Some years later, Tighnari asked Cyno when he knew that he was in love with him. It was a hard question. Cyno couldn’t answer it right away.
Because maybe he always had been?
Maybe he had loved Tighnari since he was given the assignment to watch him as an Akademiya student. Cyno hadn’t thought much at all of being given the assignment. It was low pressure to watch an Akademiya student and apprehend him if he was determined to be sowing trouble. It was a nice break from running all over the desert chasing scholars with Eremite guards.
Cyno had seen a picture of Tighnari in the file the Matra had been given, but to see him in person was a different matter entirely. Cyno looked down from the tree he had masked himself in, to see Tighnari already working in the greenhouse. He looked just like the picture and yet different. His smooth, cream skin seemed to glow as if brushed with luminescent pollen, the framing of his midnight blue and green hair seeming to make it all the more brilliant. The way he moved about the greenhouse was languid and elegant as he cared for each plant like he was moving to a soothing melody.
Cyno found it perplexing to be caught up on the easy beauty of Tighnari’s fond smile as he worked. He had observed many beautiful scholars before and never felt his heart sway like that. But he tried to ignore it. He had a job to do.
At first, he was suspicious. Tighnari was friendly, but careful in how he presented himself. Guarded.
There was the incident a few days later with the junior who came to TIghnari in tears. Cyno expected Tighnari to turn the younger student away, it wasn’t any concern of his and there was no reason to trouble himself. Nothing to be gained. That student was there on merit. They had no money or influence to be gained.
Still Tighnari dried the younger student’s tears with his sleeves. “What good will crying do about it? You’re having trouble with the identification of plants and their properties? Well, let’s go get practice.”
He took the student out through a hike in the forest. Pointing out any plants of notes. He brought the young student over, “This herb is excellent for treating pain, but it tastes awful. I always hide it in syrup.” The student laughed. They went on this way until the younger was reciting facts about plants as they passed them himself. Cyno couldn’t help the genuine smile creeping onto his face as he watched.
It was pure. Cyno had never seen an accused scholar go so far out of his way for nothing in return. It reminded him of how Cyrus had taken him under his wing. He found himself thinking, maybe if he was guilty, he could put in a good word to get him a lighter punishment.
Then an older student asked Tighnari to help him study in a secluded room, Cyno was sure they must have been scheming something. This student was the relative of a sage. It was easy to see how they could leverage the connection. Instead Cyno watched as the man tried every corny pick up line in the book on Tighnari while Tighnari tried to explain the process by which the Akasha worked.
“So you see, by linking–” Tighnari started pointing at a diagram in the book.
“Baby, I’d like to link up with you.” The man answered with a wink, ignoring the diagram.
“Ha ha,” Tighnari wryly mock laughed. “Be serious here.”
“Oh I’m very serious. Why don’t we take a break? You must be tired because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”
“Nope,” Tighnari immediately started packing his items despite his companion’s protests and made a hasty exit.
Cyno tried to stifle a laugh at Tighnari’s predicament, which prompted Tighnari to look over his shoulder in a glare in Cyno’s direction and mutter, “it’s not funny, stupid matra.”
Interesting, Cyno thought. So he knew he was being followed. It was impressive alone that he had caught onto Cyno shadowing him. In the extremely rare circumstances that someone caught onto him, they usually immediately tried to shake him or fight him. Tighnari had done nothing.
And Cyno thought he wanted to get to know this person. Who didn’t fear him. Who would burn a bridge with someone with connections, but take time out of his day for someone who truly wanted to learn.
It was with great pleasure he turned in a report of no wrong doings and made plans to meet Tighnari in person.
Maybe that was when he fell in love with Tighnari. That first time he had an easy conversation with someone. That first time Tighnari laughed at his joke and his whole face lit up and it seemed to Cyno he would have stayed in that moment forever if he could.
Maybe he fell in love with Tighnari when he invited him up to his secluded spot. Tighnari was the first person that Cyno ever invited there. At first he was nervous. He thought maybe it was a strange thing to ask Tighnari to climb up the branch, but Tighnari just gave a single nod and made his way up.
When he was up there, Tighnari looked out from the great vine over Sumeru. He turned to Cyno, brilliant smile and sparkling eyes in a warm orange glow of the setting sun. “It’s breathtaking, Cy. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”
Cyno hoped that the orange and reds of the sunset were concealing the pink on his cheeks. It had been the most beautiful thing Cyno had ever seen until that moment too. Now it was a distant second.
On another afternoon when Cyno and Tighnari sat on the branch, Tighnari flipping through a book while Cyno absentmindedly shuffled his TCG deck, Tighnari looked out and said, “Do you know the problem with Sumeru?”
“Oh?” Cyno raised his eyebrows.
