Chapter Text
Tighnari doesn’t remember how he got into this situation, but days prior he was mulling over his dissertation about biological plants around the ecological site in Avidya.
Most of his funding had been scrapped dry, and he was pretty sure his research partner, Albedo, was tired and broke as well, making sure their paper was perfect–where there was no room for error, to avoid future revisions. He remembers how he slowly indulged in the bittersweet concoction known as coffee (a drink he swore he would never consume unless he was desperate…how funny), just to make sure he was sober enough to cross reference his citations.
For months, his desk had never seen the light of day, where most of his lab equipment was actively placed, ready for testing. On his worst days, his lab assistant and trainee, Collei, would peek in the slit of his door, at the gust of 3 AM.
“Need anything, Nari?” she would always ask, a hint of concern coloring her voice. Tighnari would give her his best comforting smile in return, waving a dismissive hand.
If you asked Tighnari how he was doing before, he would just simply pass out. To be quite frank. But he loved researching, observing, and learning. He loved the idea of discovering things firsthand and writing initial thoughts about them, just not all the technical aspects that the academe would demand. He was lucky enough to score an alchemist beside him though, with the same passion and drive as him. Being broke and tired at a cost he would unironically trade for academic excellence and a well-constructed paper.
His thoughts were interrupted as he was thrown onto his already messy mattress, a groan escaping his lips while strong hands cup his jaw. The man situates himself on top of him, caging Tighnari. The lights are barely on, his desk lamp the only source of brightness in the room, yet the man makes sure he’s comfortably handling the biologist. The smell of mint and tequila then chases his lips.
The man continues to pepper his throat with kisses, Tighnari squirming in delight under him. He usually keeps his defenses at bay, his rationality as watch guards. But right now, the marks painting his throat and neck are deliciously addicting, and he feels satisfied. Purely because he deserves some sort of tangible congratulatory reward for being good, and for surviving the bulk of his work. The man plants a soft kiss on his lips, a shudder making its way down his spine immediately.
“Can’t stop staring at you” The man exasperates, now leaving marks on the planes of his shoulders. He fights the urge to giggle–he can’t see the man at all. Tighnari fails to reciprocate the comment as he’s unabashedly preoccupied with appreciating the direction of the stranger’s lips on his skin.
His eyes were shut the entire time they got there, silent gratitude promptly infiltrating his brain due to how the man had handled him on their way to his bed. I have a lot of…glass trinkets yet I didn’t hear a sound. He thinks. He should probably thank the mysterious man later, for not making a mess of his chaotic lab-like room. “Why’s that?” He asks, a note higher than his usual voice. He proceeds to card his fingers through the man’s hair, his scent musky and masculine but comfortable to the nose. He takes note of this.
The smell piques Tighnari’s curiosity. He then steals a glance at the man, light hair greeting his eyes, made silver by the moonlight. Oh.
Tighnari has seen him before, or at least, seen him around campus. He still can’t fully make out the man’s face right now with how much he’s moving– but archons , he looks delectable. Half-lidded pupils that seem to be colored in ruby. His hair is messily tucked into a bun, with effortless streaks of white hair adorning the sides of his face. Tighnari spots a row of piercings on his left lobe. His stomach churns.
The man’s stoic facial expression breaks, a low chuckle escaping his lips. “Your green streaks are pretty unique–” he comments, gently brushing his bangs out his face.
Tighnari feels examined. The stranger doesn’t wait for him to reply as he reaches down, now playing with the buttons of Tighnari’s cardigan, the material itching his skin.
“May I?” The man asks shortly, earning a nod from the biologist. “Is there a specific reason why your streaks are dyed that way?” The man asks again, attaching his lips to his chest, his hands peeling off the synthetic fibers from his torso. He surely can’t be playing 21 questions now.
“I-Seriously. Are you seriously asking that right n– ah ” He groans. Tighnari’s head snaps down, the stranger now nibbling on the surface of his flat stomach. It takes time for the latter to answer, carefully biting and sucking on the skin before him. His arms begin to wander on his thighs, a hand dangerously slipping under his shorts. “M’ just interested,” The stranger says with a shrug, looking up at him with dilated pupils. “Please do entertain me, Highest honors ” The stranger says, cupping the curve of his ass and playing with the supple flesh.
Right. Right. The whole reason why he’s in this situation in the first place. He and Albedo recently got recognized by the academe yesterday due to their early dissertation submission, summoning them first thing in the morning in the dean’s office and applauding them for their outstanding work. They were qualified to run for Latin honors, supposedly the highest honors in their field, by the end of the year.
