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bloody-bee-tea · 10 months

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Tiny Bee~k 2023 Day 7 - Stillness

Cyno feels restless when he returns to Sumeru, almost bordering on being jittery. The mission had been a failure, though through no fault of his own—he could hardly be blamed for the researcher he was pursuing blowing himself up with barrels he wanted to use on Cyno—but things like that always weigh on Cyno’s mind.

And they tend to make him restless which the repeated flexing of his hand is a testament to.

Still, Cyno tries to push it out of his mind; he has to report back to Alhaitham since Nahida—who he now normally reports to, is away with the Traveler—and after that he can finally crash in his home.

Some sleep will do him good, he hopes, even though he doubts he will get much of it.

When he steps into Alhaitham’s office, he supresses a sigh. Alhaitham is currently in a somewhat heated debate it seems and Cyno knows just how much he hates it when those get interrupted. And especially for something like Cyno’s report, which absolutely can wait a moment longer.

Cyno sees Alhaitham’s eyes briefly dart over to him, so he knows he has been noticed, but just a second later Alhaitham focuses back on the scholar standing in front of his desk.

Cyno finds a seat for himself somewhere to Alhaitham’s left, intend on waiting this whole thing out, and even though curiosity gets the better of him, he has a hard time following along what is being said.

It seems as if Cyno is more tired than he thought because his eyes keep closing and every time it happens, getting them open again is harder than the time before.

Cyno tries to filter out the voices, simply concentrating on the cadence of their speech but even that lulls him to sleep.

There is just something about Alhaitham, Cyno distantly thinks. Something about the way he talks, the way he acts that seems calming to Cyno.

Or maybe it simply is the otherwise stillness of the office, he immediately thinks after, refusing to believe that Alhaitham could have any kind of affect on him beyond annoying him.

He smirks at his own thought and then he knows nothing for a while.

“Cyno?”

At hearing his voice Cyno jolts—not awake, because he hasn’t been asleep, thank you very much, but out of whatever kind of trance he had found himself in.

“I know you generally look with disdain at researches but I didn’t think we were this boring to you,” Alhaitham says, a teasing smile playing around his mouth and Cyno blinks two times before he fully finds back to himself.

“It’s just been a long day,” he explains, not rising to Alhaitham’s teasing and finally gets up, ready to give Alhaitham his report and then go home to crash.

The fact that he lays awake in his own bed for hours, is of course not puzzling at all.

~*~*~

Cyno finds himself back in Alhaitham’s office a few days later. Sleep at home still evades him and even though Alhaitham made that quip the last time he was there, Cyno graduated from the Akademiya as well and he knows how to test a hypothesis.

So he sits in Alhaitham’s office without offering any kind of explanation and can’t even feel smug when he does doze off not even five minutes in.

He startles awake when the elevator starts to whir to life and he comes to to curious eyes mustering him.

“Are you alright?” Alhaitham wants to know and Cyno pushes himself to his feet.

If he is receiving someone right now then Cyno should probably leave.

“Perfectly fine,” he gives back and the arch of Alhaitham’s eyebrow tells him exactly how much he believes Cyno.

Cyno refuses to explain himself though, still too unsure about the entire thing—and especially about how he’s supposed to put it into words—and so he simply gets on the elevator as soon as it comes to a stop, not even greeting whoever gets off it.

~*~*~

Cyno still doesn’t sleep at home, and so he finds himself in the matra office a day later. If it works in Alhaitham’s office, then it surely has to work in this office as well, right?

It’s probably the shuffling of paper or the scrape of a quill that has the relaxing effect on Cyno, so he should be able to doze off in another office no problem.

The matra office doesn’t work. Cyno moves on to the office of the temporary Scribe, thinking that maybe there’s just too much happening in the matra office. But even the office of the Scribe doesn’t work and Cyno only partially blames it on how nervous he seems to make the other man.

But that leaves him only with Alhaitham’s office, where he finds himself back at a day later.

Cyno is loathe to admit it, but he steps into the huge, open space and something in him immediately relaxes. Alhaitham acknowledges him with a nod of his head, not taking his eyes off the paper he’s currently studying and Cyno seats himself in his by now usual seat.

Alhaitham doesn’t seem bothered by his presence at all and Cyno takes the chance to observe him for a while. He’s still not entirely sure what it is about this entire set-up that makes him so relaxed, but by now he has to admit that Alhaitham has to play a role in it.

He’s simply reading over something and yet Cyno feels as if he could instantly drift off; the sight of Alhaitham being so still and yet doing his job is getting to him in a way Cyno can’t explain.

His mind starts to wander as he watches Alhaitham, and he’s slowly starting to nod off when Alhaitham suddenly puts the paper in his hand down.

“Have I done something to attract your suspicion lately?” Alhaitham asks and even though it should be startling Cyno right awake, he’s still slow to come back to himself.

“Why would you think so?” he finally asks when he can form coherent thoughts again and Alhaitham gives him a judging look.

