#also whats up with trevilles hair and beard he looks really different

[capaldiera]

starting s2 i miss the cardinal and louis looks soooooo bad <3 i ❤️ vague attempts at period accuracy

[veneataur]

This is late because I was on the road today traveling back home. But I did get it done and I’m okay with it. This one concerns the Savoy incident, though it’s not called Savoy and Treville had no role in it. Aramis was a Navy Seal in Afghanistan for the Savoy incident, which also plays out differently. And this features another one of Treville’s kids: 4-year-old Ben. Meg isn’t born at this time. Hopefully, the timeline makes sense.

Just a couple notes on the warnings. There is some mention of panic attacks and mass killing. They are not direct references and are from the understanding of a child, so it’s not graphic.

Prompt: Withdrawal

Fandom: BBC’s The Musketeers

Title: A Child’s Curiosity

Ben is bored after lunch. Tim doesn’t want to play games with him or go out in the snow. As happens to many four-year-olds, boredom easily turns to curiosity. The den he likes to play in has been shut to him for the last couple weeks with only his parents and a doctor going in. He knows there’s a man in there. Ben remembers him showing up a couple weeks ago. He looked like the people he sees on the street asking for money. But dad took him in without question. He even looked like he was going to cry. Dad didn’t but the other man did. He still does.

During the night Ben often hears him scream and cry. Dad’s always running down the stairs to go to the man. It doesn’t always help but if anyone can make the man feel better it’s dad.

He’s been told several times to stay out because the man needs his rest. He’s been really sick, dad said and needs time to recover away from people. But today, Ben is bored and curious and the door is cracked open. Mom forgot to close it after leaving the tray of food. Ben overheard his parents talking several days ago. The strange man didn’t want mom coming into the den. Ben doesn’t understand why. Mom always makes things better, especially when you’re sick. But mom was crying that night and dad said it was for the best to just do as the man wanted. He’s “had a rough time of things”, whatever that means.

Ben peers through the crack. Every light in the room is on as is the TV. The man, with short hair and a pale face, is staring straight at him from the armchair at the opposite end of the room. He had long, knotted hair and a big beard when he came but they cut it all off. He looks scared and worried but also tired. Ben slowly pushes the door open. The creak it makes, makes the man jump and his breathing picks up, but he doesn’t say anything. He just sits there, watching Ben without blinking. He’s still wearing dad’s old clothes because his were smelly and torn. They are big on him.

“Hi,” Ben says cheerfully.

The man doesn’t make a noise.

“My name is Ben. What’s yours?”

Silence.

Ben waits what feels like minutes for a response. When the man doesn’t say anything, Ben climbs onto the couch, sitting on the far end back against the armrest, with his knees bent, socked feet resting on the couch. He watches and waits. The man looks really tired and thin but he doesn’t look sick like dad said. He looks sad like Mr. Carwer looks because Mrs. Carwer died. Ben thinks the man’s a grown up but he looks like some of the older kids on the bus.

“I’m bored,” Ben says. “Tim won’t go out and play in the snow with me. Do you want to?”

The man’s eyes go wide and he pushes back into the chair. His breathing picks up again and he coughs. There’s a funny squeaking sound to each breath.

“I guess not.” Ben can’t help the disappointment. They sit there for a while longer, the man squeaking with each breath but he doesn’t look so scared anymore.

“What do you want to do?” Ben tries again but the man doesn’t say anything. After a while, Ben leaves, closing the door to a crack again.

The next day, Ben goes back after lunch again. He tries again to talk to the man, but he doesn’t say anything. Ben sticks around longer this time, watching whatever comes on the TV with him and talking about it. The man doesn’t pay attention to the TV but keeps the constant lookout.

After a couple hours, he leaves before he can get caught. But that night, he comes back when dad is talking with the man. He peaks through the crack in the door again, watching as dad talks and helps him with his breathing. The man has a lot of trouble breathing and coughs a lot.

When he returns on the third day, at his normal time, he brings some crayons and his favorite coloring books.

“Hi,” Ben says, remembering how his dad greeted the man. He’s still sitting in the armchair, watching everything. “Mom says it’s too cold to go outside today, so I brought some of my coloring books.”