Tighnari had almost cried yesterday, mostly due to how tired he was trying to pace himself through his plant samples while juggling his personal life. Some studies would take six more months to finish, and he and Albedo were able to accomplish everything under a four-month window which was monumental in itself. Of course, the two renowned geniuses expert in their field would complete it in such a short time.
Shortly after the news broke out, Albedo’s boyfriend–Kaeya, announced a small party to celebrate their win, where the venue was here in their shared campus apartment. Tighnari doesn’t pressure himself to recall the details anymore though, as the stranger’s lips bite around the flesh of his thighs, eliciting a yelp.
“You’ve been playing with my thighs for ages,” Tighnari pouts, “My lips are up here”
“But you have great thighs” The stranger teases, sucking his inner thighs for emphasis, “And I won’t be able to hear your green streak story If I kiss you right now”
If Tighnari squints enough, he’ll catch a small smile forming on the stranger’s lips.
“Although…” The stranger trails, climbing back on top of him. His teeth and tongue chase his left lobe, and a hand tips his chin to the side for more access to his erogenous zone. “This’ll do. Tell me the story” the stranger whispers, words too loud and breathy for his sensitive ears. Tighnari moans, tugging on the stranger's shirt, signaling him to take it off while the night’s illuminating the room.
+
For starters, his head hurts like shit.
Tighnari had prepared for this predicament beforehand—a clasp full of hangover medicines and a bottle of water, but Tighnari definitely did not expect to have his head pulsate like crazy. He soothes his temples, grabbing the pills he was able to sneak in last night before downing it with water, refreshing his throat. He takes a look around his room and sighs. He definitely forgot all about last night. What went down? What happened?
He recalls the joy and tears shed when they were able to submit their final dissertation first thing in the morning—and ah, a party. Yes, handled by Kaeya in their dorm. He remembers a lot of talking and drinking, and skin. Skin.
He tries to rack his brain of any sort of memory, cursing his alcohol tolerance for not taking note of what happened hours ago. Tighnari takes one last look at his bedside, trying to navigate for clues of some sort since his surroundings didn’t help. Everything is neat and in place, he sighs.
Then something catches his eye, seeing his phone on the surface with something that looks like a sticky note hiding underneath. It’s a familiar shade of green, one littered on his desk with reminders and tasks. Did he write a note to himself? Tighnari sighs. He would’ve. He thinks. But he doesn’t really remind himself of things mainly if it doesn’t concern his studies.
He tilts his head to the side, grabbing the note.
We didn’t fuck by the way. I also think It’s cute how you told me the story of your green streaks. It’s funny how you kept it.
Red eyes looking up at him from his thighs , he remembers.
Ah. Ah. Holy fuck.
+
“So…you made out with some guy and you weren’t hallucinating it?” Albedo repeats, scratching the back of his head. Unlike him, his roommate looks normal. Glowing, even. He probably had a wonderful night with the man in front of them, but Tighnari was not one to snoop around and ask.
“Not just some guy” Tighnari argues, still rubbing his temples as he takes a seat next to the alchemist. “I see him around campus…I think. He’s familiar” he adds.
The kitchen was already busy when Tighnari walked in, with Albedo and Kaeya heavily involved in their conversation. Something about the Favonius council and whatever meeting adjourned hours prior. Kaeya continues to man the cooking as they talk, the smell of Mondstadt City food filling his nostrils. His stomach churns in response. “And you invited him, did you not?” Tighnari asks. It’s almost comical, really, the sight of Kaeya’s back visibly straightening at his accusation while he sauteed the omelet.
“ Hey ” Kaeya scoffs, piling the food on a big plate. “Probably a friend of a friend. Though I did see someone with gorgeous white hair and red eyes. I think Kaveh knows him”
They settle down on the stools after Kaeya serves the remaining dishes alongside the omelet; some toasted butter bread with sweet flower jam. Albedo helps along with putting down plates, adding two more additional ones before sighing. “Kaveh knows everyone”
“And so he’s your guy” Kaeya says, handing over the cutleries.
A genius architect he’s come to know. Kaveh’s one of the most exceptional students in their batch, reigning excellence in his expertise in buildings and technology. He’s a really great guy–if you ignore the fact that he’s intentionally financially troubled and high maintenance to create stuff…to the point he had to room with his junior until the end of the year. Tighnari hums, feeling silly he hasn’t even thought of asking his extroverted friend.
