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“Cheers!”
The idle roar of laughter that followed a heartfelt (albeit a bit slurred) exclamation seemed to rock through the walls around the with mighty claps of thunder. Kaveh threw his hand in the air, welcoming the clinking of three other glasses against his own before drowning the first shot of what already seemed to be a long, long night.
It's been one of those months on the busier side of things, with all of them sparing little time for hangouts and crossing out days off. Cyno didn't even remember the last time they gathered like this, shrugging the weight of dust off their shoulders and letting them support a friend's hand instead. Not after their lives were placed on the line for the sake of Sumeru's blooms.
And while Dehya and Candace proved themselves to keep him great company, even their encounters began to grow much more rare along the distance between Aaru village and Cyno's usual stage of work these days.
Things didn't seem any brighter in the city. Tighnari, as usual, was reasonably busy in Gandharva Village, and Kaveh barely managed to return after a long and exhausting trip in the desert. Nilou's troupe seemed to be able to breathe more freely now, but the tired lines of her smile didn't escape Cyno's observation whenever she crossed paths with him in Grand Bazaar. After all, he had a whole caravan full of matters to have his eyes on. He couldn't even begin to imagine Haitham, nose deep in all the unwanted attention that came with a role he was never determined to achieve.
It was… A rather strange dynamic to live in, with Sumeru fragile and trusting on the palms of their hands. Cyno made sure to be gentle with the first blooms, even if the mud clung to his skin and got under his nails. Nothing he's not used to.
Tonight, however, after a long string of days painted grey, their schedules lined up perfectly into a round table of glasses and TCG matches that Cyno insisted on without much resistance from the other sides. They all seemed a little too desperate to unwind. Kaveh in particular, chugging down his sixth or seventh round this night after another futile attempt of getting such details out of them that couldn't probably be found in top secret documents, until the degree was raised high enough for him to forget all about his worry to favor higher conversations of art.
That was a choice that nobody seemed to mind, at least on the surface. Cyno always found his monologues to be a relaxing background noise to pick his cards to. He came to find Lambad's Tavern quite endearing lately, with its warm lights and overwhelming smells. There was always somewhat of a soothing rhythm hiding between the occasional clinking of glasses and tavern-typical chatter that inevitably comes after a glass or two. In Kaveh's case, at the very least.
“And the crowd? Thi-i-i-i-is big!” The man threw his hands up and to his sides, trying to circle out something undeniable huge with the limited length of his limbs. It’s enough to reach the side of Tighnari's ear though, causing him to press it flat against his head with a look that didn't come off as very pleased. Kaveh, however, wasn't paying him any mind after someone had the carelessness of mentioning Zubayr Theater’s latest show. “Oh, and the sounds? Archons, the sounds they made!? I could basically feel the floor vibrating under my feet when they cheered for her!”
“Right.” Haitham barely made an effort to look into his direction, not even distracting himself from the very entertaining circles rippling on the surface of his drink. Barely touched. Cyno’s eyes shifted to his left, catching each word after an evening of silence with a strange hunger that could only come with a full stomach. One that was doomed to not be reciprocated by Haitham’s, probably more focused on his thirst as the line of his lips disappeared inside the cup before Cyno could read between them. “Just like the week before.”
“And the week before that.” Tighnari added, dodging another especially passionate swish of Kaveh's hand in the air. Cyno sat still, not moving his head back even after the wave of air almost reached his face. “I’m happy Nilou manages to pull such a big crowd every time, though.”
“She does! She's just that great! And people— People do… See! Her. Her dance… You saw, at the Aka— Ugh, Akademiya! Such bravery is the epitome of true beauty!” Kaveh's head moved up and down with a worrying speed. Cyno noticed, during their outings, there were two topics that excited Kaveh beyond belief. Arts and Nilou. And as things went, the two were impossible to separate, allowing the architect to blabber nonstop until his tongue got too tired to scratch the surface of his teeth anymore and allowed him to pass out on the wooden table.
Cyno, and it seemed Tighnari as well, thought it was about time for that to happen now, with Kaveh's eyes struggling to stay open and sentences flying out of his mouth making less and less sense, lofty compliments sprinkled with such terms unknown to anyone else in the circle turned into an indistinct liquid of blurred adoration and periodic coughs. Cyno could feel Tighnari next to him stiffening, waiting for a creak of the chair or a startled gasp to follow anytime soon, ready to catch a limp body if it swung his way, but they were too late to realize there was no movement on the other side.
