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amiamihann · 1 year ago

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[cytham/haino] Do you want a date?

It’s becoming an occurrence to see the newly reinstated Scribe and General Mahamatra together.

In which Alhaitham and Cyno have dates much to everyone's befuddlement.

My @cyhaino-exchange fic for @stonesbeyondthesea !

Prompt: Cyno and Al-haitham going on dates that make absolutely no sense to the general public

AO3 link.

At first, Layla doesn’t notice anything unusual. She’s used to being one of the last people in House of Daena, pouring over astrology books and research papers, and falling asleep over one of the hard desks. She had woken up on countless occasions with a sore back and neck (maybe she can petition for more comfier desks?), the first few rays of sun filtering the windows with no soul in sight other than her and her miraculously done coursework. Said done coursework always leaves her a little bewildered and confused so it takes her a while to notice the other occupants of the library.

She’s reviewing one of ‘her works’ blearily when she catches a glimpse of black and gold and purple coming in her direction. It takes her a while to recognize the renowned General Mahamatra with his complete uniform and serious face. She freezes and multitude of thoughts pass through her and what might the Matra would want for her. Someone has probably told on her to the Matra finally. There’s no few rumors about people assuming she cheats in her coursework. It doesn’t help she can’t explain the countless trance she got into ‘finishing’ them and how she’s somehow on top of her studies despite being overworked and she’s so dead—

Except the General Mahamatra breezes past her table and goes further in the library, stopping at one of the desks in the right side corner.

It takes awhile for her to calm her fast beating heart. She sighs and slumps on the desk. It's out of accident that she turns and peeks at where she last saw the General. Instead of the lithe figure and jackal headdress of the General, what she sees is the broad shoulders and back of the newly reinstated Scribe seated a few desks away from her. She blinks and if not for Cyno’s jackal headdress’ ears poking between the Scribe’s shoulders, she would have thought she imagined seeing the General Mahamatra.

She’s acquainted with both, admittedly more so with Alhaitham for both review and approval of her papers and a surprising patient ear to listen to her wiles while she and Cyno have only been acquainted during the Interdashan competition and no other interactions so far after. She, in theory, could go and say hi to them but she also, in theory, could not and pretend to not exist.

She chooses to do the latter.

Though she couldn’t help but surreptitiously take glances at the two Akademiya giants, with limited visibility thanks to Alhaitham’s cape and broad back. It’s rare to see the two together outside of official and professional meetings with Alhaitham not long ago bearing the title of Acting Grand Sage. She heard conflicting things about their relationship during Alhaitham’s tenure in the corners of House of Daena, when people were none the wiser of her presence. She’s heard they often butt heads in the meetings but also are stark defenders and allies of each other and a pain in the other sages’ asses. She wonders how true the rumors are as she watches the relaxed slope of Alhaitham’s back as he, she assumes, reads. She tries to strain her ears to see if they’re talking but only tranquil silence permeates in the House of Daena, not a whisper or a murmur could be heard.

She’s about to revisit the thought of saying hi to them when her eyes catch the time on the clock and belatedly realizes she’s about to be late to her first class. With a welp, she stands up and haphazardly collects her stuff into her bag. She runs off once done, barely paying mind to the other occupants. On the back of her mind though, she takes note of the incident like any researcher.

________

It takes two weeks for Layla to gather her data. These are what she found out:

The Scribe and General Mahamatra always meet in the House of Daena at 7am on the dot, two hours before Alhaitham’s shift. (She tries to look up Cyno’s as well but apparently the General keeps open hours.)

Alhaitham is always the first one to arrive and he always picks the desk near the elevator on the right side of the House of Daena.

Sometimes the General Mahamatra is late and there’s impatience in the tap of Alhaitham’s heel and tenseness in his back. He only relaxes whenever Cyno arrives.

They each have a book to read. In Cyno’s case sometimes, a report to write when he just comes from a mission.

There’s minimal conversation between them if any at all. There are times when they don't say anything at all to each other before they stand up and go about their own duties.

The last part is what perplexes her the most. Why meet up if they’re not going to talk? They’re two of Akademiya giants and the geniuses of their own Darshans, not to mention, they were key conspirators in freeing their Archon… Surely, they’ll have a vast amount of knowledge and topics to talk about?

And yet they continue with no avail, everyday at 7am, with barely any words exchanged between them other than a nod and relaxed postures.

Curiosity finally got the better of her and she finally asks Alhaitham during one of their review sessions.