As if on cue, the wooden doors to their shared complex burst open, a joyous screech sounding through the halls of their peaceful dormitory.
“Speak of the devil” Kaeya laughs.
“I’m here!” Kaveh waltzes in, a stoic Alhaitham following right after with paper bags littering his big arms. “Good morning my darlings” He muses, running towards Tighnari and Albedo with a hug. “Congrats on the wonderful paper!” Kaveh adds, making his way to Kaeya next, smooching the sides of his face, a chorus of thank-yous in reply.
“Kaveh, Haitham” Kaeya nods, his hands gesturing to the food laid out on the table. “Breakfast is ready. Though I specifically remember Kaveh saying he’ll be the one cooking today”
Kaveh sits down on the stool next to Tighnari, a sheepish grin painting his face. “I kinda overslept and had to fetch some things before here. But I got a box of Pita Pockets as an apology” Kaveh says, outstretching his hands and wiggling his fingers, signaling Alhaitham to pass him something. “A box that he bought with my money” Alhaitham corrects, still passing the box anyway. Tighnari receives the box with both of his hands, laying it down on an empty counter to save it for snacking.
“Thank you, ‘Haitham” Tighnari laughs before grabbing a bite of his omelet, ignoring Kaveh’s noise of disapproval beside him. “You have to thank me too, ‘Nari” Kaveh huffs, arms crossing his chest dramatically.
“Thank you for what ”
“For those ” Kaveh points at his jaw, his heart starting to pick up belatedly as he’s put in a tight spot. He forgot to check himself in the mirror before going out. Tighnari panics, grabbing his phone and clicking the camera button to check his state. He’s got bite marks and hickeys all over his neck, though they weren’t extremely visible, It’s enough to know that he’s had an interesting night and that those spots had lips to blame. Like a broken record, his thoughts recall red eyes and lips on his thighs. Everyone hoots beside him, Kaeya now making his way toward the biologist so he can see better.
“To be honest, I thought those were allergic reactions” Albedo mutters, “You actually had a fun night”
“Wait–was it you? Red eyes and light hair” Tighnari turns to Kaveh. For the first time in his life, he actually sounds dumb. But what did he mean by that? Surely It wasn’t a setup where he agreed right? And Kaveh wouldn't purposely force someone on Tighnari. Maybe it’s just a figure of speech. “But I remember silver…white?”
“No, silly. I would kiss you as a friend though” Kaveh throws his head back, a loud laugh erupting from his mouth. “I think you’re referring to Cyno, from law” Alhaitham mentions, also grabbing a bite.
Huh, so that’s his name. He’s heard of that name in one of the lecture halls in the east wing, mostly in the area for law students. He’s heard of that name once when Kaveh mentioned him in his past parties. And he surely has seen that name in the dean’s lister for excellence, topping the scoreboards in the recent midterm exams. If Tighnari guesses correctly, he’s the intimidating genius everyone has talked about at one point after a mock defense that famed his name. Cyno: the only person in the supreme student council of law that prefers to work alone, despite a known cooperative organization of members.
Tighnari deducts, he’s seen him, but rarely so. Cyno almost feels non-existent in his morning lectures and they never entirely meet, but he remembers now – noticing him at important university events and afternoon org meetings in recent years. “I take it he mostly has afternoon classes?”
Kaveh hums in agreement, “And he lives off-campus”
Off-campus. A peculiar decision for a student who actively exudes excellence, and does not even live on school grounds. Tighnari can’t even imagine the commute it takes or the idea of passing the semester without staying the night at the library or at the science laboratory once. But he realizes that might be the reason why his mystery boy has decided on a schedule much later than what he usually prefers. He doesn’t know why he’s starting to consider all this, but he kinda–sorta, maybe wants to meet him. It’s strange.
“Well, now that Tighnari knows who his alleged kisser is,” Albedo says, finishing up the last of his toast. “It’s time we talk about how we need to cover the rest of our financial endeavors”
“ Finally ” Alhaitham grins shortly, “ A discussion Kaveh needs to hear”
Oh right. Their study has cost them a significant sum that's out of their budget, and Tighnari nearly misses the fact that he only has 12,000 mora to his name in his bank. The two researchers already budgeted their study in advance, totaling around 100k mora. Of course, with how flawless their dissertation is, they had to contribute a hefty sum to secure the trips to bigger labs outside Avidya, along with compensations for professional interviewees.
