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It wasn’t the first time Cyno had asked his boyfriend Tighnari to come along with him into the desert to help him hunt someone down.
This runaway scholar was particularly hard to track down, and Cyno had been getting frustrated that he was always one step behind.
With Tighnari, however, he had the advantage of his incredible hearing being able to hear miles. No longer would the rogue scholar be able to get away.
He hadn’t seen Tighnari in months before this, which wasn’t unusual for them. They were comfortable with their long distance relationship, Tighnari was usually busy with Forest Ranger duties and Cyno with his Matra duties which kept them both busy. Between targets, when Cyno got some free time, he would always return to Gandharva Vile to visit his boyfriend and check in on Collei too.
Although this particular visit, there was something different about the fox eared man.
He’d put on a lot of weight since last time. Sure he’d steadily put on weight over the years but it hadn’t been massively noticeable with how gradual it was.
While he definitely immediately noticed this time, he didn’t think anything of it and it barely registered in his mind. Tighnari had immediately accepted Cyno’s request for backup and reworked the patrol schedule to work without him for a few days and the very next day they made their way to the desert.
At the border in Caravan Ribet, they met up with two trainee Matras who had been assigned to Cyno to work this case. Generally Cyno disliked working with amateurs but he knew they had to start somewhere and he too had once been there, he could deal with it from time to time.
They stayed the night at the inn in Caravan Ribet and would set off into the desert early the next morning. The two rookies shared a room and Cyno and Tighnari shared the other room.
“Two new rookies this time then?” Tighnari asked as he took off some of his layers ready for bed.
Cyno sat on the bed and watched.
He nodded. Mesmerised by his boyfriend. The weight he’d put on was so noticeable now. When they had started dating, Tighnari had never been muscular like Cyno was, but he had been quite slim.
That descriptor did not describe Tighnari anymore, he’d surpassed Chubby, and was definitely fat now. His stomach protruded obnoxiously, his hoodie had been outgrown and clung tightly to belly and didn’t cover the full curvature anymore as a sliver of skin was exposed below. This was usually covered with his toga, Cyno mused to himself.
As Tighnari removed his hoodie, revealing his bare chest Cyno noticed the vibrant red stretch marks decorating the sides of his bloated stomach and leading into his fat rolls that adorned his sides. The stretch marks must have been fresh with how angry they looked. Tighnari’s appetite had always been massive, but maybe it had been even bigger than usual lately to warrant so many pounds packed on.
Tighnari was beautiful no matter what weight he was, Cyno’s eyes greedily drank in all the new features of his partner’s body. Explored each feature with delight.
“Would you like me to keep our relationship quiet again this time since we’ll be working with others?” Tighnari asked casually, seemingly unaware or just not reacting to his boyfriend blatantly checking him out.
Right, usually if they were working with others he asked Tighnari to not publicise their relationship as it was still his workplace, and he didn’t want to be unprofessional.
Tighnari had no issues with keeping things professional when the time called.
“Yeah, it’s for the best.” Cyno confirmed. He got up and closed the distance between them. “But tonight no one is watching…”
Cyno’s hands reached around Tighnari’s waist. Or at least as far as they could go. This was new, usually his arms would be able to meet around Tighnari’s waist but now they no longer reached. Tighnari really was a lot fatter than he had ever been before.
Cyno felt excitement stir within his pants at the realisation. He placed kisses into Tighnari’s neck and gently pushed the man onto the bed and proceeded to undress him further.
He was so attracted to him, and he was going to express his affection for his boyfriend tonight.
The next morning, they were all up early to beat the midday sun. Cyno knew the rough location of where the perpetrator would be, and lead them that way.
They should arrive at the destination within two days, so they brought camping kit and rations with them.
They’d arrive at the halfway marker by the end of the day if they kept pace.
He noticed the pace of the team had slowed dramatically by midday and he turned to lecture whichever rookie wasn’t training hard enough to keep up and was now slowing down the group… when he realised it wasn’t either of the rookies, but Tighnari who was struggling to keep pace.
Immediately he felt guilty, Tighnari wasn’t a trained Matra and it was unfair to expect that level of fitness from his partner who’d agreed to help him for nothing in return.
