Canon-Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff

When it came to his job as a Forest Watcher, Tighnari's ears were both a blessing and a curse. His ability to hear even the slightest of sounds proved very handy in his job as a forest watcher- but it came at the price of being unable to tolerate loud noises. Thankfully, aside from Collei and Paimon's occasional yells, the only loud thing he had to deal with were thunderstorms. He could handle a little mud getting on his shoes or a little rain splashing his tail just fine- but no matter how many times a storm would pass over Gandharva Ville, he could never quite get used to just how loud thunder could get.

The storm passing over tonight had to have been the loudest one yet- every few minutes, right when he was finally about to fall asleep for the night, a bout of thunder would roar through the forest, startling him back awake and making his head spin. This vicious cycle felt like it had been going on for a few hours by now, but Tighnari couldn't quite tell due to the storm clouds hiding the moon's position in the sky. The only thing he was certain of was that it was going to be a long night.

Tighnari's ears were almost immediately greeted with yet another vicious clap of thunder, as if it were taunting him, confirming his fears. He had hardly any strength left in him, only able to groan, two parts in annoyance and two parts in pain.

He had tried everything he could think of, from pressing his ears flat against his head to hiding away under as many blankets as he could find- but as soon as he'd feel relaxed enough to lay down and go to sleep for the night, another surge of thunder would prove him wrong.

It was frustrating, to say the least. Perhaps it was due to the strenuous day he had endured, or maybe the fact that he stayed up well into the night studying fungi the other day, but Tighnari could feel his exhaustion gnawing away at his mind- making him delirious enough to sit up, turn toward the window, and actually yell at the storm. "Shut up!!!"

Almost as if it were sentient, the storm responded with an earth-shattering crackling. Tighnari yanked his head away from the window, curling up into a ball as he whimpered. At this point, he prayed that a stray bolt of lightning would find his hut and put him to sleep permanently. Anything would've been better than having to sit through this.

His ears were so preoccupied with how deafening the thunder was that he failed to pick up on the sound of footsteps in the distance. It was only after the person in question had stepped into his hut that he finally noticed their presence. "Tighnari?"

The forest watcher whipped his head up from his knees, staring with wide, puffy eyes at the person at his doorstep. "Cyno," he breathed shakily. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you."

Cyno's brow furrowed in concern, watching as Tighnari trembled while he scooted over, making room for him on the bed. "You're crying," he commented, approaching the bed with cautious steps.

"I am?" Tighnari lifted a hand to his face, wiping at his eyes to find some teardrops on his hands. "Oh."

"What's wrong?" Cyno sat down on the bed next to Tighnari, placing his hand atop his. Before the forest watcher could answer, another round of thunder rang through the forest, prompting him to cover his head with his free hand and cry out. "Are you... scared of the storm?"

"No, I'm not scared of the storm," he hissed out in annoyance, lifting his head up to meet Cyno's gaze. "I'm just tired, Cyno. But I can't even sleep, because every five minutes there's another bout of thunder that wakes me up and it's so loud that my head is hurting and-" he paused mid-rambling, inhaling slowly and shakily. "I don't know what to do."

Hearing the annoyance in Tighnari's tone suddenly switch to a more crestfallen tone weighed heavily on Cyno's heart. "It's going to be alright," the General Mahamatra moved his hand away from Tighnari's, wrapping his arm around his back and pulling him close. "I'm right beside you." With his other hand, he ran his fingers through Tighnari's hair, lowering his head to his chest. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tighnari sighed heavily, closing his eyes and easing into Cyno's touch. He could hear his heartbeat- faint and steady, and found himself relaxing to the rhythm. "Thank you, Cyno," he mumbled, tail wrapping around him. "What would I do without you?"

Cyno was never really good at this kind of stuff- but if it was for Tighnari, he was more than willing to try. Judging from the way he could feel the tension leave his body, he was led to believe he was doing this right. He slowly lowered them so they were both lying down, staying awake until he was certain that Tighnari had fallen asleep. "I could ask you the same thing," he whispered softly, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Author's Note

These past few chapters, I realized that I've been so focused on keeping a consistent schedule that I sort of sucked out the joy of writing. Because of this, my schedule is going to be a bit more sporadic, but I'm still aiming for two chapters a week! Thank you for your understanding!

Also, this chapter was requested by Character_terminated on Wattpad! If I hit 250 Followers on Wattpad, or 100 followers on Twitter, I'll open up more requests!

Word Count: ~900 Words