“I-uhm- why do you meet up with the General Mahamatra at 7am in the House of Daena?” She starts, innocently enough, before nerves come over her and she ends up confessing her data gathering as well.

Alhaitham, to his credit, only gives her a calm raised eyebrow after she’s done with her possibly incoherent ramblings in between apologies in being nosy and then, embarrassingly, showing him her data.

She can’t help but sweat as he reads. She doesn’t know why she feels like she’s being graded.

“Hm…you could do better with the data gathering, I’ve seen much better work from you.” Alhaitham, after what feels like eternity, says.

“Sorry! I was trying to be inconspicuous-I mean-sorry!” She squeaks, her face hot in shame. Why did she even dare broach this topic again???

Wonder of wonders, Alhaitam actually let out a chuckle. She freezes, caught off guard.

“Care for a date?” He asks, and she swears she saw his mouth tilt up.

“I-Uh-Excuse me?” She yelps. What is going on?!

“A date.” And then Alhaitham procures the fruit for archons knows where and presses it into her hand. “I’ll see you again for the next review session. I have to get going.”

He’s about to leave when Layla remembers the start of these strange happenings.

“Wait! My question—”

“I do believe I already gave you the answer,” he says with a conspiratory smile, leaving her even more dumbfounded.

________

Admittedly, touring desert ruins is far from what Dehya considers as a fun time. But she also didn’t grow up in Akademiya so maybe that’s why old and decrepit ruins have no appeal to her.

What she did know and notice is the increasing visits of two certain Akademiya giants to the desert and its ruins.

It takes awhile for her to corner the two. Cyno is too professional to use the same route over and over again, much to her chagrin. But nothing gets past the Flame-Mane of the desert.

“Finally, got ya’!” She greets the two approaching men wearing cloaks. “Y’know if you’re trying to be stealthy, you really need to get rid of the jackal ears, Cyno.”

They both stop and remove their hoods; Alhaitham with a shake of his head and Cyno with a frown.

“There’s nothing wrong with the ears,” Cyno says immediately, and if Dehya isn’t imagining it, almost petulantly, “and we’re not trying to hide anyway.”

Dehya raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Not in some confidential Akademiya mission? You guys have been frequenting the deserts so I was worried there’s a wannabe god to overthrow again or something.”

“Nothing of that sort,” Alhaitham answers, placidly. “We’re just here to explore one of the ruins.”

“So I’ve heard,” Dehya acquiesces, not letting up to where she’s blocking them.

To be truthful, she trusts both of them. You don’t save a nation without an ounce of trust among your comrades to make it successful after all. But she can’t help but still be cautious. The desert is her home after all and she wants to protect it.

Cyno is the one to speak up, reading her intention. “We’re gonna explore one of Deshret’s tombs. One of my marks hid away there before I caught him last week. The fight that ensued unveiled some hidden hieroglyphs and I’d like for Alhaitham to take a look at it. If we ever find anything important, we will let you and Aaru village know.”

Dehya frowns. “And the expeditions before that?”

The two share a look. Cyno is the one again to speak up.

“Same thing; I found something interesting during my hunt in the desert and I asked Alhaitham to look and study it with me. So far, most are already found and studied in Akademiya.” Cyno shrugs, looking unbothered. “We can give you the full report of where we’ve been and what we found if that will ease you.”

“Nah, I trust you, guys. No need to give me a report I wouldn’t read anyway,” She grins, finally moving from where she’s blocking them. She pats them at the shoulders. “T’was just checking on you guys and what you’re up to.”

“Oh, then we’re just going on a date,” Cyno says, nonchalantly, with a straight face. Alhaitham stands besides him equally straight faced.

Dehya blinks and lets out a ‘huh’. She’s too caught up with the revelation that she barely registers the goodbyes the two give as they pass through her and continue on their way. It takes her a minute or two to gather her bearings and go her merry way again with a thoughtful hum.

Dehya doesn’t really get it but maybe it's one of those Akademiya quirks she can’t wrap her head around. Maybe desert expedition dates are really popular among Akademiya? She doesn’t know and she honestly doesn’t care. To each to their own as they say. Speaking of dates, maybe she can find Candace and pester her to go on one again. Definitely not on desert expeditions like some Akademiya weirdos she knows.

________

If it took awhile to get used to seeing the General Mahamatra in TCG tournaments, it definitely takes even longer getting used to the Scribe or formerly known as The Acting Grand Sage of Sumeru to attend this kind of events.

