Title: Word of the Day v. FFIV
Author: Garnet Eyes
Archived: fanfiction .net, livejournal .com
Last Updated: 26 Feb 2011
Summary: 14 December 1999 edition.
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Cecil, Kain, Rosa, one-sided Cecil x Kain
Author Notes: eschew, transitive verb;
1. To shun; to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful).
Disclaimers: Final Fantasy IV is owned by Square-Enix and I in no way, shape, or form profit off of my writing. This is simply for my own pleasure, and may at any time be removed and/or modified as I see fit.

...

The newly minted dragoon was a bit perturbed and fed up with something that he had noticed and really, honestly didn't like. He waited for a time, just to assure himself that he wasn't crazy, but no, one of his best friends really was deliberately trying to hide from him. And now he wanted to know why.

"Why do you run from me?"

Cecil jumped and whirled on him, looking a cross between terrified and ready to stab him in the heart up until the prince realized who had snuck up on him. Then the younger knight recoiled slightly, clearly uncomfortable.

"I'm not running."

A blonde brow rose, invisible behind the visor of his helmet, but Kain otherwise did not respond. It didn't take long for color to tinge powder white cheeks with a dusting of pink, and the adopted prince turned his back on the older teen with a huff.

"Leave me be."

That type of feminine reaction was far too predictable coming from Cecil, but Kain wasn't going to let him get away with it this time. There had to be a reason for the younger teen's recent avoidance.

"Cecil..."

Flinching, the smaller knight refused to even turn to look at the dragoon.

"Please, Kain."

For a moment, the blonde was left speechless. Cecil had never taken that kind of tone with him before, like he was desperate to make Kain leave. The dragoon immediately recoiled, anger overpowering his hurt that his best friend was trying to be rid of him, and the older knight spit out his words as he turned on heel to leave.

"Fine. I won't bother you any longer."

The day was particularly gray and moody as he walked the parapets, not actually on duty but not willing to be somewhere he may run into Cecil again. Not that he actually would, because Prince Cecil clearly wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

"Kain."

The dragoon nodded stiffly toward the approaching white mage as he replied, his tone a little sharper than he wished it to be.

"Rosa."

The blonde maiden took no offense, clearly having expected some mild hostility.

"Cecil is crying."

That might have meant something else to one who didn't know the bloodless prince, but Cecil hadn't cried once since he'd broken two bones in a single day not long after he started serious training as a knight. That being said, over the years Cecil did sometimes look as though he may burst into tears, although he never did, but at the same time the younger teen took most physical wounds in stride which was really the only reason anyone would ever have for tears.

"He's crying because of you."

Kain turned a chill glare toward his other best friend, apparently his only best friend, his voice low with warning.

"I have only done what he's asked."

He was being defensive and he knew it, but Cecil was the one who wanted Kain out of his life, not the other way around. Rosa frowned, her hands coming up to rest on her hips as she shook her head and sighed.

"Why must you both be difficult?"

The dragoon felt ire bubble inside of him. Why was he always to blame in her mind when Cecil wasn't happy with him? It was as though they were teaming up against him, and it was hardly fair that everything be considered his fault.

"Difficult? He avoids me daily and tells me to leave! What is so difficult to understand about that?"

His waspish response was met with equal fervor on her part, her azure eyes narrowed in her feminine fury.

"Kain Highwind, are you too much of a coward to simply talk to him?"

If there was one thing that stung more than anything else, it was to be called a dishonorable coward. She knew he hated it, knew he would react, would do what was necessary to prove that accusation false; she'd done it on purpose, he decided, as he paced up the final stairs leading to Cecil's bedchambers. Rosa hadn't told the dragoon where the clanless prince was, but she really didn't have to. Kain simply knew these things, knew the younger knight like the back of his hand, and there was no other place that Cecil would willingly be while crying. Others would mock him for his tears, tears trailing from big, doe-like eyes down a smooth, heart-shaped face that was much too feminine to belong to a man.

"K-Kain..?"

Had he not already been grossly uncomfortable, he certainly would have been at that moment as Cecil lunged into him and clung to his chest with a choked sob like some desperate woman. ...Kain really had to stop mentally comparing Cecil to a maiden, no matter how girlish he could be.

"Shh. Hush, Cecil."

But it was a hell of a lot easier to rationalize his own behavior when he wasn't thinking of the prince as just another soldier in the ranks. Kain didn't do comfort, not for other men, and yet his arms automatically came up to settle against Cecil's back with special care that his armor not dig against unarmored skin covered in light silks. Cecil was the exception to Kain's rules, Cecil was always the exception to Kain's rules, no matter how awkward and unusual that made their relationship.

"Don't leave. I-I just, just don't leave."

Kain sighed and closed his eyes, kind of hating himself for so easily giving in. It felt wrong to be angry at Cecil right then.

"I won't leave."

The adopted prince stayed buried in as close as he could get with Kain's armor in his way, and the dragoon stood motionless as he held the younger teen and waited for the tears to calm. He really wasn't very good at comforting others, but he'd always seemed to be enough for Cecil and Rosa, and that was good enough for him. The young prince eventually calmed down to a few hiccups, and the dragoon figured it was as good a time as any other to figure out what was going on; Cecil wasn't going to be running away from him at this point.

"Now, what's wrong?"

The smaller man shrunk in on himself, but did no more than that, still settled neatly against the blonde's armored chest.

"...There is something wrong with me, and I know you will hate me for it."

Of course there was something wrong with him; he acted like a damn woman half the time. But he was still a good man, when all was said and done, and Kain knew that for a fact.

"Cecil, I won't hate you."

Big emerald eyes peered up at him, close to overflowing with unshed tears as the smaller knight babbled.

"You will, though! It... it isn't right. I know it isn't but I can't help it and I thought I could get rid of it if you weren't there, but I don't want you to go-"

The dragoon shifted to gently grasp the slender prince's biceps, attempting to shake him from this unusual behavior.

"Cecil."

Kain was fairly certain that he'd never been so startled in his entire life, and that he'd never be more startled ever after. The younger knight had kissed him. Cecil had kissed Kain. On the lips. It was... it was wrong. That kind of affection was meant for a man to share with a woman. The dragoon took an involuntary step back and immediately regretted it, seeing how completely Cecil drooped, as though his entire world had just ended. But Kain didn't want to be near the bloodless prince right then; he needed time to figure everything out, to decide whether or not he still wanted anything to do with the younger knight when Cecil was clearly defective somehow. Rosa could throw a tantrum for all he cared just then, Kain sure as hell wasn't going to be anywhere near Cecil in the immediate future.