The sound followed right on time, still.
It only took Cyno half a moment to notice that it, in fact, didn't come from the place they expected it to do.
His body reacted before he could process the sharp movement it dropped into, hands wrapping around the waist firmly as he prevented the unfortunate contact with the floor.
In flashes of light and loud gasps from the faceless crowd growing around them in circles, the first coherent thing that Cyno saw was Kaveh’s face, long and sickly pale, stone cold sober with paralyzing fear. Looking down at him. From right where he was before, unmoving in his seat.
Cyno's arms held a barely breathing, motionless body that belonged to no other than Alhaitham.
First signs of returning life came around the hundredth circle around the room behind the Tavern, stuffy with thick anxiety and Tighnari’s questionable-looking first aid methods. Cyno paced the limited space with an unusual tremble dancing down his spine, hands locked behind his back and eyes set on the chair by the window. Kaveh sat near, head in hands and no signs of drunkenness remaining on his ghostly white face.
“He's waking up.” Tighnari’s voice finally cut the silence, forcing both of the remaining men to snap their heads towards him, ready to move closer only to be stopped by one of his gloved hands raising in the air. “Shoo. Not so fast. You will knock him out again just with how hard you stare at him.”
Cyno didn't think he was staring hard. In fact, the staring he did was just enough for the occasion. In his own opinion. With Haitham blinking his eyes open with such great effort his eyelids seemed to be made of iron, heavy and hard until they finally parted to reveal what he thought would be a familiar sky.
The brightest of blues enveloped the focus of his vision in effortless mockery, kicking the floor from under his feet and spinning the room around the thread of their eyesight.
Haitham was staring right at him.
“Oh, thank Archons…” Kaveh's muttering right over Cyno's ear pulled him out of the trance, forcing him to straighten up and hastily hide his gaze in between the cracks on the floor. “Are you— Uh, can you hear us? Haitham?”
“Everyone who was in the Tavern at the moment of the fall is already being interrogated.” Cyno firmly stated over his friend's anxious rambling, crossing his arms and relying on clear instructions to get to him. “Probability of it being a planned attack is high, so we have already launched an investigation. Haitham…” He paused, overcoming the desire to keep his eyes on the ground and looked right up into the cold waters. “I have to ask you. Do you remember anything?”
Haitham remained silent, blinking his eyes with strangely dilated pupils right at him. Cyno found himself looking away, cowardly. He never tried to before.
Tighnari pulled the spare chair closer, his tail curling around one of the legs. Kaveh nearby seemed to notice, but decided to let it go without comments. “He didn't drink more than a few sips the entire evening, and every part of his body seems to be working like it normally should. But you can clearly see… Something
Is not right.”
As if on cue, the legs of the chair Haitham sat on creaked against the wooden floor with a force that split Cyno's head open and rang through every bone in his body. One gesture drowned the entire room in silence — all eyes glued back to Haitham, who leaned forward with a heavy chest and labored breath. Cyno felt Tighnari tense up next to him, but any move he could be thinking about was bound to be cut before it even began. That's when Cyno made the mistake of looking up.
Haitham's eyes never left his.
And now they were peering at him with an intensity that knocked the ground from under his feet.
Until he did.
Cyno would've reacted in any other scenario. Catch the hand reaching in his direction, flip the culprit and pin them to the ground. Usually, with a spear pressed to their neck and a threat on his lips for good measure. But now, he found himself to be nothing but stuck when Haitham's arms flew in front of his face before settling somewhere on his waist as both of them rolled over onto the ground in a tangle of limbs.
The chair fell down with a pitiful creak, breaking under the weight of two bodies slamming into the weak wooden construction at one time.
Just like that, the first thing Cyno saw after opening his eyes, was Kaveh's head floating above him with a face color that would rather suit a corpse than someone who had any blood flow working in his body. Hsi head was soon joined by Tighnari, ears first and covering the only light source in the room — the lamp above that forced him to squint at the sight.
They exchanged a look. Cyno blinked.
Then he finally felt the weight that pinned him to the ground move, nuzzling into his chest.
Wait.
Wait.
