#Anyways we ignore that | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

riabef · 2 years ago

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✎ I feel a summer breeze (and it reminds me of you) TIGHNARI X READER

SUMMARY: There are many things Tighnari did during his days at the Akademiya, notably, being your classmate was one of them. Even now, after it’s been so long since you two met, he just hopes that you think of him as much as he thinks of you.

FEATURING CAST: Tighnari and the reader are… the only people…

PRONOUNS: gender neutral reader!, second person perspective “You” (please inform me if there’s any fem mentions!)

WORD COUNT: 1 931

WARNINGS: None, bittersweet (?), fluff but then it’s angst…

PROOF-READ: nope! written at 1am 🫶

AUTHOR NOTES: hi hi!!! This is the first fic I’m publishing, haven’t procrastinated this much in ages, sorry I swear it’s the homework. There are probably grammar mistakes, I had a nightmare that a former teacher told me to learn some grammar while writing this…. I also snatched the opening two lines from a song it’s very nice “pusong ligaw by jona” is mwah.

also sorry if it’s obvious that I started listening to Shakira halfway through the piece 😔 listen, hips don’t lie is an absolute banger

ps: send help I don’t know how to center things.TM

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

It is still you that my lost heart looks for

You are its destination, where it will go

Rustling leaves, vines threaded together in intricate patterns unknown, and all the sounds of the forest mixing in a melodious dulcet calming those who stopped to listen. “Stop, and smell the roses”. Blossoming flowers, roots that entwine the earth to meet the sky, the trees’ canopy providing shade to weary travellers, and a noise rustled within the forest

Their strides were confident in nature, their dendro vision glowing as if pulsing to a heartbeat, and the clinking of metal hitting against fabric resonated slightly throughout the forest. It wasn’t exactly an easy duty to organize the forest watchers to be efficient, persistence was the key, and that would also be the reason why he was walking down this very path.

It didn’t take him very long to arrive, it never did; once he let his heart lead his movements, he would always end up in the same spot as always.

Sitting atop a branch, legs dangling in the zephyr below, Tighnari never felt nostalgia and loneliness hit him quite so hard.

Just for a few moments, he would be allowed to sit with his thoughts, and maybe, just maybe, he would be allowed to dream of a world where he didn't lose you. Minutes were spent wondering if he was an idiot for not realizing his feelings until he didn’t see you anymore.

A heart grows fonder with absence

It felt far away, memories of the Akademiya were buried, unfavoured compared to the work that Tighnari had in the present. Although, that’s not to say that they were necessarily forgotten. Even months– no, years later, Tighnari swears that even though he wasn’t a sculptor, he could sculpt your face, down to the smallest details; a lost strand of hair, a forgotten smudge of ink on your hands from writing so much.

Ah, he needs to return to work.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

When Tighnari was in the Akademiya, there wasn’t much he would accurately remember, memories were slightly blurred, months, days, and time had all faded together in one huge deadline. Get this done, review this, read this, and prepare for this. Despite the number of people who had talked to him, his sole focus was on his research.

Although, there were memories that had stuck out to him, like water lilies in a pond; beautiful, vibrant, and utterly transparent.

One of those memories was made when he met you.

Tighnari remembers how the faint glow of the sun hit your features or the way you had haphazardly entered class even more tired than how you were the days before. He wasn’t one to pay much attention to looks, but in that moment he felt as though he didn’t appreciate them enough.

His breath hitched when you took a chair and sat across from him.

“Please tell me that water evaporates.”

Perhaps,,, he had miscalculated.

“Pardon me?”

In a moment he never felt as baffled as he was now, and you never felt more relieved that you weren’t the only one absolutely floored by your friend’s statement.

“Could you please tell me that water doesn’t evaporate– I swear, I’ll treat you to something, just please tell me that water, does, in fact, evaporate.” The exasperation in your voice and the way that your eyes glinted with nothing but absolute exhaustion drew a subtle smile to his face.

“Last time I checked, water does evaporate.”

He watched as you sighed into your hands, before quickly saying your goodbyes to him, and running back to your friend with the answer. If meeting you wasn’t a memory at the forefront of his mind, it would probably be how your friend’s face had held absolute anguish upon hearing his answer.

Or it was the way they had screamed in misery, “SO WHO WAS GOING TO TELL ME?!”

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

A week later, he’d find that you were in one of his biology classes, and was able to put a name to your face, and upon seeing you in class, he wondered for brief moments, if it would be alright to sit next to you.

In Tighnari’s defense, maybe being next to you would be helpful to him (since he couldn’t get his mind off of you at all).

Seeing you hunched over a few stacks of paper, and seeming to chant a mantra over and over, Tighnari took a seat next to you before lectures had officially begun. It did take an impressive amount of self-restraint to not laugh right there and then.

“When I said I wanted to study plants I didn’t mean this.”

