#i didn't go into their Akademiya years in this but I imagine ot was a Time

[isnt-it-pretty]

Okay but imagine a Cyno & Kaveh childhood friends AU

(References to both their backstories)

Cyno was a shy child, small and traumatized. He followed around Cyrus like a shadow, clinging to robes and also looking a second away from running. It was concerning. He needed to be socialized, but it wasn't as if Cyrus could stick him in the Akademiya children's program and tell him to sink or swim. (Well, he could. Cyno would survive it, but he wouldn't make friends. If anything, it would only serve to isolate him more. Children are cruel, especially to those who are different.)

That narrowed things down considerably, but then Cyrus remembered a coworker, an almost friend. He worked with a Rtawahist scholar with a son around Cyno's age. The man and his wife were extremely kind people who loved their son dearly, which made Cyrus comfortable with letting them be around Cyno.

Kaveh is so eager to meet a new friend that leading up to the visit, he has to be told to calm down the excitement. Cyno is shy and easily startled, so Kaveh has to remember to keep his voice down and his hands to himself because Cyno doesn't like being touched.

The meeting doesn't go badly. Kaveh and his parents come over to Cyrus' house, and Kaveh immediately zeroes in on where Cyno is half-hidden behind Cyrus, but he remembers to stay calm. He asks quietly if Cyno would like to see his drawings and Cyno (with Cyrus' encouragement) nods.

They end up sitting next to each other as Kaveh goes on long rambles about each of his drawings. Most other children don't care, but Cyno is very good at listening and is content to let Kaceh talk enough for them both. On Cyno's end, Kaveh doesn't get angry or think he's weird for being so quiet.

That's the start of their lifelong friendship. They go to each other's houses, share goals and stories. They're friends, like normal children. It's as normal as Cyno has ever been.

Then, a couple of years later, Kaveh's father dies. Cyno sits next to him on the couch while Cyrus tries to comfort Kaveh's distraught mother in the other room. Cyno has never been good at talking, at comforting-- it's usually Kaveh who does that, but Kaveh is ghostly and silent. So Cyno reaches for his hand and leans closer until their shoulders bump, because what else is there to do?

(Kaveh doesn't cry around his mother, but he does around Cyno. Curled up in each other's beds, he sobs into Cyno's shoulder and says it's his fault his father is dead. He never quite believes it when Cyno says it isn't true.)

Even now, Cyno still remembers the guilt and sadness that clung to Kaveh (he worries, too, because he knows it's still there, buried deep beneath the mask Kaveh wears.) Meanwhile, Kaveh still remembers Cyno as that traumatized kid who flinched at loud voices like he expected to be hurt.