“People only collect knowledge as a status symbol. They almost never try to solve real issues. Never try to help. I don’t want to be like that.” Cyno didn’t know if Tighnari was even still talking to him or if he was just thinking out loud. But he knew from the fierce look in his eyes that he was serious. It reminded Cyno of his own burning desire to protect Sumeru. Cyno had thought he couldn’t have respected Tighnari any more, but there was a growing pride in his chest to be someone Tighnari kept close.
“I know whatever you choose to do will be right.” Cyno smiled.
He remembered when he left Sumeru City for that mission and Tighnari saw him off. Cyno thought for the first time, he didn’t want to go. He was generally eager to do his duty to protect Sumeru, but the only thing that got him out of the City and away from Tighnari was the idea of making it safer there for Tighnari. He’d wanted so badly to kiss Tighnari when he left, but he caught himself before he pushed it. He hadn’t felt that way before.
Then he was lucky and Tighnari came to him in Caravan Ribat. That he accepted his kiss. That he got to fall asleep that night running his fingers through Tighnari’s hair and listening to comfortable rhythm of his breathing. Cyno thought this would be a good way to live. With the one he loved curled next to him.
His own thought had caught him off guard at first, but only for a moment. How could anyone not love Tighnari? His beauty, his warmth, his passion.
When Cyno got back to the Akademiya and read up on Valuka Shuna culture to make sure no more impromptu life threatening trips were in Tighnari’s future, he read about the Padisarah. The first of a courting gift for a life long partner. He had to put his hand over his mouth to keep others from seeing him grin impossibly wide into the book. Tighnari was serious about him. Which meant he got to be serious back. It was his very next trip to the desert that he picked up the Trishiraite. He was quick to bring it to a jeweler to have it fashioned into the golden lotus necklace.
But he never wanted to force the issue. He would be ready to fall to one knee the moment Tighnari said it was him he picked for his lifelong partner. But he also respected that something so important should be Tighnari’s choice. If it was Tighnari’s forever, he would wait until Tighnari was certain. Cyno….Cyno was already sure. He found himself wishing on the desert night stars that Tighnari would pick him.
So he told Tighnari he knew he loved him from the moment they started dating in Caravan Ribat and he kept it to himself that he probably had loved him long before. Like he kept to himself that he fell more in love with him all the time.
Like he fell more in love with him when he saw him helping people at the Bimarstan. He knew he didn’t need to take all his juniors there personally. He knew that Tighnari thought he was only doing it to get to stop in and say hi. But truth be told, in scrubs and his hair pulled into a small ponytail obviously tired from the day of work, Cyno thought Tighnari looked incredible. Because it made Cyno think of how he had to lift Tighnari from a chair in the children’s ward sometimes if he fell asleep reading them stories there after his shift. It made Cyno think of how Tighnari commanded the OR when he brought in a junior bleeding out and jumped into the work of saving him. It made Tighnari look like a superhero to him.
When Tighnari asked Cyno if it bothered him that Tighnari didn’t say “I love you” back. The answer was no because Tighnari made him feel loved. Even if he didn’t say it. When Tighnari would send him a letter every day, he felt loved. When Tighnari would nuzzle his head into his neck, Cyno felt loved. When Tighnari’s trips to Sumeru always seemed to line up with Cyno returning from an especially dangerous trip and Cyno would wake up to Tighnari turning his limbs in his hands, searching for deep cuts or bruises to treat, Cyno felt loved. When Cyno caught Tighnari staring him with a genuine smile and affectionate eyes, Cyno felt love. When Tighnari announced that he had built his own TCG deck to play with Cyno, Cyno felt loved. There wasn’t a moment in Tighnari’s presence that Cyno didn't feel love radiating off of him. Maybe he wasn’t ready to say it, but Cyno knew. And he could wait.
It was the greatest honor of Cyno’s life when Tighnari ran to him to tell him it was mutual. Was Cyno worthy of Tighnari? He wasn’t sure, but he prepared to spend every second of his life working to be.
It didn’t feel real to him until Tighnari was splayed out underneath him later that night. The golden lotus necklace with its twinkling Trishiraite jewel was the only thing adorning Tighnari. Milk skin exposed, flushed cheeks, pink lips parted in panting breathes. Once again, this new version of Tighnari became the most beautiful thing Cyno had ever seen. Cyno licked along Tighnari’s jawline then placed a kiss at the side of his mouth. His hand was drifting down as he asked against Tighnari’s cheek, “You’re sure? I can wait until we’re married.”
Tighnari shook his head, he let his hands stroke up and down Cyno’s chest, letting his fingers drag over the ridges of his abs. He pressed a kiss to Cyno’s head. “We’ve waited enough. I want to be yours already.”
Cyno chuckled as he bit lightly at Tighnari’s collarbone. “Oh? It’s cute you thought you ever weren’t mine.” Cyno licked down to the pink bud of Tighnari’s nipple, rolled it between his teeth before sucking hard.