Tighnari’s tail swished back and forth as if expressing the nervous gestures he couldn’t make, and he took one glance at your papers before he nodded his head in sympathy. It was only then that you realized that someone decided to book first-row tickets to your sanity being undone like it was a knitting mistake, your head shot up faster than students darting away when they saw the General Mahamatra.

Before you were able to question this man’s sanity (as well as yours), you were luckily interrupted by the start of the lecture and it was nothing short of a blessing to you… since you weren’t sure that he would appreciate the lovely string of curses that had almost left your mouth.

That day, after classes, a few offerings of Candied Ajilenakh Nuts could be found at a nearby statue of the seven.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

It was awfully too easy to step into a routine with you, Tighnari admitted. From spending his mornings, afternoons, and evenings dedicated to his research in a comfortable solitude to his thoughts slowly consumed by you the longer he knew you. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to look at a few plants and wonder if you would like them, or how he would stare at the setting sun and wonder if you would like this particular spot as well.

You, on the other hand, felt absolute joy at the prospect of gaining a new friend, but it was hard to deny that your heart fluttered when you woke up in the morning, not because of the Akademiya, but because of Tighnari.

The affection you two held for each other was clear to see, for everyone except you two. The peers in your class would sigh when that fact was made obvious, at some point it had begun to feel a bit painful to them; especially with the puppy-love crushes that you two seemingly had on each other.

During a lecture that could beat even the eternity that the Electro Archon idealized, it was no surprise that you fell asleep. Tighnari knew of your struggles, the amount of work that you received was akin to a tunnel (that had no light at the end), and he decided to save the lecture about the importance of sleep for later.

It was then that Tighnari felt a gentle breeze, the breeze blew past him albeit a little cold. Deciding that he was better off without it, he places his coat on your shoulders, taking notes for the both of you.

Lingering touches and lingering gazes flitted across the classroom. He reached out to push away stray hairs, hand hovering above your face before he thought better of it.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Hesitant movements, and hesitant phrases said to each other, all in the name of unshared feelings. Words that ached to be granted a voice, and undone actions that added to regrets.

Friends don’t do this.

When graduation had approached, the mixed feelings that conflicted in his mind had him nauseous. Should he be feeling crushed at the notion that he wouldn’t be able to share notes with you in class? Or that he wouldn’t be able to look at you disapprovingly when you tried to tell him jokes during a class, or the times he’d scold you to take more rest.

It all faded into a dream, and before he knew it, he was graduating.

Where were you?

You approached him, excitement painted on your features, the thrill of finally completing something over the long years you’ve spent at the Akademiya. The bounce in your step was enough to show that, and the glint in your eyes said more than words ever could.

Unlike him, a coward to his feelings, and a coward to himself, you spoke the very sentence he was dreading,

“I guess this is the last time we’ll be seeing each other!”

His instincts demand him to counter your words, “What makes you say that?”

You and your damned smile, the smile that he dreamt of for so long, “I don’t know, I just have this… let’s call it intuition, yeah?”

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

After Tighnari left the Akademiya he didn’t engage much with its affairs, although you were an exception. While he remained rooted in the forest, you had taken flight like the birds you were always fond of; delving into research and travelling nations for the answers.

Not even a letter to remember you by, no letters in a box that he could’ve kept stashed away, the only thing that he had left of you was your memories.

And he was trying to pick up the pieces, desperately trying to glue them to create a comprehensive picture.

Regrets and regrets piled up, and everytime he sat in a branch of a tree, hidden away from the rest of the world, he still wonders, if you two could’ve worked out.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

His memory flickers to a sunlit room, the setting sun casting its glow on the world for a minute. If meeting you was his favourite memory, this would definitely be in second place. The two of you contemplating life after graduation, and possibly, life without each other.

“You know, it’s a bit odd, I never planned it out because I didn’t think that you wouldn’t be in it.” You move your gaze to the sunset, more interested in the view than seeing the expression he made. Almost as though you were scared of seeing what he would say.

He opens his mouth, and for once, he’s unable to form a sentence.

The silence had washed over the both of you, and it wasn’t a comfortable silence between good friends. The kind of silence that belonged between two people who knew they were reaching the end of their paths together.

Tighnari reaches out to hold your hand, he wants to reassure you that he’d keep in contact with you, that you two would remain friends after graduation.

Like always, he returns his hand back before you could even notice.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

It’s no secret to the forest rangers, or even those who chance upon the Avidya forest that Tighnari is an amazing man of organization, and confidence.

Although between you and him, he’s a man of regrets. The kind of regrets that he wakes up at night, wondering what would’ve happened, or what could’ve been, if he had taken one risk. One chance, and he could’ve at least known your feelings for him.

It isn’t until he hears heavy footsteps, that he snaps out of his thoughts; you were important to him, but his duty called and he was to answer.

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