He slowed his pace so that Tighnari wouldn’t have to lag behind. Tighnari didn’t complain, but his cheeks were bright red and he was clearly not doing well in the heat. While his ears were a major advantage, his dark fur must have been absorbing the heat and trapping it in. Not to mention all that fatty cushion he was sporting, further insulating and trapping in the heat.
“We’ll take a break, there’s a cave here that should shelter us from the worst of the sun.” He announced. “Drink water, rehydrate. Have lunch.” He commanded.
Tighnari plopped his ass on a rock and sighed with exhaustion. Cyno shrugged off his backpack and handed over food and water to his lover.
“Thanks. I always forget how rough the desert is. I feel like I’m melting.” Tighnari mused to his boyfriend as he opened his lunch pack and started eating.
Cyno sat next to him and opened his own rations. Had he been alone with him he could have rested his head on his shoulder, but alas, he kept his professional distance.
He heard one of the rookies snort to the other one and whisper something along the lines of “what, the desert, rough? He hasn’t been in the desert a full day and he’s already beat. He doesn’t have what it takes.”
If Cyno had heard it, Tighnari definitely had, but he didn’t react. He kept his composure and kept eating his lunch.
“How are you doing?” He asked, so quietly that he knew only Tighnari could hear.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t give me special treatment, okay? I can take it.” He reassured him with a warm smile.
Cyno nodded. He didn’t like it, but Tighnari was tough. He’d be fine.
“Alright, we’ll leave once the sun passes by a little.”
A short while later they packed up their things and set off once more.
At first while they walked together as a group, Cyno subtly admired his partner’s butt. It looked so much more generous than it used to. His thighs too, they looked so wide that it gave him quite curvy feminine looking hips. He also noticed that his thighs collided with each other every step he took. His thighs must have been experiencing chub rub the entire time but if it was painful, Tighnari didn’t show it.
Although the closer Cyno watched his gait, it looked like he waddled a little bit to avoid his thighs rubbing each other, maybe it did hurt?
He wished he could pamper his boyfriend, tell him that he could just relax and maybe draw him a relaxing bath and afterwards soothe the soreness and massage in gentle herbal oils, while spoiling him with kisses, he fantasised.
He admired his boyfriend’s strength so much and he wished he could offer more support. He was also carrying so much more weight than the rest of them combined, he must find it so exhausting. He was so strong to be lugging his own heaviness through the hot desert and didn’t even complain about it.
He knew Tighnari hated the heat from when they travelled alone. Then Tighnari had no reservations about appearing professional. He wondered if Tighnari needed another break. But then remembered that Tighnari had told him to not give him special treatment. So he pushed him on further.
It wasn’t long before Tighnari clearly looked like he was struggling to keep up and was huffing. Cyno tried to subtly slow down the pace further to help Tighnari.
But the further they ventured, the more miserable Tighnari looked and Cyno couldn’t take it anymore and called them to set up camp for the night early. Tighnari looked so relieved. They might not quite have reached the halfway mark but he couldn’t stand to push Tighnari any further.
“We should keep going though. It’s not even dark yet.” One of the rookies grumbled.
Cyno narrowed his eyes at him. “Do you have an issue with my authority?”
Immediately the rookie backed down and shook his head.
They set up the two tents, one for the General Mahamatra and his guest, and the other for the two rookies.
Tighnari flicked his ear and looked up the mountain.
“What is it?” Cyno raised a brow.
He grinned. “I hear something. I’ll be right back.” Tighnari summoned his bow and took several steps away from the cave, aimed at a high ledge above and pulled the string taut, gathering dendro energy in the arrow tip.
After a few seconds he loosed the arrow and a vulture came tumbling down.
Cyno’s heart ached with adoration for the fluffy eared man. He clearly hadn’t lost his touch in combat and effortlessly took down the massive bird that was beyond normal sight and senses. Tighnari always impressed Cyno.
“Good catch. That should be more than the four of us can eat and will taste much better than rations alone.” Cyno nodded approvingly, and picked up the carcass to where the rookies were setting up the fire.
They all gathered around the fire, the rookies started preparing the bird for cooking when Tighnari stepped in. “Here, let me.” He gently took the bird from the rookies’ hands and showed them carefully how to separate the edible parts from the non edible parts and how to properly prep the bird.
