Archive of Our Own ^beta

As Eiden lay in his bed, his mind drifted. He had managed to get the others to listen to him as best as he could. He had recently decided to be more open to them after the accident in the Dead Zones. At first it was hard, and he had cut off talking with the others. Only Hiai had been there as he thought about what he was going to say. He had tried to write it down, but that just didn’t feel right to do. He was always better at thinking these things than saying them. Even now, he was rubbing Hiai’s floppy ears to calm down. Even now sitting around the table felt heavy and tense.

Eiden had asked them to come, to listen. But it was still hard to look up at them. They must have noticed his odd behaviors. But probably didn’t think to ask after everything. And why would they? He pushed them away… But now wasn’t the time to think on that, he needed to say this. “So.. you all probably have noticed some things about me that aren’t normal right?” He said as he brushes one of Hiai’s ears. His eyes fully on the blue fluff ball. When they had gotten separated, he didn’t have Hiai to comfort him. Blade had been good with that, but he still missed him.

After being reunited with everyone, Quincy had pulled him out. Eiden cried so much he wasn’t able to say a proper ‘thank you’. They had found him where Eiden had dropped him. Yakumo had seen the little guy, and remembered how he slept with him. He hadn't been seen without it since then. Now, Yakmo and the others wondered why Eiden was looking more at the bunny. “Ah, Well, yes… Mr. Eiden, you don’t look at us when we speak to you…” Yakumo decided to be the first one to break the ice. He looked at the others for help as to how to continue. Edmond sighed and striaughted up, ‘Might as well…’

“You do tend to avoid loud areas, sometimes even covering your ears. I remember once, someone had made a loud sound in the plaza. You had covered your ears and tried to get us to leave imminently.” He said as he thought on that memory more. Eiden nodded and looked back down at Hiai. “There are times when you also vanish into one of the quieter rooms of the manor. You also lock yourself in the room for hours on end doing nothing. You play with your hair too. And finally, you started carrying ‘Hiai-kun’ with you more often.” Edmond listed off. Then Kuya spoke “You are hiding something from us again young master… Ara Ara… such a dishonest- ``''Enough fox” Quincy interrupted him with glare.

Eiden closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He didn’t want this to dissolve into a fight. He just wanted to talk. He could feel the tension in the air, and tears in his eyes. “Please stop both of you! Eiden is getting upset!” Garu cried as he came over to Eiden’s side. Without missing a beat, Eiden reached for Garu’s tail. Garu smiled as he let it wrap around Eiden’s arm. Eiden settled back down as the two turned back to Eiden. With a nod from both, Eiden decided to just say it as best as he can. “So… back in my world. There was this thing called Autism. It’s a thing where people mainly don’t… pick up social cues and stuff.”

The table was silent, and Eiden took this as a sign to continue. “So, there isn’t a cure and its not a disease. Some people have it, and others don’t. It has varying degrees, someone can have it really bad. Others can have a little of it that it isn’t a problem. I’m one of the more serious cases. That just means that I have more to work on. And I used to have someone in my old world who I could talk to. And it's… Really hard for me to talk about this to you all because I don't know how you’ll react. And I don’t want you all to think less of me because of it! I’m still the Eiden you all know, just with some… quirks I guess.”

Eiden took a big breath as he had started to tear up at the end there. He looks up and even though he is struggling to look at them. He doesn’t see any faces of disgust or anger. He finally breaks and lets the tears flow. “Please.. Please don’t hate me! Don’t leave me! I didn’t mean to hide it! I just could find the right time to and I..” Garu was there hugging him tightly, so was Yakumo, then Blade. Eiden let out a wailing sob and hugged the dog spirit. “I’m sorry I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”, he cried out. Hev needed them to all know how badly he hurt from hiding this. He thought that this would would be better, but it wasn’t

He just needed help… But he wasn’t sure how. Maybe now he could, with them all.

After the clan had gotten Eiden to calm down, they decided to let him rest. Garu and Karu had been the first to stay with Eiden as he slept. Blade and Olivine would guard the room in case they had some problems. The other members all had some thinking to do on what Eiden had told them. No one was mad with Eiden hiding it, they just didn’t know how to feel about it. They actually wanted to help Eiden with whatever this “Autism” was. They wanted to help Eiden, all of them.