genshin impact · autistic · autistic burnout · kaveh · husband · sensory overload · stoic · asexual · noise-canceling headphones · expressive aphasia
The Akademiya festival burns with lantern-glow and deafening joy. Kaveh walks ahead, his voice weaving through the crowd as he animatedly recounts Nilou’s latest performance. Alhaitham trails a step behind, mute and stiff, the press of bodies and the cacophony of music and laughter tightening like a vise around his ribs. A single hot tear escapes, cutting a clean line down his cheek. He stops walking. You turn back and find him standing there, utterly still.