“You’ve been in my office numerous times this week; never saying anything, just staring at me before leaving again. Am I under surveillance?”

“You never said anything before either,” Cyno gives back, still a little bit surprised at how easily Alhaitham has let him into his space even though it is his official office.

“But I am now,” Alhaitham gives back, abandoning his frankly unnecessary large throne that serves him as a office chair to come over to Cyno. “You look tired. Has something happened? Do you need some time off?”

Cyno gives that question some proper thought; he is tired but even if Alhaitham manages to give him some time off, he doubts he could sleep at home. It’s much more likely that he’ll find himself back in this office even more often and that would only raise more questions for Alhaitham.

Questions, Cyno is still not sure he has the answers to.

“No, it’s alright,” Cyno finally gives back and Alhaitham doesn’t even pretend to believe him.

“It’s clearly not.”

His searching gaze makes Cyno uneasy, so he decides to change the topic when the elevator starts it’s ominous whir again.

“Despite what you always claim, you’re awfully welcoming to everyone entering your office.”

“It’s hard to slam the door in someone’s face in this godforsaken, doorless office,” Alhaitham drily gives back and it startles a chuckle out of Cyno.

“Fair,” he gives back and then gets to his feet. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

Alhaitham seems as if he wants to say something else, but before he can Cyno already slipped away.

~*~*~

Cyno still refuses to believe that it is Alhaitham of all people who manages so easily to put him at ease, so he enters his office on a day he knows Alhaitham is out and about.

The office is quiet—just like before but something about it is off. Cyno feels restless in it, and even though he sits in the same chair as always, he can’t quite seem to settle down that day.

He heaves out a sigh.

It’s Alhaitham, then, Cyno finally has to admit that to himself. He spends one afternoon debating if that changes anything for him, if that knowledge will stop him from going back now, but in the end he has to admit that he suspected it from the beginning, so there’s no need to change anything.

It seems as if he’s the only one who thinks so, though, because when he returns to the office—this time with Alhaitham in it—just a day later, his chair is gone.

“What have you done?” Cyno turns betrayed eyes on Alhaitham, who simply regards him with an amused air around him.

“I didn’t think you’d be so attached to that one chair,” he mildly says and then pats the space right next to him.

“What?” Cyno asks, because surely Alhaitham cannot mean what he thinks he means but Alhaitham simply holds his gaze and repeats the motion.

Cyno’s feet—the traitors—bring him closer to Alhaitham’s hideous throne, but he doesn’t have to be happy about it and he conveys that with a glare. At least he hopes he does.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demands to know once he comes to a stop right in front of Alhaitham and he gets the distinct impression that Alhaitham wants to roll his eyes at him.

“You’re exhausted and you need to sleep. For some reason you come to my office for that but being slumped over in that chair really can’t be good. Here is better. You can lean against the back, curl up against the armrest or even lean on me. It should make you sleep better.”

Cyno opens his mouth, definitely wanting to say something, but nothing at all comes out. The thing is—Alhaitham is right. The chair is killing him—and his back, and neck—and the stupid throne has enough space for Alhaitham to work and Cyno to curl up in a corner.

It is the better option and Cyno hates that Alhaitham is pointing it out.

“Not a word about this to anyone,” Cyno hisses as he gets on the way-too-large throne, pressing himself into the corner to Alhaitham’s left.

Alhaitham’s mouth twitches and Cyno is very well aware how stupid his words are. Everyone who enters this office must have noticed the General Mahamatra drifting off here, and if they haven’t before, they most certainly will now, with him being right behind Alhaitham.

Still, Cyno can’t find it in him to mind it much, the sweet promise of some uninterrupted sleep too great for him to refuse this offer.

“Thank you,” he mumbles, shortly before he drifts off that day, and the only indication that Alhaitham heard him is the small pause in his writing.

Cyno is long asleep when Alhaitham whispers “You’re more than welcome.”

~*~*~

Cyno refuses to think about how he ends up with his head pillowed on Alhaitham’s leg while the other is doing his work, but this is the position he finds himself in most these days.

It does help with the pain in his back and neck and Alhaitham’s hand on his shoulder when he writes something or his hand in his hair when he reads something is a type of comfort Cyno never thought he’d find for himself.

When he mentioned this to Tighnari a while back, his friend had laughed long and hard at him before he sat him down and explained Cyno’s own feelings to him. And it wasn’t as if they were a surprise—Cyno is too in tune with himself not to realise that he has fallen for the other man—but to hear them out loud—it hadn’t been all that pleasant, is all.

Tighnari had asked him if he knew Alhaitham’s feelings on the matter and while Cyno couldn’t say for certain his actions certainly made him believe there was cause to hope.

Cyno doubts Alhaitham would just let anyone sleep on him—and occasionally drool, much to Cyno’s embarrassment—and Cyno had caught him twice now, staring at him with a soft look on his face.