Tighnari could thank Lord Kusanali for his scholarship that covers the entirety of his tuition, but the miscellaneous expenses were no longer covered by his grant. He could go back to one of his paid internships at one of the local bio-medical companies in Avidya, but with the bulk of his minor programs occupying his morning schedule, It would be a chore to accept an eight-hour night shift. The liberty of focusing on his other classes was to be disregarded if he went back, as the first time he accepted, he had severe sleep deprivation that affected his communications org.
Communications. He needs to contact Candace, their organization head, about it–now that he’s done with his paper. But archons. He was so close to failing an elective.
Tighnari shakes his head, already feeling helpless. But he drowns out his thoughts, refocusing on the discussion at hand.
“It’s not like you guys are in debt” Kaveh rolls his eyes, taking a swig of his drink.
“Easy for you to say, Haitham acts as your wallet” Kaeya teases, winking at Alhaitham. “I’m billing him when he moves out” Alhaitham replies, glaring at Kaveh. “So you should be preparing for that”
Albedo pours more water into his cup. “I believe there’s a job fair soon…I’ll ask Xingqiu about it. But most of them are usually business savvy, which isn’t really my area of expertise”
“Or” Kaveh says, leaning into Albedo. “You and Kae could just start an OnlyFans”
Albedo reddens, and Kaeya gives the architect a hand, high-fiving him.
“Maybe take up writing jobs?” Alhaitham suggests, standing up to help Tighnari pile up the plates. “Since both of you are excellent at it” Another thing he hasn’t thought of. Tighnari pauses at that. “We could publish our research and sell them in research archives?” beaming at Albedo.
“Possible” Alhaitham comments, checking his phone. “Not sure the legality of it though. You’ll have to consult someone but It’ll earn you mora on the side, at least”
Both Tighnari and Albedo groan.
+
Cyno’s definitely fucked, and not in the best way.
So he agreed to this party mentioned by Kaveh, ditched his remaining backlogs due in three days, and said fuck it. So he went, got wasted, and was able to kiss the fuck out of someone before he lulled them to sleep with how much of a talkative drunk he was. It was a heated night he usually couldn’t afford, but Cyno wanted to feel like any other student on a weekend, shitfaced in parties and flurry sheets. It took him some time to recover from his alcoholic state, the six missed calls contributing to his soberness; and how his friend reminded him of the work-related things they had to do at such an ugly hour. And so he had to sneak out from Kaeya’s party (was that his name?) to drive back home.
In short, his work cockblocked him from getting to know green streaks better, but he had a job to do in the dead of the night when most of his audience would be awake. A shame really, but It was ridiculous how he was interested in a man he just interacted with. He’s seen him before– Tighnari . But they were existing parallels that never really met. Maybe his interest in the guy had to do with the fact that the latter was able to complete a biologically accurate dissertation in a few months. Which, by academic standards, is impressive. He remembers talking about doing a similar proposition of government research for his final paper but was immediately dismissed by his classmate Yanfei because of the time needed for its completion, and it wasn’t even as high maintenance as his program. He doesn’t know if the alcohol was to blame or Tighnari was just really attractive.
Cyno remembers how Tighnari looked like his mouth explored his inner thighs, a surge of confidence urging him to appeal to the man above him, despite only meeting properly today. Okay. Not really proper as they sloppily kissed with tequila on their lips, but it was a good start. Though, the researcher probably won’t remember much in the morning.
So here he is, waiting for the traffic light to turn green so he can make a turn. Cyno checks the time once again, 1:06 AM. He’s not that late to his scheduled meeting, but he knows how annoying it can get when someone turns up late.
He sighs and turns the volume up, a slow beat bouncing from his speakers. Cars litter in front of him, and the traffic was starting to catch up to him. The road usually wasn’t busy at this hour, but the weekend urged more people to travel at this time. Cyno then checks his phone, seeing deadline notifications above the missed calls from his friend.
Okay, to be fair, he wouldn’t have deadline notifications littering his phone screen right now if he had just accepted the group project invite from Heizou. He doesn’t really want to admit it himself but Cyno’s been so tired of juggling his work while being an overachiever lately. Apart from his very unusual graveyard career, he’s insanely stubborn with his academic responsibilities, barely working with anyone at all– thus why the bulk of his work depends on his hands only and he had no one to rely on. It’s better that way, he thinks. He works best in his own time and thoughts. But tonight would’ve been great, Heizou probably have written the first half of their judge report today, and he would’ve covered the remaining half. But knowing Heizou, he would most likely request Cyno to join him in the library until dawn. Sigh. He simply refuses to have his schedule packed when morning arises, in fear of his work and his studies overlapping.