“Then if you hold back the wings like this, you can tie them together so they roast evenly on the fire and don’t turn to charcoal before the rest isn’t cooked.”
Cyno was always amazed how good Tighnari was with youngsters. Although these trainee Matras were adults, Tighnari was soft and patient with them, expertly sharing his knowledge.
It reminded Cyno of how good Tighnari was with Collei too. Being firm enough to assure her of her own independence and abilities, yet soft enough to not crush her and instead gently support her and empower her.
It was a delicate balance that Cyno admired Tighnari for. Cyno had never been good at being soft, whenever he tried lightening the mood with humour it never exactly landed the way he expected it to.
Once the meat was cooked they all tucked in. The vulture was massive, it was more than 4 people could usually eat on their own, so Tighnari helped himself to seconds and thirds to ensure that they wouldn’t waste any of the bird.
The next day they set off in the early hours of the day to avoid the intense hours of the sun the best they could.
After walking for a few hours, Tighnari stopped.
“I hear something up ahead.” He paused to listen closer. “…but I also hear something to our left.”
Cyno stopped. “What do you think it is?”
“I’m not sure, the left sounds like it could be our target, heavy footsteps, a slight metallic sound, could be armour? Definitely only one person.” He looked ahead to focus on those sounds.
“Ahead I just hear voices. They’re not moving.”
Cyno considered the new intel. “We should check out both, so neither is alerted by the other’s capture. We’ll split up, I’ll take one of the rookies and you take the other. Since the left sounds more like our target, I’ll take that one and meet up with you at the second location.”
Tighnari nodded. And the group split up.
They traveled for a few minutes before the voices Tighnari heard suddenly went quiet. “That doesn’t bode well…” he murmured to himself. Continuing in the direction that they came from initially.
The rookie walked beside Tighnari and was constantly scowling at him.
What was his problem? He’d been cold the whole trip. Tighnari decided to ignore it and pay it no mind. Perhaps the kid was just socially awkward.
“Why are you so fat?” The rookie asked.
Tighnari blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected such a blunt question.
He sighed. “Well that’s what happens when you love to eat and have a slow metabolism.” He didn’t know why he was even entertaining his question.
“You eat too much.”
Really, what WAS with this guy? Why was he so pressed about this?
“Maybe so. At least I like it and it makes me happy.” Tighnari shrugged.
“You like it? Being so unhealthy?”
“I am healthy, I eat a nutritious diet and work as a Forest Ranger so I get exercise too. Just because my body stored a lot of fat doesn’t mean I’m inherently unhealthy.” Tighnari rolled his eyes, clearly the rookie was woefully uneducated on the topic of health and was speaking from a place of learned fatphobia.
“It looks gross though. How can you stand to see yourself in the mirror? Your belly is literally jiggling with your every step.”
“I don’t usually care about something as trivially vain as that. Besides my partner doesn’t mind and loves me regardless of how much I weigh.”
“Partner? Who on Teyvat could ever love someone as fat as you? I doubt they’re real, or maybe they’re lying to you and just pity you.”
Tighnari snorted. If only he knew. This rookie acted like a weirdly obsessed teenager. How did someone with so much internalised fatphobia manage to become a Matra?
“Wait.” Tighnari suddenly stopped in his tracks, hearing something shift in the sand around them.
“I’m not waiting so your lazy fat ass can take yet another break. I don’t know why The General Mahamatra is being so lenient-“ the rookie was cut off when suddenly eremites launched out from the sand dunes.
“It’s an ambush!” Tighnari shouted, immediately tossing his Vijnana Stormheart mine and began firing dendro infused arrows. The rookie had no Vision so couldn’t react with his dendro, but still had fighting skills to hold his own.
In times like this, he felt Cyno’s absence, Cyno’s electro vision meant that together they reacted and were so much stronger than they were individually. Fighting side by side with Cyno was a delight.
A short while later and they’d cleared the Eremites. Tighnari sat on the sand to catch his breath. Lugging around so much weight made it very exhausting to fight.
“Guess we found the source of the sounds, huh.” Tighnari mused, breathing heavily.
The rookie rolled his eyes as he sat down too. “No thanks to you.” He muttered so quietly he clearly didn’t intend for Tighnari to hear.