Cyno's head began to tilt so slowly he could almost hear the creak an old door would make in the dead of night. Haitham's head. On his chest. Eyes closed. His cheek rubbing right above his heart. His arms wrapped securely around his waist.
Cyno's senses finally came back to life, his hand moving with the desperate alarm in his mind that screamed to push the foreign weight away.
“Don’t move.”
Kaveh's voice, surprisingly low and stripped from all the usual dramatics, caught him off guard. He froze, more out of surprise than obedience. But the pause gave him the opportunity to analyze the situation better. For what it could be analyzed.
Haitham just jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. With no murderous intent.
Cyno's eyes went wide. Oh no.
“He’s still under the effect,” Kaveh continued, an anxious wrinkle between his eyebrows more apparent. “And I believe that I know of what exactly.”
Now it was up to him to name the thought on everybody's mind.
“A love potion.”
The room bent under the weight of sudden silence as all the heads turned to Kaveh, eyebrows knitted and lips pursed in a thin line when he met their eyes. “I— Well, someone close to me was affected by it once.” He paused, looking down again as if reliving the memory. The wrinkle on his forehead deepened in growing worry he wasn't able to hide anywhere on his face. “A fan thought it would be so funny to put into one of the gifts that were passed to Nilou. That's why they don't accept them anymore. I happened to be the first person she saw right after, and…”
He made an uncertain gesture towards Haitham, looking as far away to the side as possible. “I had to deal with… Similar consequences.”
Cyno finally found his voice somewhere on the bottom of his screaming consciousness and scooped up some sound, flooded by the confused and rather alarming thoughts. “Did she… Jump on you too?”
Kaveh's face suddenly gained a few shades of color back. Now it seemed rather unhealthily red than unhealthily pale. “N-no. Not like that. I mean, not at all! Anyways, it's not the time to talk about Nilou!”
“First and last time these words will leave his mouth.” Tighnari muttered what he thought under his breath, but still gained a look from Kaveh. “He’s right. It's pretty obvious Haitham was poisoned. And his behavior points to one influenced by a love potion.”
Kaveh frowned, his eyes flickering between Cyno on the ground and Tighanari’s face. “And it seems that Cyno was targeted, since he was the first person Haitham saw after waking up.” He brought a finger to his chin, tapping it as he seemingly dived into a deep thought,
“But why would they mess with his drink if they knew they won't be there when he wakes up?” Tighnari’s hand moved up to tie his hair up, turning away from the scene for a moment. “If they knew how the potion works, then why…”
“Maybe they didn't.” Kaveh said, turning all the heads in the room towards him again. His face remained scarily firm in its distress, and each word came with a little thunder on the edge of his tongue. “Maybe they got scared and left the Tavern. Maybe they didn't read the instructions well. Or maybe they weren't even targeting Haitham to begin with.”
“Not targeting Haitham?” Cyno frowned, keeping his eyes away from the mop of grey hair moving against his chest again.
Kaveh shrugged. “I was quite popular at the Akademiya.” Receiving a couple of stern looks, he raised his hands. “What? Haitham always treats himself to my drinks. I wouldn't be surprised…”
“Not the time.” Tighanari's hiss barely rang against the shallow pretense of fun. Kaveh's shoulders remained tense, however. But that's when Cyno felt a new movement against his chest.
Haitham’s hand slithered away from his waist only to be out over his face as he broke into a coughing fit. Cyno remained frozen, watching him tremble in an attempt to keep his mouth shut. It didn't go unnoticed.
“Haitham?” Kaveh crouched down to their level, but someone was there faster.
“Step aside.” Tighnari put his hand on Haitham's shoulders and pulled him away from Cyno, painfully slow, as if cutting through a thick wall of water with a butter knife. “Cough. Weakness. Trouble breathing. And seemingly inability to speak. Kaveh… Did Nilou have any of these symptoms?”
“...No. No, she didn't.” He stopped, another layer of paint peeling away from his face in sheer horror. “It’s bad, isn't it?”
“We need Lisa.” Cyno stated.
All three pairs of eyes stared back at him.
Kaveh was the first to react. “No way.”
Tighnari’s ears fell flat against his head. “You’re not going to Mondstatd right now.”
“I need to.” Cyno finally moved for what seemed the entire evening, sitting up on the floor. “Haitham is clearly unwell. And if it was caused by a potion, Lisa is the only one who can help.”