“Cyno,” Tighnari moaned, his nails digging into Cyno’s shoulders.
Cyno brought his fingers up to Tighnari’s mouth and Tighnari took them in. He let his spit collect around them as he sucked and lapped at them before Cyno took them back. He circled the rim of Tighnari’s hole with it before sliding it in.
Tighnari shook at the feeling. His hand shot down to Cyno’s cock, stroking it firmly as he arched his back. “Cy, please! Put it in!”
“Patience, love.” Cyno’s voice was husky as slid another finger in. “You’re tight, you can’t take me yet.” Cyno began scissoring the fingers carefully as Tighnari moved his hips up and down on them. When Cyno added the third finger, he started moving them in and out with more vigor.
Tighnari brought his arms up to cover his flushed face, one across his eyes and the other on top as he kept the wanton movement of his hips in time with Cyno’s fingers.
“No, no” Cyno chastised. He pulled his fingers out hearing Tighnari whimper at the loss. He interlaced his fingers with Tighnari’s to pull his arms back. He dipped down to steal Tighnari’s lips with his own. Both of them kissing with a renewed hunger, tongues and breath mingling. Cyno pulled back with a rasping breath. “I want to see your face.”
“It’s embarrassing.” Tighnari huffed.
“Embarrassing?” Cyno chuckled. “Nari, you don’t know what the look on your face can do to me.”
Cyno took one of his hands back to reach for the lube that they had set on the nightstand prior. He brought the bottle to his mouth to bite the cap and pull it off. He was pleased to see Tighnari watching him with expectant eyes, making no move to re-hide his face. He let the liquid pool onto the head of his cock before putting the bottle back. His hand came down to glide along his length and distribute the liquid. He lined himself up carefully with Tighnari’s entrance.
“Are you ready?”
“ Gods, Cyno, yes. Please.”
He pushed in then. Slowly. Inch by inch. Feeling Tighnari writhe underneath him. The feeling of his constricting muscles already intoxicating, making him heady with lust. Once he was fully sheathed in the warmth of his lover he gave a strained, “Fuck Nari, you feel incredible.”
Tighnari took a moment, breathing shallowly through until he was used to the sensation. Then he wrapped his legs around Cyno’s waist, trying to push Cyno in deeper. He started bucking his hips to a sloppy pace.
Cyno wrapped his free arm around his waist, settling his hand onto the small of Tighnari’s back. He used the grip to begin thrusting to a more even slow rhythm. He tried different angles until he found the one that made Tighnari convulse with a gasped “ fuck ”. Then he began thrusting into the spot harder, faster each time.
Tighnari adjusted the rhythm of his own hips until he was bringing Cyno as deep as he could go. Tighnari’s free hand grasped into Cyno’s back, leaving scratches down tan shoulders. As he got closer he began assaulting any bit of Cyno’s skin his mouth could reach. Chest. Collarbone. Neck. He left the marks of his teeth, tongue, and mouth along all of them before capturing Cyno’s lips. He bit at his lower lip until the building sensation in him reached its climax and he threw his head back in a loud whine, “Cyno!” Then it was stars until he felt the sensation of cum pooling on his stomach.
Cyno’s pace became irregular at that point. Fast and wild until he pulled Tighnari’s hips down hard on him and his body shook in the waves of pleasure rolling through him. He rested his head on Tighnari’s shoulder. He panted against Tighnari’s neck.
He held Tighnari close that night, letting their skin warm each other. He pressed kisses to the back of Tighnari’s neck as they spooned. He whispered occasionally, “I love you” and was always rewarded with a small laugh and “me too.”
How did Cyno come to be so blessed that this was an experience for him and him alone? It wasn’t like that with others. Tighnari never asked Cyno his history, but truth be told things happened in the Matra gym showers before he met Tighnari. Cyno hadn’t thought of that as anything special. If his sex drive was a distraction, it was better he simply took care of it if someone was willing. And that’s all that had felt like. A release. A means to an end. He would bend the other over and buck into them after just the bare minimum preparation. Using them as little more than a tool. But with Tighnari, it was intimate. It was tender. It was the best.
When Tighnari and Cyno announced their engagement, Kaveh tackled Tighnari into a hug. He started running through different venues, decoration ideas, bridal attire. When they told Alhaitham, they were given a firm handshake and told “congratulations.” Both agreed to being their best men.
Cyno would chuckle as Tighnari would invent fake wedding emergencies. For example, the tailor needed more silk flowers to make the brocade for Tighnari’s suit jacket. Did Cyno know that Tighnari would have been happy with any other fabric if needed? Of course. Did that stop Tighnari from sending Alhaitham and Kaveh on a week long trip to Liyue together to source the flowers? No. They did come back from that trip not just talking, but bickering like a married couple, Cyno noted.