“Okay then. Guess we just wait for Cyno to catch up then.” He shrugged ignoring the rookie’s snide remarks.
A while passed before Cyno turned up. The warm affection in Cyno eyes when he saw Tighnari made Tighnari want to leap up and hug him but he held back to honour his request of keeping their dynamic professional while on the job, and merely wagged his tail instead.
They had an extra person on tow with them. “We got him.” Cyno smiled. “Good job on hearing him, we would have missed him again if it wasn’t for your ears.” He reached over and gave the fluffy ears a pet.
Tighnari wagged his tail with affection. “Happy to have been able to have been some use to you!”
“You’re always useful, not that you need to be.” He smiled, but Cyno’s smile soon dropped when he saw a slash on Tighnari’s arm.
“What happened? You okay?”
“The other sound was a small Eremite ambush but they were easy to deal with, nothing I haven’t faced before. I didn’t realise one of them had gotten a hit in, I’m not as agile as I used to be.” Tighnari softly laughed.
“It’s his fault!” The taller rookie growled at Tighnari. “His footsteps are so heavy, he must have attracted them as a target!”
Tighnari brushed off the sand from his clothes. “I don’t think that’s likely, they must have been camping here waiting to ambush because I didn’t hear them run or walk here.” he sighed.
“Why are you even here? You only slowed us down, you’re untrained and clearly way too fat for this job. You shouldn’t try to survive in the desert if you’re a spoilt lard ass.” The rookie spat in frustration.
Before Tighnari had a chance to sass the kid, Cyno stepped forward.
“That’s ENOUGH. Matra or not, do you dare speak to my partner that way!” Cyno growled.
Tighnari snorted with amusement. So much for keeping their relationship a secret then.
“Partner…? But he’s not Matra?”
“Not Matra. My boyfriend. I really don’t appreciate you disrespecting him.” He scowled.
The rookie looked as if Cyno May as well have grown a third head.
“…Oh, is this one of your jokes? You’re so muscular and fit, you could literally pull anyone, there’s no way you’d be with this repulsive slime shaped dog.”
Tighnari subconsciously touched his own stomach. It stuck out and was so rounded, perhaps it was slime shaped, he really had put on so much weight, huh.
“He’s disgusting, all that icky fat, you’d have to beg him to stay covered up at all times, not that it’d help”
Cyno’s fist landed in the rookie’s face. “I said don’t you dare disrespect him! I would never joke about my love for him.”
The rookie clutched his face, betrayed. The punch while thrown in anger had still been carefully controlled to not actually hurt him more than the shock of being struck. “Do you not notice how fat he is? I don’t understand? You could do so much better than him?”
“So much better, than HIM? He could do so much better than me! No one else is so kind and patient, yet strong and resilient and never lets anyone walk over him. He has so much tenacity and courage, and the educated wisdom to back up his convictions. I love everything about this man, from the way he can’t help but to cutely info dump about his passions, to the way he interacts with our basically adopted daughter, making her feel special. He’s helped so many people in the forests and fights against the withering every day. He’s so important to the entire eco system of Sumeru! And he STILL takes the time to come assist me when I require his heightened senses. I am so truly lucky to have Tighnari.”
The rookie paled. “But, personality can only go so far if you’re actively repulsed!”
“Repulsed? There’s not a detail about him I don’t love! His fluffy ears and tail are so soft and comforting. He lets me stick my hands in his fur when I’m cold. And I don’t know why you’re so caught up on fat, but I love that about Tighnari. His squish is such a delight to hold, his pudgy belly is the comfiest pillow, and his thick thighs—“ Cyno stopped himself and started blushing, thinking about Tighnari’s body in detail was arousing him, he definitely needed to stop there.
“Forgive me, I am not being professional. We’ll make our way back as we have our target. I will be reporting your foul behaviour to the akademia. This attitude is not tolerated. If you value your future as a Matra, I suggest you don’t make any more degrading remarks.”
“I…!” The rookie started. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have said any of it if I had known he was really your boyfriend, I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”
Cyno narrowed his eyes. “The fact that we are romantically involved should have been irrelevant. Tighnari did us a service coming out here and not even being paid for his time, and all you cared about is his weight? You need to work on your attitude and outlook on life if that’s what you prioritised. You will not make it far as a Matra with such close mindedness.”