He always comes in with the General Mahamatra and sticks to him, as he listens to whatever the General talks or points out but he never plays. Otherwise, he stays at the side, reading a book whenever the General is either engaged with other players or looking through stands. Curiously enough, he always puts down the book when it's the General's turn to battle.

When one brave soul finally asks why he’s there, he only gets given a fruit—a date to be exact—much to everyone’s confusion, before the Scribe walks away to meet up with the General Mahamatra again.

________

Tighnari rarely comes to Sumeru City these days. When he does, it is usually because he needs supplies that can only be found or bought in the city or when he finally concedes and does a lecture or two in Akademiya. It’s the latter on why he’s here in the city today.

It’s early in the morning and he still has some two hours to spare before his lecture so he decides to check in on the Razan Garden. He’s taking notes on how to better improve the health of flora in the garden when his ears twitch and hears a skittering of shoes. More concerningly, it comes from above and if he knows the layout of the garden as well as he did when he was a student, there shouldn’t be anything above other than branches of the Divine Tree.

He looks up and sees Alhaitham climbing a branch. He blinks and the same cape and broad back greets him. Oh and he also notices his best friend, the General Mahamatra, is also on another branch.

“WHAT IN ARCHONS ARE YOU TWO DOING?” He shouts, which is the wrong thing to do as Alhaitham slips up in surprise.

Alhaitham manages to cushion his fall with some dendro but based on his wince as he landed on his feet, he might have twisted something. Tighnari hurriedly runs to him, barely noticing Cyno doing the same.

“Are you okay?” Tighnari asks, checking the Scribe and his foot. “Thank archons, it’s only sprained but we should still get some ice on it immediately.”

He was about to assist Alhaitham in going to Bimarstan section of Akademiya when Cyno swoops in and carries the Scribe effortlessly, bridal style. Both Tighnari and Alhaitham blink up to Cyno but Cyno only raises an eyebrow.

“This is much easier and faster.” He says in lieu of an answer.

It doesn’t really answer any of the million questions that Tighnari has but the reddening of Alhaitham’s ears is enough to answer some at least. He mutely herds them to Bimarstan, trying not to listen in on their banter as they walk.

“Can you at least carry me on your back? This is embarrassing.”

“You were definitely not complaining last night, though?”

“That was at my home and this is my workplace—”

Tighnari decides to tune them out along the way.

________

Once the ice has been put on the Scribe’s sprained foot and Tighnari finally has recovered his wits about him, he lays it on them.

“So care to explain why two of the Akademiya giants are climbing the Divine tree?” He starts, mustering his best I’m not angry, just disappointed voice that’s very effective with his forest rangers and well intentioned tourists.

Cyno shrinks back, completely guilty, while Alhaitham just shrugs. Alhaitham gets a bag of something in his pocket and grabs one of whatever it is and gives it to Tighnari. Tighnari frowns at the fruit on his palm.

“A date? What does this have to do with you climbing the tree?”

Cyno perks up. “It’s because we were on a date. ”

Tighnari stares at them. Cyno, unperturbed, continues. “Get it? The date fruit can be—”

“And why are you going on dates on top of the Divine Tree?” Tighnari cuts him off before he loses even more of his sanity.

Alhaitham frowns at him seemingly displeased at him cutting Cyno off but Cyno only shrugs. “It has the prettiest view of all of Sumeru.”

Tighnari blinks and then heaves a big sigh. “And you can’t have your dates anywhere other than the Divine Tree?”

“We do have other places we go on dates like the library,” Alhaitham confirms.

“Good!” Though honestly it’s one of the last place Tighnari would bring a date to, to each to their own he guess. “Then you can stick to House of Daena so no more climbing the Divine Tree.”

Cyno frowns at him but doesn't fight it; meanwhile Alhaitham barely hides his relief. Poor guy.

“Now that’s in order, I have to go and do a lecture.” He points at Cyno. “Let's meet at Lambad Tavern after. You owe me a lot of answers.”

Cyno snorts but nods anyway. With that in the way, Tighnari heads to his lecture, a list of questions ready for the afternoon. Maybe he should also make a list of popular date sites to help his best friend along the way.

________

“Is he gone?”

“He is.”

“I guess we’re not telling him about our tree in Apam Woods?”

“Of course not.”

#cyhaino #haino #cytham #cyhainoexchange2023 #my fic #this was so fun to write haha #alhaitham and cyno are menaces

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