The forced proximity game continued. Alhaitham told Cyno that Kaveh would complain that Tighnari was being a diva, but they would share a smile. Both all too well suspecting of Tighnari’s real intentions. Alhaitham would then say, “Don’t worry; every time I remind him this is his best friends’ only wedding, he gets all caught up in getting everything just right.”
That’s just how Tighnari was. Bringing happiness to everyone around him. Even if, in the case of Alhaitham and Kaveh, he had to drag them kicking and screaming.
By the time that Tighnari and Cyno’s wedding rolled around, Kaveh had finished his magnum opus project and was broke. Of course, Tighnari and Cyno were quick to cover any and all of his expenses related to their wedding for travel or attire. But it was Alhaitham who shrugged and said, “well you have so many binders here about Tighnari and Cyno’s wedding, not to mention how often you fall asleep on the couch picking flower arrangements and colors, you might as well move into the spare room and pay rent.” After Kaveh was safely roomed at Alhaitham’s, Tighnari’s request of them became infrequent and easy.
Then the most beautiful thing Cyno had ever seen was trumped again.
He stood under the arch that Tighnari had spent months painstakingly getting the desert Padisarah’s to climb until they covered the whole thing, not a bit of the white wood of it visible anymore. Alhaitham stood to his side as Nilou danced down the aisle, throwing flowers on every twirl. Then Kaveh walked proudly down, tears already gathering in his eyes before standing on the opposite side of Alhaitham.
Cyno’s breath caught in his throat as he saw Tighnari at the end of the aisle. White dress pants and a seafoam brocade jacket matching his eyes with the design of Padisarah’s woven in gold. He’d made the point to bring his Trishiratie necklace to sit on top of his shirt so Cyno could catch glimpses of it under the jacket when he moved.
Tighnari gave him a soft smile and mouthed, “you look great” to Cyno when their eyes met. Cyno mouthed, “not as good as you” back.
Tighnari took his father’s arm. Though they spoke in hushed voices with a harp ballad playing Cyno strained to hear them.
“What happened to science being enough?” Tighnari’s father teased him.
Tighnari sighed with a sheepish grin. “You were right, Dad. I guess I always knew it was him.”
Tighnari’s father stopped in front of Cyno. As Tighnari took Cyno’s hands to stand up at the front with him, his dad put a hand on Cyno’s shoulder to lean in and say quietly, “He’s stubborn and too smart for his own good. Take care of him.”
Cyno chuckled and nodded and Tighnari gave a mock huff of annoyance, clearly having heard.
His father sat in the front row, interlacing his fingers with his mother.
Kaveh handed Tighnari the ring from his pocket. Cyno was eager to put it on, but allowed Tighnari to hold his hand and the ring in the other hand. Tighnari started calmly, “Cyno, by Valuka Shuna standards, we’re already committed to each other, but I guess this is as good a reason as any to have a huge party.” There was laughter from the crowd as Tighnari continued now with a hitch in his voice, “I-I didn’t think this was going to be for me. I thought love would be a headache. That it would be difficult with no real reward. I don’t say this often, but I was so utterly wrong. Nothing with you has ever been hard. Falling in love with you was so easy that I still find myself falling more all the time. I don’t think I’ll ever know what made you approach me in that greenhouse, but,” Cyno wiped stray tears from Tighnari’s cheeks. Tighnari turned to press a kiss to his hand. “I am so happy you did. The reward is being with you. Any second I can be, it’s the best reward I could ask for. I know I made you wait a while to hear it, but I’ll tell you every day that I love you more than anything.” Tighnari slid the ring onto Cyno’s finger.
Alhaitham handed Cyno the ring from his pocket. Cyno’s face broke into a rare full smile most didn’t see from the General. “Tighnari, I thought the greatest accolade I would ever receive was being made the General Mahamatra. It was all I had ever worked for or wanted. I think now the most important job I ever had as General Mahamatra was watching you. My job is tiring and it can make you quick to lose faith in people, but watching you reinvigorates me. Watching you heal, watching you study, watching you scold people, watching you teach, it all restores me, makes me more complete than I felt even when I started my job. My most precious title now is being your husband. You are the greatest love and the greatest person I have ever and will ever know.” Cyno slid the ring onto Tighnari’s finger.
He took Tighnari’s face into his hands and kissed him. Soft at first and then firmer as the crowd cheered for them.
He used his thumbs to wipe Tighnari’s tears.
Tighnari beamed up at him through his tear stained cheeks, “So it’s forever then?”
Cyno rested his forehead against Tighnari’s, locking their gaze. His eyes smoldering with his intentions. His fierce resolve to hold Tighnari. His unbridled love. “It’s forever, love. You don’t have a chance of getting rid of me.”