After they’d brought the runaway ex-scholar to the akademia, Cyno returned back to Gandharva Ville to check in on his boyfriend.
Tighnari had returned back to Gandharva Vile first, while Cyno had gone back to the Akademia to hand in their target and file the reports.
Tighnari looked at himself in the mirror in his bedroom for the first time in months. Sure he knew in the last year or so he’d slowly been gaining weight. But it was at such a slow pace he didn’t really care.
But now he looked closely, he hadn’t just gotten chubby, but he really was truly fat. Way more fat than he possibly realised. He blushed with embarrassment for not having noticed sooner.
He’d had to upsize his clothes several times but he never really thought much of it. It already looked like his current clothes were getting too small too with how they didn’t actually cover his entire belly, and a considerable amount hung out below the hem.
He took off his too tight hoodie.
His belly really did stick out. Like he’d eaten a whole slime, his mind provided unhelpfully.
He lifted his stomach and released it, watching how it bounced and jiggled like jello.
Archons he really had let himself go. He sighed. Maybe it really was time to start a diet? He’d never cared enough beforehand but…
“You look beautiful.” Cyno’s voice came from the doorway.
“Cyno! You’re back!” Tighnari joyfully exclaimed and ran over to him to hug him. “I missed you.”
He felt how his squishy belly pushed into Cyno’s rock hard abs. They were nothing alike, causing Tighnari to blush. He didn’t know why, but their size difference did things for him.
“I haven’t seen you for one day; I missed you too!” Cyno joked sincerely.
Cyno gently guided Tighnari to his bed. “Need help disrobing?” He remarked over his boyfriend being half naked already.
He pushed the dog boy down on his back and peppered his belly with soft kisses.
“Do you really not mind my weight? Even if it’s so different to what I was when we first dated?”
Cyno looked up at him.
“Why would I ever mind that there’s even more of my beloved to express my affection on?” He trailed his kisses to Tighnari’s love handles.
“I love how cushioned you are. To me it says you’re happy and well looked after. I know you love food, and so it says that you’re enjoying yourself. It makes me want to feed you even more, until you can’t eat another bite. I want to be able to rub your overfilled stomach and look after you.”
Tighnari’s face blushed deep red at the thought of what Cyno was implying. To be spoiled like that by him..! The fantasy of it caused activity in his pants to stir.
“I… actually keep food in here if you want to actually do that.” He looked away sheepishly.
“Alright, get comfy. Where do you keep it?”
“In the mist flower cabinet.”
Cyno got off the bed to look, and sure enough it was filled with various treats. It was really no wonder that Tighnari got so fat eating this much food on a daily basis. He grabbed several things and brought them to the bed. Tighnari was laid on his back looking cosy as ever.
He started with with the savoury dishes and put bite size pieces into the other boy’s mouth. Tighnari clearly enjoying each bite. Soon it was all finished and Cyno moved onto the sweet foods.
About an hour had passed of just stuffing Tighnari full of various dishes and treats.
Tighnari moaned in pain. “I can’t eat anymore.” Cyno nodded and neatly put the rest back away.
Gently Cyno began to massage the other’s over engorged gut, which already looked big before but now looked considerably even more massive and heavy.
“I think… we over did it.” Tighnari hiccuped, sparking pain to shoot in his stomach.
His stomach growled wildly as it struggled to even begin digesting the sheer ridiculous quantity of food that had been shoved down his throat.
“Then let me help.” Cyno smiled affectionately and gently massaged the overstuffed stomach. Rubbing in deep circles.
“Ugh… that feels good, that’s helping. Thank you.” He stifled a burp as gas was worked free.
“You’re welcome. I hope you know that you’re loved.” Cyno enjoyed spoiling his man.
“Oof, I definitely feel loved, thank you, gosh what did I do to deserve you? I love you so much too.”
“I ask myself the same thing, you’re so special, I consider myself so lucky to have you. Thank you.”
Cyno kissed his plump bloated tummy, then continued kneading the squish to assist its digestion.
Steadily through exhaustion of digesting so much food took Tighnari to sleep, with Cyno cuddling him. Cyno loved his man so much and wanted to spoil him over and over.