Love Blooms

Chapter 3

"tighnari, you've returned," cyno said to his friend, then looked at you. "and you've brought Y/N. it's good to see you again."

"nice to see you too," you said pleasantly. "congratulations, by the way. both for your promotion to general mahamatra and your marriage."

"i appreciate it," he said. "how have you been lately, Y/N?"

"good i guess," you said with a small smile. "i've been busy with publishing books lately but... i've really enjoyed the process. how have you been?"

"well... obviously today i couldn't be happier," he said, throwing a gaze towards his spouse who was socializing with a few of their family members. "i'm glad you could make it. i guess the envelope truly didn't make it."

"yeah... i had no idea you were getting married until tighnari had told me." you turned to tighnari, who was looking at where cyno's spouse stood, a longing expression on his face.

cyno whispered to you, "i'm sure you can tell what's going on."

"i figured it out relatively quickly," you whispered back. "i'm sure you're a little sad for him, right?"

"well... i would be, but now that you're here, it'll make things a lot better," cyno said normally, then shot you a wink.

"h-huh?! i'm only a distraction," you said back.

he gave you a knowing smile, "Y/N, i already know. you don't have to try and hide it from me."

you sighed, "i really failed..."

"don't be so harsh on yourself," he placed a hand on your shoulder. "it's only because i have a lot of experience with these types of things. he wouldn't notice."

"wouldn't notice what?" you flinched and moved away from cyno, seeing his partner standing there confused. "oh? Y/N! it's great to see you!"

they brought you into a tight and sudden hug, making you almost lose balance. you gave them an equally tight embrace and smiled at them. "it's good to see you too! congratulations."

"thank you! i'm glad that you could make it," they said and broke the hug. "cyno and tighnari sent an invite to you, but i guess it never made it. i guess fate works in very strange ways, doesn't it?"

"that it does," you smiled at them.

"so what were you and cyno talking about," they asked. "something tells me it has to do with that one over there-"

you lowered their pointed finger which was directed at tighnari, who had walked away mid-conversation, and hushed them. "d-don't make it so obvious!"

"oh i see what's going on now," they smirked.

"seems like Y/N caught the love that's in the air," cyno chuckled at you. "i already knew though, even from akademiya days."

"the love in the air is because you two are so sappy," you retorted, already seeing cyno walk over to their spouse and looping an arm around them. "you're proving my point, cyno."

"then don't breathe," he joked, making the three of you laugh.

"oh come on, don't steal my plus one," the three of you heard, seeing tighnari walking over. tighnari had talked to dehya and candace who were also in attendance.

"we just wanted to do some catching up," cyno assured his friend. "no need to get your tail in a twist, tighnari."

"cyno, i just remembered, maybe we should grab a couple champagne glasses before we forget," cyno's partner said. "Y/N, tighnari, would you care for a few?"

"i'm alright," you said.

"same, i don't drink," tighnari said.

cyno gave him a confused look, "you're not drinking today? what's that nonsense about how you 'don't drink'?"

tighnari blushed, "you already know the reason. just go grab your damn drinks already."

cyno and his partner laughed and waved goodbye, grabbing the champagne that they wanted. you gave tighnari a confused look, "mind explaining that?"

"my drinking habits are quite horrible if i do say so myself," tighnari coughed awkwardly. "that's all."

"i can imagine that," you snickered. "let's go grab some food now, i think they just opened up the buffet."

tighnari and you helped yourself to a lot of delicious food and ate at the same table as the newlyweds. throughout the whole conversation as the night progressed, you noticed how tighnari had to put up a strong front so cyno wouldn't suspect anything. tighnari had to do the toast as well, so he really had to put on a convincing face up.

after some time, you thought maybe it was a good time to give him a small rest before he did the toast. you moved your hand and squeezed his arm that was resting near his lap. he gave you a questioning look and mouthed a "what", to which you tilted your head towards the door.

"give us a moment," tighnari said, then walked outside with you in tow. once the two of you were further away from the dining room, he gave you a confused look. "what is it, Y/N?"

"i just thought you could use a break," you admitted to him, leaning over the balcony and seeing the large sumeru landscape below.

"how did you know?"

you giggled, "i could tell. i just didn't want to say anything."

he sighed, "i need to work on that."

"well, you don't really have a choice," you said bluntly with a hum. "after all, the two of them are married."

married. there was that word again. the one that knocked tighnari under the waves of despair that he refused to acknowledge before. he let out a shaky breath, "unrequited love... fuck..."

"i can relate," you said, empathizing with the young male and turning to face him. "do you need a hug?"

he looked at you and then wrapped his arms around you tightly. his embrace was sad, and you had to kick yourself for feeling happy that he hugged you.

"i know it can be hard," you said to him gently. "but... you will find someone out there one day who will return your feelings."

he said nothing, squeezing you tighter as a way of saying you can finish your thought.

"life is a long and crazy pathway with many turns and twists. your first love will forever be something you hold dear to your heart, but you need to understand that the success of those kinds of love stories are extremely rare. i know it's upsetting to think that you're not in that one in a million fairy-tail and it doesn't help that you know two people who are living in one, but there's a reason why it's one in a million. you'll find the exact same happiness, it just might not be the same way as them and you need to accept that fact. okay?"

he nodded and sighed deeply, and judging by how his grip didn't loosen one bit, he needed a minute to pull himself together. a few minutes passed and he pulled away, letting go and moving back a few steps. in that moment, you don't think you've ever seen tighnari as vulnerable as he looked now. you could see some slight swelling in his eyes from holding back tears, and you gently placed a hand on his cheek and let your hydro vision cool his face, the cooling sensation helping the puffiness fade.

"is that better?"

he nodded, but before you could pull your hand away, he grasped the back of your palm and kept it on his cheek.

"can we just stay like this for a minute?"