Kaveh jumped to his feet. “Then I'm going with you!”
Cyno shook his head, glancing at Tighnari helping Haitham up. “No. More people will only slow us down. And what we need right now the most is time.”
“You’re absolutely not going alone.”
“I’m not going alone.” He responded. “I’m going with Haitham.”
“That doesn't make it sound any better!” Kaveh exclaimed, now frustrated enough to return to exaggerated hand gestures as he pointed right at Cyno's chest, now empty, before plopping down on the remaining chair and leaning against the table in despair. “He can barely sit straight!”
“That’s why I'm coming to get Lisa.” His tone remained firm. “She will help him.”
Tighnari turned away from Haitham, who now “I have no doubts in Miss Lisa’s abilities in potion making. But it's not a matter you should just rush into, Cyno.”
“If we don't rush now, it might be too late.” He stood up, reaching out to support Haitham's still frame. Even in the half-awake state, he still seemed to lean onto him. Cyno pretended it didn't cause a shakiness on the ends of his fingers.
Tighnari reluctantly pulled away, squinting his eyes. “I didn't say yes.”
“I know.” Cyno said, throwing Haitham's limp hand over his shoulder before turning to Kaveh, who had already hopelessly slumped over the table with his face in his hand. “Any advice?” Upon being addressed, the man lifted his head with his eyebrows quickly rising in confusion before Cyno's clarification. “Since you had experience with it.”
Kaveh bit his lip, taking a moment to sort out the memories before opening his mouth again.
“Just be gentle with him.” He said, anxiously drumming his fingers on the edge of the table when his words seemingly got to his mind. That's when he closed his eyes with a heavy, tired sigh and brought a hand to rub away the wrinkles that crossed the bridge of his nose. “By that I mean, don't push him away or react too harshly. His feelings are heightened in this state, and there's no guarantee even a little gesture won't affect his health greatly.”
“Got it.”
Cyno turned to the door , settling his hold on Haitham's waist as he went limp against his side when Kaveh called him again. “And Cyno?”
He stopped, free hand hovering just above the handle. “Yes?”
Kaveh looked back, his wine colored eyes sharp and focused in a way Cyno didn't ever remember seeing him be. Carrying so much seriousness between the thin lines of his lips and on the tense shoulders. “Don't say anything you wouldn't say to him if he wasn't affected.”
Cyno's breath got stuck somewhere on the way between his throat and chest. “I promise.”
They ended up leaving Sumeru in a rush — Cyno insisted on departing as soon as possible, losing some time on a fruitless attempt in convincing Tighnari to not give them an extra bag with supplies in addition to Cyno's personal one. The proximity of Liyue harbor and the absolute urgency of the situation didn't budge him even a bit.
Kaveh's concerned waltzing around them served as enough of a distraction from Tighnari's stubbornness, but Cyno still caught the glimpse of disappointment bidding them farewell as they took off.
Approaching sunset greeted them gently in gold, wrapping its broad arms around the scapes of green mountains and the curly heads of trees above as Cyno squinted at the horizon.
He had travelled to Mondstadt before. It usually didn't take more than two days, maybe one if he didn't make stops on the way. But with someone's body weighing on his shoulder, the estimated time multiplied by ten in his head.
The revelation was, Haitham wasn't even unconscious. Cyno felt like it would make things easier, actually. To throw his body in his hands and carry him all the way to the city gates without much trouble. Trouble that came with him being awake and very, very clingy.
It was to be expected. Cyno still remembered the crash and burn of the embrace back in the tavern, but it didn't turn the truth any more appealing. He was ready for the irrational behavior to continue. Effects of a strong potion that could go in any direction. Especially if something went wrong along the way.
Cyno's stomach churned in empty dread. Lisa must know what to do. She always did. Nothing could convince him she wouldn't this time.
They started off the journey under a veil of normalcy, with Haitham maintaining the usual distance he did for the sale of his inner peace and other's nerves, but the eye that Cyno kept focused on the movement behind him quickly picked up on it shortening with each minute they spent on foot. Not a single word left Haitham's mouth when his heated forehead pressed right against Cyno’s unprotected back.
His step stuttered as he quickly grounded himself on the grass, freezing still for the first time in a pattern of quick steps he thought nothing could interrupt. Except for the heavy, quiet breaths against his skin that rang excruciatingly loud in the wordless, blind exchange between them.