“You need some bitches” Dehya commented a week ago, throwing him their coffee receipt. “I like guys” He pointed out, taking a sip from his cup and earning an eye roll from the woman beside him. “ Fork in the kitchen. It’s funny how you don’t even get guys with how isolated you are”
Uncooperativeness aside, living off-campus is already a decision he had wanted long before he knew he didn’t like working in pairs and groups. The fear of commute loomed over him before, but now he’s got an excuse to leave the grounds early to do other things at his own will. That’s why he was able to call a hobby his career. Streaming. VTubing–or whatever you call it. That’s his job. And the pay is decent enough to cover his expensive stubbornness of working alone and staying off-campus.
He’s at least thankful he doesn’t stress over commute anymore, especially with his brand new car staring at him menacingly every chance he gets. Streaming money. Very helpful.
Cyno breathes a sigh of relief as the car in front of him starts to move. He makes a turn, freeing himself from the traffic moments before.
He promptly thinks about Tighnari as arrives, parking into the lower ground of his complex, getting off his car, and locking it with the beep of his keys. He really should’ve added more to the sticky note he wrote, but Cyno thinks he’ll throw up in embarrassment if he added more.
+
“It’s 1:45, Cyno” Xiao lightly huffs from his phone speakers. Cyno winces at his friend’s rare disappointment, making his bed whilst his phone was standing on top of a cabinet, Xiao seeing him as he tidied his room. “We were supposed to meet 45 minutes earlier, not later”
“Got caught up,” He says, spreading his new sheets. “And I had the time of my life. I haven’t had alcohol in weeks”
Xiao wolf whistles, eliciting a chuckle from the white haired man. “Look at you going out of your cave,” Xiao says, a grin making its way to his lips. “Though we were gonna suggest to do a drunk playthrough for your next stream”
An image of him and Tighnari making out mid-stream plagues his brain. He was so down bad.
“Ever so creative and risky with Alatus,” Cyno groans at the thought, retrieving his phone and plopping on his bed. This meeting with his co-worker definitely isn’t as professional as they both anticipated, but formalities are out the window when Cyno’s tired like this, craving to get under the covers of his cold duvet. “The people would love to hear how much of a talkative drunk the Mahamatra is”
Oh god. “That was Venti’s suggestion by the way” Xiao adds, “Ever so creative and risky with my manager”
Ah, Venti. His new manager. They had the same conversation before, except a month ago, Xiao handled everything by himself like Cyno. But lately, it’s been getting hard to pre-plan everything because of uni. He started streaming a year ago, but it was only two months ago that he suddenly shot to fame, earning 500k followers on his channel in under a week. The root cause? a highlight of him and Xiao playing a famous game going viral. However, Cyno loathed people knowing his job. The day Candace and Dehya found out he was the Mahamatra, a series of questions flooded him and he was too overwhelmed to answer them, purposely avoiding them whenever he was on campus. Cyno got confronted about it afterward, and he learned the two of them probably won’t speak about it ever again.
And so he lets the two of them recognize this world of his, the Mahamatra, and accepts the idea that maybe assembling a team to soothe the demand of a work-life balance isn’t so bad. Of course, he would consider recruiting Candace and Dehya–and they have expressed an interest in working behind the scenes with Candace’s specialty in communications and Dehya with finance. Neither of them were pretty well versed in project management though, thus the reason why he hasn’t asked them for the job. He sucked at planning for a team, and he would fail to delegate tasks. Cyno thinks. But if he were to find a person to help him, he would eventually (and officially) welcome them alongside Candace and Dehya as his public relations manager and financial adviser. He’s got tons of money to spare anyway, so paying people to help him with managing the Mahamatra would be beneficial to everyone.
However, this is a conversation for another time.
Xiao continues to ramble about content creation and Venti for the next thirty minutes. After they’ve settled their catching up stage, Cyno ends the call, satisfied. He turns off his bedside table lights shortly after, and taps on his messaging icon.
3:13 AM
To: Candace
From: Cyno
Hey, need your help. I’m considering a project manager now. Know anyone?
Hours pass, and Cyno subconsciously drifts away, sound asleep.
A ding.
7:52 AM
To: Cyno
From: Candace
There’s a job fair next week handled by my org. I’ll try to see and slip in an application to potential people.