It surely has to mean something.

He’s not about to bring it up though, because these days the little naps he takes in Alhaitham’s office are the only real good rest he gets and he’s not about to give them up, should he have read Alhaitham wrong.

At least not yet.

~*~*~

Cyno comes to tense and with an urge to hide. It takes him a split second to realize where he is—his head still pillowed on Alhaitham’s leg, with his hand repeatedly moving through Cyno’s hair—and he forces himself to stay still.

He doesn’t know what woke him and he needs to assess the situation first.

“Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham,” a voice says and Cyno immediately knows it’s this person’s steps who woke him.

“What can I do for you?” Alhaitham asks, his voice noticeably colder than it usually is and it feels as if the reassuring motion in Cyno’s hair gets more pronounced.

“It has come to my attention that you’re taking your time with your paperwork these days,” the other man says and Cyno wrecks his brain but he can’t remember his name.

He does know who he worked with before, though, but still he forces himself to remain calm.

“I wonder why that could be,” the man goes on and Cyno’s nape prickles. He must be looking at him then.

“Careful, Professor,” Alhaitham says. “Or one could think you’re judging my work.”

“It has just been noted,” the man drawls out and when Cyno dares to look up at Alhaitham he sees a cutting smile on his face.

“If this is about your research project I refused, rest assured that I would have refused it no matter what, and I will refuse it again, no matter how often you hand it in. No outward influences needed.”

There’s a long silence before Cyno hears a huff and then retreating steps. The elevator comes to life again and a minute later the office is quiet once more.

“You never wake up when someone enters the office. What is different with him?” Alhaitham wants to know, scratching lightly at Cyno’s scalp and Cyno closes his eyes.

“His steps. I know them. He worked with Azar before.”

Alhaitham hums.

“Not closely enough to implicate himself, I’m afraid,” Alhaitham mutters and keeps Cyno’s head where it is when he tries to sit up. “Don’t. You need more rest. You usually sleep deeply enough to sleep right through these things.”

Cyno blinks at that. It’s true; he rarely ever wakes up when someone enters the office and logically he knows that visitors must be frequent. His sleep has never been deep; his job doesn’t allow for it. He’s a light sleeper, awake at the smallest of sounds and always at least partially conscious about his surroundings.

The fact that all these things don’t apply when he’s here, with his head carefully cradled by Alhaitham makes him freeze.

“What did he mean, you’re slow with your work these days?” Cyno asks to give himself a little bit of time to compose himself again and Alhaitham huffs out a sigh.

“I find myself unwilling to leave the office, these days,” Alhaitham admits. “I would rather stay here and give you more time to rest than to wake you up.”

Cyno turns on his back at that, staring up at Alhaitham.

“You hate tardiness. You finish your work quickly and efficiently so that you can go home sooner.”

That makes Alhaitham chuckle.

“That is not wrong.”

“But,” Cyno prompts when Alhaitham doesn’t go on.

“I find that I hate it more when I have to wake you.”

“Oh,” Cyno whispers and then reaches up to grab Alhaitham’s hand still buried in his hair.

Alhaitham clearly misunderstands him because he’s in the motion of pulling away when Cyno finally manages to grab his hand and he’s quick to thread their fingers together.

Alhaitham relaxes when he notices what Cyno’s intention is and he rests his other hand on Cyno’s chest, right over his heart.

“What does that mean for us?” Cyno asks after a moment of comfortable silence and Alhaitham’s gaze darts out the window.

“It means that you will accompany me home now, so we can both get some actual rest,” he easily says as if it means nothing to him to invite Cyno into his home, his life, and his bed.

“We won’t if Kaveh is there,” Cyno reminds him with a small smile.

He loves the architect but if Alhaitham brings Cyno home with him only for them to vanish into Alhaitham’s bedroom then there will not be a quiet minute the entire evening.

“What do you propose then?” Alhaitham asks, clearly realising the truth and Cyno finally pushes himself up.

“I do have my own home,” he tells Alhaitham and pulls him up, making sure their hands stay entangled. “And a bed, even though I see how you would hardly believe that after all of this,” he waves his free hand around the office and watches with satisfaction how Alhaitham smiles at him.

“Best to show me then, so I can make sure of that with my own two eyes,” he teases and Cyno certainly does not melt on the spot when Alhaitham leans down and presses a kiss to Cyno’s forehead.

“Yeah, best to do that,” Cyno mumbles, overly aware of how hot his face suddenly is but then he decides that two can certainly play that game.

So he leans up on his toes to kiss the corner of Alhaitham’s mouth and he’s more than delighted to find that Alhaitham blushes easily.

He is certain that sleep will not be their immediate goal but as long as Alhaitham is with him Cyno is fine with anything. Because there is simply something special about Alhaitham.

#bt writes #tiny bee~k #genshin impact #haino #cytham #alhaitham #cyno #fluff #hurt/comfort #trust #sleepiness #getting together

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