Kaveh's voice was the closest to breaking the invisible glass. A warning Cyno burned on the back of his eyelids with precision. Don't say anything you wouldn't have said otherwise.
So he didn't.
Throwing his hand over Haitham's to keep his weight settled on his shoulders, he renewed the speed that would carry them to their destination in time.
The silence, it seemed, had much more weight on him than Haitham's hands ever could. Cyno just prayed that the Liyue mountains would soon show their golden heads.
It didn't take long. To all the relief building up in Cyno's hands when he relaxed his muscles for the first time that day and settled Haitham down on the bed inside one of the Wangshu Inn’s rooms without much protest. He had only asked Verr Goldet for one — he didn't intend to sleep that night. Not like the claws of dreams could reach him through ones of eerie emptiness that came with trying to make out a single light of life in Haitham's eyes
He never stopped staring. Irises moving with each subtle motion Cyno made, not missing a beat. He should be used to their scrutiny by now. It never bothered him, after all.
It just wasn't the same.
Nothing reminiscent of the intensity Haitham carried with every second his eyes spent peeling Cyno's skin off layer by layer across the room in Aaru village. When every glance was calculated with glaring suspicion just as it was with sharp interest. Not the glassy, absent stare Haitham left him to deal with.
It almost stroked the flames of anger sitting deep down his empty lungs with a dull ache that never grew into the satisfaction of fire. Haitham would never leave him without a challenge.
Cyno’s hand hovered above the balcony door. Somehow he ended up turning away from the peering eyes he couldn't now recognize. “I will get some air.” He said, crawling through the hoarseness of his own throat after not giving it the grace of speaking for so long. “Will be right back.”
Making sure Haitham’s shadow stayed motionless in bed, Cyno pushed the weight of the doors open under the heaviness of his rough palms and the sighs his lungs carried all along, letting the cold evening air finally replace it. He was breathing smoke and dust all day, it seemed.
The gentle spine of the moon winked at him from the calmer Liyue skies, always a deeper blue as it frowned upon another thought. It fell down on his shoulders strangely like judgement.
He couldn't yet understand what it decided in favor of.
Cyno let his elbows rest on the railing, finding his own ground again. Firm and cold, the wooden floors licked his feet with their icy burn that turned his focus on the view right before him without fail.
When a creak of doors behind him slit the night air, Cyno almost expected it.
“Can't sleep?” His voice barely touched the surface of the dry cage that his mouth turned into. He didn't say much since they departed. He wasn't sure if he was able to, until now.
It never required hesitation with Haitham.
Soft steps of a shadow touched the railing on Cyno's left, as ghostly and silent as it could be. He didn't think he would ever choose these words to paint the portrait of Haitham that he learned to know. All the strokes lined up into one shadow of a face he once memorized. Same olds eyes, same corners of his mouth not moving a muscle in his cheeks. A perfect replica you could probably hang in the Grand Sage office.
Cyno frowned. That's what his Haitham would never even think of doing.
It's exceptionally quiet after. No word tried to escape his mouth, and the motionless darkness somewhere behind his back remained reasonably silent.
Until it swayed under the moonlight pooling under his fingertips, stroking the lazy fire that gathered beneath them in a bashful display of weakness. Cyno refused to raise his eyes. He didn't want to live in a reality where a look was enough to accept defeat. It's been a while since he last felt like it could be.
“Let's go ins—” Cyno turned his head to the side, ready to wrap up the event before it could even start in disaster. But no cold air came to bite his cheeks. No calm breezes or harsh, judgemental face of the moon in the sky.
All he could see was a sky reflected in the face woven out of pure, raw feeling.
Stretching all across Haitham's face, it wasn't just stored in one single part of it. It traveled all across and exploded, shattering into a million stars from the tender angle of his usually motionless eyebrows and sparkled in the depths of his distant eyes, now only focused on Cyno. As if he was all that existed before him, all the forests and sands, every book and scroll that was there to be created and held, all the beauty that has ever been created.
All of Cyno, in Haitham's eyes.
Cyno froze. His face dangerously close to the one of the other man, breathing in and out with a paralyzing hesitation. He never moved closer. Just watched, drawing new constellations to cast a spotlight to their balcony. Not a single word, not a single movement. As if whatever poison has touched Haitham's veins, must've been passed to Cyno.