Ben moves some things to the side of the coffee table and sets out his books and crayons to start coloring. He talks about different things. He tells the man about school, about Tim, about what he wants for Christmas.

“Mom’s going to have a baby,” Ben says. “She keeps saying she wants a girl, but I don’t want it to be a girl. Girls are gross. Dad says we won’t know until the baby is here.”

Ben stops talking when the man starts coughing and can’t stop. The squeaking sound is getting stronger. He looks back at the man who has his eyes fixed on the TV. There’s some news story about some soldiers dying somewhere Ben can’t recognize.

“Hey, you okay?” Ben walks over to the man. It’s the closest he’s gotten to him but the man doesn’t see him. He reaches out to touch the man’s arm, which makes them both jump. The man tumbles out of the chair landing in a loud heap on the floor. Ben falls back against the couch. It startles him for a moment then he gets back up to walk over to the man, who is really breathing hard and mumbling.

“No, no, no, no,” the man repeats the same word in a mindless mantra. It’s broken up by his loud breathing and the squeaking noise. Ben finds the red thing he saw dad use to help the man.

“Here.” He holds it out, hoping the man will take it. When he doesn’t, Ben pulls his hand back and moves to sit next to the man. He’s close enough that their bodies are just touching and he can feel the man’s body shaking. It all scares him and he thinks he might have to call mom but he doesn’t want to leave the man alone. He looks terrified like there’s a monster in the room.  

“You gotta use this.” He holds up the red object again. “Please.”

The man looks at him, face red, eyes wide. Ben takes the cap off and puts it in the man’s hand. He stares at the object, then at Ben, breathing heavy still. Ben pushes the man’s hand up to his face. He doesn’t know how it works, but he knows it has to be in the man’s mouth.

“Please,” Ben says again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just wanted to help. Don’t die, please.” Ben is nearly in tears, pleading with the man.

After another moment, the man takes control of the object, pushing down on the top. They wait, listening to the TV and the man’s breathing as he uses it again.  After several moments, the man seems to be breathing better.

“You okay?” Ben gives him a concerned look.

The man hesitates before giving a slow nod, breathing out, slowly, evenly.

“Good. You scared me.”

The man gives him a confused look.

“I know dad said you’re sick but you’re still fun to hang out with. You’re not sick like I thought. You just look really sad, like you could use some company. I know Mr. Carwer was sad when Mrs. Carwer died because he’s alone now. He’s always happy when we go see him.”

The man doesn’t speak still, but Ben can feel him relax some. They sit there for a while longer, mostly in silence.

“Aramis,” the man says, voice dry and low.

“Huh?”

“That’s my name. It’s Aramis.” Aramis looks directly at him. He still looks sad.

“Ben, you’re not supposed to be in here,” dad says, walking in quickly to pick him up. “Sorry, Aramis. Sarah fell asleep and Tim forgot to check on him. I hope he didn’t disturb you.”

“He’s fine,” Aramis says quietly. “Ben can stay, if he wants.”

“Are you sure? I know how you’ve been about kids lately.”

“He can stay, if he wants to.” Aramis goes back to sitting in the chair.

“Can I stay, dad?” Ben looks up to his dad. He sees him thinking about it and fears that he’ll say no.

“Sure, you can stay. But be careful about bugging Aramis. He’s still sick and needs to take it easy.” His dad sets him back down and Ben goes back to his coloring.

“I know that, dad, but he’s not going to break.” Ben turns to Aramis. “You can color some, if you want. I have lots of crayons and another coloring book.”

Treville waits for a moment to make sure that Aramis is okay before leaving. Aramis may not trust himself with kids right now, but there’s no one Treville trusts more than Aramis with his own kids. He doesn’t know everything that went down on that mission, but he knows that the injuries Aramis sustained were from doing everything he could to protect those kids. And the mental wounds were a sign of how much it affected him that nothing he did saved a single kid that night.

Treville spends the next hour helping Sarah prep for the holiday party before going to check on Aramis and Ben. For once, instead of sitting in the armchair, Aramis is kneeling on the floor by the coffee table, coloring. He’s not talking, but he is inches from Ben and there’s not a sign of tension in his body. That alone is a positive enough sign for Treville that Aramis can and will recover. He won’t be the same but he will come back from this.