Modern AU, Fluff

There was a lot about being in college that Tighnari loved. He adored the convenience of the campus and how easy it was to get from place to place, the beautiful scenery and its incredible biodiversity, the university's prestigious biology program and all of its resources, and way too many other things for him to keep track of.

So far, he had only encountered a singular problem: the university's stupid general requirements. English was easy enough as is- he didn't mind taking a course or two about it; and since math was integral to a few aspects of biology, he supposed he didn't mind having to take it. What he couldn't wrap his head around, however, was why on Teyvat he had to take a history class. Seriously- what in the ever-loving hell did the historical records of King Deshret's descent to madness have to do with his biology degree?

To make matters worse, the only history class that fit in with his schedule was one of the harder ones; meaning that he had to study for it- or else he'd have to take another history class again if he failed. That led him to where he was now- spending his Tuesday afternoon as a bio major in a class jam-packed with history nerds. It was a little humiliating, if he was being honest; never in his life had he struggled with school work until now. Even though he was capable of hearing what the professor was saying very clearly, he could never quite comprehend what was going on. It frustrated him to no end, made him want to slam his head into his stupidly thick and incredibly useless history textbook.

He was so caught up in restraining himself from resorting to violence, gritting his teeth in frustration and clenching his pen till his knuckles turned white, he failed to notice that the person sitting next to him started to notice his change in demeanor. A tap on the shoulder startled him back to reality, prompting him to turn his head in the direction it came from.

"You have it backwards," When Tighnari met his classmate with a confused look, he promptly pointed to a section on his neglected note. "The Goddess of Flowers didn't die because King Deshret went wild, King Deshret went wild due the death of the Goddess of Flowers."

"Oh," Tighnari was quick to pick up on the spot that was pointed out to him, crossing out the incorrect information and rewriting it. "Thank you," he hummed, giving his classmate a smile. Now that Tighnari was actually looking at him, he looked a little familiar.

"It's no trouble." His classmate's red eyes flickered away for a moment, as if he was contemplating on saying something, before clearing his throat. "Actually, I wanted to ask; do you have Mr. Tubb for bio class?"

At the mention of the teacher's name, everything clicked in Tighnari's mind. "Yeah! I think we have the same class, Monday Wednesday and Friday at nine in the morning, right?"

The white-haired student nodded. "I thought I recognized you, considering I have yet to come across anyone on campus with ears and a tail like yours. Wait, weren't you that student who debated Mr. Tubb on the first day?"

Tighnari huffed, rolling his eyes. "Well, what was I gonna do, just sit on my ass and let him spread misinformation? He was wrong, so I merely corrected him, that's all."

This response elicited a chuckle from his classmate. "You seem really knowledgeable in the subject," he mused, red eyes glinting in amusement.

"Duh!" Getting a chance to talk about biology made his tail start to wag. "I could talk about it for hours if you're willing to listen. I'm a bio major, if you couldn't tell."

"Figures," he mused, resting his elbow on the desk and placing his chin atop his palm. "The name's Cyno; I'm a history major with an anthro minor, but I think it'd be nice to hear a thing or two from you."

"Tighnari," the bio major smiled. "It's nice to officially meet you."

"And you as well." Cyno hummed. "Actually, I know this is the first time we've talked with one another, but I have a proposal to make."

"A proposal?" Tighnari's tail came to a halt, his curiosity piqued and his brow raised in intrigue. "Go on."

"I kind of suck at biology, and from the looks of it," Cyno's gaze flickered to his notes briefly. "You're not doing too good in history- no offense."

Tighnari scoffed. "None taken."

"How about we tutor each other? I'll help you with history if you help me with bio. I can give you my number and we can meet up sometime in the library."

"Oh my god, really?" Tighnari's eyes lit up at the opportunity. He wasted no time fishing his phone out of his bag. "I am in desperate need of help, this class is kicking my ass. Here," he practically shoved his phone into Cyno's grasp. "Put in your info."

Cyno put in his contact as instructed, sending himself a text before handing his phone back to Tighnari. "I'm sucking ass at bio right now, so I could really use some help as well. How does Thursday morning sound to you?"

The fox hybrid nodded enthusiastically. "That works perfectly."

"Nice," Cyno pulled out his phone and replied to the text he had sent earlier. "I'm looking forward to it."

Another thing that Tighnari liked about college was how nice everyone was, and how easy it was to make friends. He smiled fondly at the notification from Cyno; it wasn't anything special, just a simple hello- but it made him glad to know that he had someone he could rely on. "The feeling's mutual, Cyno."

Author's Note

I had the prompts mixed up for day 4 and day 5 so I had to rewrite this one, whoops LMFAO?? Good news is that today's chapter is mostly written, I just have to rewrite a few things and then I'll post it and be back on track for this Cynonari week! Thank you so much for sticking with me through this random struggle!

Word Count: ~1k Words