That shouldn’t have felt reassuring.
Before there was a new, electrifying weight reaching the surface of his skin.
A tap on the side of his thigh, one that could've saved fragile glass without causing a single crack. Perhaps, Cyno was weaker than him then. Frozen and helpless, he's left staring into the silent, bottomless feeling that couldn't ever belong to him.
He has seen something like this before. A silent, gentle reminder of love stored under the tender skin of the fingers. Without the need for an apology or explanations. He'd watch Kaveh hold his hands on Nilou's waist after a show, slowly dragging his thumb in the rhythm of each stroke of her brush separating the tiredness stored in her heavy braids.
He'd never watch for too long. Not breaking into a little world built around the loving touch of a hand and catching the faint sounds of laughter that had long ago melted into one.
That wasn't his reality to mellow in. Not his, not Haitham's. Not even the ones who planted the seeds of poison in his cup. It didn't exist now, or back in that storage room behind the Lambad's tavern. It wouldn't exist after Haitham was healed from feelings that never belonged to him and never would.
Even if the starry path stretching out in the pupils of Haitham's eyes tried to tell him that it, for the briefest of moments, could work.
“Haitham…” Cyno bit his tongue before he could finish, catching himself falling right into the biggest mistake of his life at a high speed with no safety belts on. He should wrap it up.
Don't say anything you wouldn't say to him if he wasn't affected.
“Haitham.” Cyno felt himself uncomfortably getting ready to shrug the weight away. It shouldn't have been much. The briefest of contacts. The lightest of burdens. Yet somehow, it dragged him face down into the ground. He didn't have the strength to hold it for long. “Let's go back.”
When Haitham's reluctant shadow staggered away, picking up the pieces of itself to throw them inside the room, Kaveh shot him a look in the back of his mind. Cyno didn't look over his shoulder this time before entering the void of a sleepless night.
The trip most definitely took a toll on Haitham, lingering in heaving breaths and periodic coughs ever since they left Wangshu Inn and reached the border of Mondstadt. He still didn't reach for a single word to get out, but Cyno learnt to read between the looks he gave him long ago. Even if they landed differently on his shoulders now. Deciding in favor of carrying him on his back, they were able to cross the fields of Mondstadt faster than they otherwise would with Haitham slowing down each moment.
The count was for minutes now, Cyno solemnly noted as he settled the weight over his shoulders and listened to the shallow breaths above his ear, laced with pain. If he felt like this now, it could spiral into something he couldn't even begin to imagine.
He tried to shake the image off, tightening the grip around Haitham's arms as they crossed the Dawn Winery under the shimmering skies that were barely touched by sun yet. Soft darkness rolled a carpet of mist under Cyno's feet, carrying him further to the only path he knew now.
Haitham on his back stirred, moving his head to the other side with slow heaviness. One that was seemingly growing stronger with each step he took, digging up a new nerve or worry settled in his stomach. Cyno frowned, feeling the cracks of lighting under his feet as he pushed himself forward with a new speed. He couldn't go all out, even if he wanted to reach the gates in the littlest time possible. With a weight so gentle, he still had to—
The train of his thought went off the rails just as quickly as Cyno's legs settled into a cloud of dust, braking sharply on the sandy road and giving his all not to roll over after coming down from such a speed in no time.
A white hot pain crossed his eyes, burning in a new sun that melted all the skin off his leg. He hissed and spat out some blood, squinting hard and blinking the fog out of his eyes to try and locate the source. One that came from the sharp teeth of a blade that dug into his hip.
How could he miss it? Cyno let out a sharp breath, throwing his head up to search for the threat when a new blow came right above his head, fast and merciless.
Until something stopped it before it could reach his skull. With a silence suspiciously too loud for an attack.
As Cyno turned around, he spotted a new, shadowy figure of his attacker dusting the ground as the other, larger one settled on top.
He could feel his eyes widening. Haitham, still swaying from side to side but still holding the stranger in a tight grip as he pinned him to the ground, teeth clenched and eyes blazing with fury.
Haitham wheezed, clutching the attacker's collar with all his strength before it could drain completely. Cyno quickly propped himself on his elbows, rising to his feet in panic. He didn't know just how much was left in him before the very final breath. His fears were only confirmed as Haitham staggered, his chest shaking in a fit of coughing and spilling a drop of blood right onto the other man's cheek.
With a final breath, Haitham lifted his eyes to meet Cyno's. Unfocused and tired, they still sparkled under the faint light as they met. Haitham let out another cough, ready to go, but his mouth opened to form a word for the first time in their trip. “Cyno…”
Every little nerve, each open wire of his heart and mind caught the spark of electricity crashing through his entire body. He lunged forward, but another effort from Haitham's lips stopped him in the air. “Stay out. I want you to stay… Safe.”
Cyno could feel his heart grow too heavy to stay in his chest anymore, greeting his teeth and biting blood out of his lips, forgetting all about the wounds of his own when Haitham finally gave in to meeting the ground with a loud thud.
Cyno's hand wrapped around the spear in an instance, taking his place on top of the criminal and scooping an already familiar weight of Haitham's unmoving body into his free hand. The weapon, aimed for the head, spoke for itself now. “You.”
A manic shine crossed the stranger's stretching smile that he opened up for an answer, just before all the light left his face with a roar of thunder and skies painted purple.
Cyno let out a breath of relief and lowered the spear, turning his head to the sound of a familiar voice approaching the scene with a click of the heel.
“Need help here, baby brother?”
It only took Lisa the closed door to the library and a brief look at Haitham's face before she lifted her eyes to meet Cyno's across the room with no sight of the usual smile. She shooed everyone away just to have the space for the three of them, settled Haitham on the couch and called for Barbara's quick help with Cyno's leg. She was just as nice as she looked confused by the company inside, but it didn't hurt for sure.
After the heavy doors closed behind the girl's back, Lisa turned around to the silent figure of an old friend with all the gentle wisdom stored in one look. “And what do you believe the potion is, Cyno?”
There was a bit of silence. Long and heavy, reaching its spidery fingers to his throat and settling in fog around his lungs. Lisa's bright eyes never left his, firmly holding the pause together before it would inevitably explode and rain fire over their heads.
Cyno hesitated. Truth already burned the tip of his tongue, quickly winning the fight against denial that tried to pull all the little pieces away to undo the puzzle. His eyes found Haitham, giving in before the magnetic field, but the man never looked up to face the judgement. Cyno's last forces were dedicated to just getting the words out.
“Truth serum, Lisa.” He said, loud in the quietest of voices. “He was affected by a truth serum.”
Lisa hummed, strangely light but out of the usual careless rhythm. “That’s right. The ex-Acting Grand Sage still has many enemies, it seems. That poor darling got under the influence of a very powerful, but very poorly done potion. In result, it heightened all his senses to the point of pain and removed all the emotional barriers… Oh, my.”
She sighed, stepping out of her place and clicking her heels in the defeating silence as she slowly approached Haitham's side, pressing a side of her gloved hand to his shoulder. “Luckily, I can work with that. He will be alright after a little magic touch from me.” With that she looked over her shoulder, catching Cyno's eye with the seriousness that didn't match the fun in her voice. “You should rest.” Then stepping back, she threw the last look at both men who hung their heads low and quiet. That only dragged a sigh out of her lips as she put her hands on her hips, clicking her tongue. “And probably get ready for a conversation. One you'll most definitely need.”
Mondstadt was positively quiet at the time of the day, basking in the softness of morning clouds and the rare sunshine that peeked between them and painted them into pinks and golds. With a single stripe of light pooling from the open window in a room that Lisa arranged for Haitham's recovery, Cyno settled on the side of the bed with a bandage on his leg, carefully put together by Barbara, and a sense of relief that fell into a pit of bottomless dread still open in his chest.
Lisa most definitely was an expert. Cyno never doubted her ability when it came to potions, so the making of an antidote took her no time. She still warned him about possible side effects, given the unstable nature of the potion that was made incorrectly.
It seemed to work, however, judging by the peaceful look on Haitham's sleeping face as the rays of sunlight licked the corner of his cheeks. He's been out of it for almost a day now. Cyno wouldn't leave the side of his bed even after Lisa's words about it being nothing serious or the teasing smiles she sent his way. He could unpack that later. Maybe. Haitham needed to wake up first.
Even if a crude part of Cyno's judgement whispered that he would breathe with relief as long as he didn't. With no need to face the truth in its naked form.
He… Thought about it, yes. What it would mean for Haitham to hold into his heart and desire, but it never stopped him from tiptoeing around the burning pile of revelation. He tried to taste the water, despite everything. Put his feet into the burning fire to let himself know how to feel.
In truth, he still didn't get the answer. It was much easier to search for one in Haitham's calm face and steadily rising and falling chest when he wasn't met with his eyes.
He feared he'd understand it too well.
In the peaceful rustle of trees and hushed chatter of first citizens coming out of their houses, Cyno didn't catch the moment when Haitham sat up in bed.
“You’re awake.” He simply stated, only receiving a nod in return. They hung in silence right after, both unsure. “Lisa said you will be fine.”
Haitham’s face didn't move. “I am fine.”
Cyno squinted. “So it worked, considering you're able to lie again.”
He didn't get much of a reaction to it, still. “It's not a lie. I feel fine. Miss Lisa is most definitely able to make a working potion.”
Unlike the person who tried to get the government secrets out of you, Cyno thought. But instead, he let the words flow freely out of his mouth. “I want you to be fine.”
Despite Haitham's expression remaining neutral, Cyno still noticed the sharp flinch in his hands as his eyebrows moved down. “I am. You better worry about the guy. Maybe it's your drink that he spikes next.”
“He’s with the Knights of Favonius.” Cyno said, grateful for the opportunity to talk about work without stepping out of this safe zone that required no emotional work. “He will be taken to Sumeru prison soon, and we'll interrogate him there.”
Haitham fell quiet for a moment. “Fool. Couldn't even pick the right person to get all the government secrets from. I hope he at least enjoyed the deep personal character drama.”
Cyno fell silent again, fingers playing with the corner of the blanket. It was the time. He'd face it inevitably. “So you…”
“Cyno.”
It was quiet for a moment. With only a few chirps of much earlier birds outside the open window and the rustle of leaves, Cyno let the breath he was holding finally leave his chest with a choked sound. “Haitham.”
“There’s no need to dance around me.” He said, voice firm and eyes focused on his hands. Yet Cyno could still feel the tremble in both. “You already know. Now, you can go.”
Cyno's eyebrows shot up. “Go? Haitham, I'm not going anywhere.”
“Don’t you have a job to do? Or do your abilities only work on Sumeru's territory?”
“Haitham. I'm staying with you.”
It was his turn to go quiet. His pale ghost towering over the kingdom of standardized white bedsheets. He didn't even realize how close they were now, face to face and eye to eye on the same level. Equally embarrassed and excited to cut the ribbon off today's main attraction.
Cyno moved, looking for the spark that had grown so familiar to him in this short-lived time. The birth of a new star is so rare to witness. With Haitham, he thought he might just feel a new one explode somewhere in his chest every other moment.
Now it was the turn of a whole new galaxy.
Cynos fingers slowly settled the corner of the blanked down, letting it go just to place his hand on top of it. Haitham didn't move away when their warmth reached his skin, wrapping securely around his motionless hand. “I’m just really sorry I had to find out this way.“
Haitham stiffened, freezing in his hands and not meeting his eye. “That’s not the time for jokes.” He croaked, unwillingly tightening his grip on Cyno.
“I’m not joking.” He frowned, carefully placing their jointed hand on his lap before the realization dawned at him. “You thought… I wouldn't accept.”
Haitham closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, lightest of colors touching his cheeks as he slowly stroked his thumb over Cyno's. It felt nice. Warm and soft, despite both of their hands barely fitting the description. Maybe that's why Kaveh took every chance to do the same with Nilou. Cyno could almost feel the heartbeat under his skin, matching his. “Of course I did.”
“Well, I do accept.”
“I understand.”
“Actually, it was quite obvious I would.”
Haitham closed his eyes. “Cyno.”
“My apologies. I just have no idea what to do next.” Cyno confessed, examining their intertwined fingers with great interest. They did look beautiful together, in fact. They should do that more often, Cyno thought. Just a couple thousands more to learn how to do it right.
“Same.” Haitham next to him breathed out, a sound choked for some reason he's yet to catch. “But I guess we can start with this.”
Cyno could feel the corners of his lips forming into a smile. He could see Haitham planting the seeds to a matching one with the corners of his own lips. That was just enough to light up the fire in Cyno's chest. “I guess we can.”
The warmth blooming between their intertwined hands was all the answer he needed to know.
