#im being hit by the PAIN TM train

[askpsychologistduo]

2020, October the 7th

[malewife-darkling]

Evil Father Darkling headcanons?

So, this is assuming that Alina still grows up thinking she's an orphan as per callstolike's post

The fact that he is both Her Dad tm and Hundreds of years older than her is definitely used against Alina.

Like, "little girl", "young lady", "*miss* Alina" - all his favorite names to call her.

I feel like any Dad Darkling's attempt at parenting is him trying to heal the inner child that was hurt by Baghra. Especially Show Darkling, who when we meet him in canon obviously despises her. I like to think that he would train Alina to use her powers personally. And like, he would definitely push her to her limits, but he would also give her lots of praise. And he definitely would NOT hit her. (If he got her when she was a younger child he would probably ruin her by spoiling her rotten. Just turn her into an absolute bratty monster)

There is definitely a turf war over Alina between Baghra and Aleksander, but the Darkling has the upper hand bc he'd actually be nice yknow? I could see Baghra being nice to try and manipulate Alina to her side but honestly i think she would be worse at it than him.

The Darkling definitely tries to make her hang out with David, bc David is his Son tm and it's only right for his daughter and son to interact. I could even see him trying to encourage a relationship between David and Alina, just for getting David both as like, an Official Son, and getting that much more power over Alina by having her be with someone who is very much in the Darkling's kefta pocket. (Literally everyone but the Darkling thinks this is a bad idea, for the record. David is still clearly in love w Genya)

Zoya would deeply despise Alina like in canon, bc what is this New Girl that is taking all of Darkling's attention (no it doesn't matter that she's literally his daughter), and she'd be dropped by him in a heartbeat. Ivan would try to be nicer than he is in canon, but I imagine Alina still kind of hates him. She also doesn't understand why he's being nice to her until someone (Genya) points out "Alina he's literally dating your dad"

Alina and Fedyor adore each other. He definitely takes on a more Dad role than in canon, and I could see her being almost as close to him, or maybe even closer to him, than she is to the Darkling.

There is no way Alina would call Darkling "Dad" right away and this fact crushes him.

Alina: I mean, Mr Kirigan. Mr General Kirigan sir. Isn't there something else I could call you than... Dad? Like for now?

Darkling, holding back tears: How about P-Papa?

Alina:

Darkling, sobbing into his soup: They took you from me before you could even call me Papa, Alina

Now, the thing about Mal:

On the one hand, he fucking hates him. He is non-Grisha, he’s like dust to them, and also Mal hates Grisha and I cannot imagine him standing for his Little Girl having to deal w that 

And yet, Darkling knows the pain of having a parent push away and forbid a love interest. 

So on the one hand, he might outright forbid her from seeing Mal... but on the other hand,  I could see him allowing her to see him, but assuming they will fail bc Mal hates Grisha, and Mal is a mayfly compared to Alina. And she’ll love her Dearest Papa all the more for allowing her this choice 

So, w the way this au is structured, it would work best w Cis Darkling, just so the pregnancy would be able to be an accidental one off thing, so Alina would be able to grow up thinking she's an orphan when her mom dies

But if this was trans Dad Darkling, there are a few spicy possibilities:

I can't see him ever willingly carrying a baby to term himself, bc it would leave him way too vulnerable. Like, I could possible see him willing to as part of some Grand Design for Grisha Good (a Noble Sacrifice, if u will) but not until Grisha are safer

So, this would have to be a very planned pregnancy. Im thinking he could do something with merzost to create the equivalent of a magical bone marrow pregnancy. He either Loves This Person Very Much or this Mom is a Very Powerful Grisha)

But during her pregnancy, two things could happen: either the mom is kidnapped... or the mom runs away. Im leaning towards runs away, for the drama of it all. Maybe something like in canon, where Baghra gives the mom cold feet (reveals the darkling's past, reveals his plans for her child), and so Mom flees to the middle of nowhere (maybe she stays in Ravka bc she figures Darkling will think she fled him for Shu Han?)

Trans Darkling would also use the fact that Baghra is transphobic towards him to his favor. "You know that she likes to lie about me, to spread such nasty rumors about me Alina. You have to take what she says with a grain of salt"

"Baghra humiliated me in front of everyone at the last winter fete, do you really think she's above using her own granddaughter to hurt her son?"

Dad Darkling would still want to use the stag on her, but I can see him bringing up the idea early on. Especially since in this au he’s her mentor-dad, so having a strong, capable Grisha guiding her power would make a lot of sense to her. He could even have her think she was agreeing to it of her own volition.

Or he could even float his idea of using the fold as a weapon to her, and get her in on his plan. He would spin some lie about his wife being kidnapped by Fjerdans or Shu (or maybe he himself thinks she was kidnapped and didn’t leave of her own volition) 

------------------

Anyways thats my thoughts on this au for now. I probably have more. Thank u anon this was so much fun to answer 

[smarti-at-smogwarts]

12 Character Facts-Marti Venturi

Marti responds very well to encouragement/constructive criticism and really badly to negative criticism /reactions. Because of this her best grade is Charms and her worse is potions even after she gets a better handle on how to deal with the latter form of criticism. Teachers have as much an effect on her as how hard the material is. 

 Transfiguration is a mixed bag but it ends up being surprisingly good. The material’s hard but McGonagall picks up on her responding well to praise rather easily. 

While Marti’s most well music preferences  known mirror her brother’s taste ( old rock bands from the time Jacob was around) she acquires a bit of a taste for pop and contemporary music.

While Marti loves using the baby card ( tm) to not get in trouble/get a yes out of her parents and siblings but also...sometimes wishes she wasn’t the very last of three-turned-five children. A lot of the over protection (especially when it leads to her not being allowed to handle things or being told things bc they think she’s too young)  can get grating for her even if she knows it’s tied to Jacob’s loss and so can’t find it in her to complain much. Though she does gripe to Rowan once that “it’s kind of like I have Five people all older than me-count them, five and... if they thought I’d get upset about rain they’d go out of their way to make sure I couldn’t see the sky turn grey and it’s nice I guess but then...then I’d just get wet”) As the plot with the vaults continue she becomes rather selective  with what she tells her dad and siblings about it because of it 

Somewhat related to that, Marti’s dad didn’t exactly explain much about Jacob’s disappearance since she was so young when it happened. He was trying to protect her, and thought dwelling on it would just hurt her. it all led to Marti not understanding why  her brother wasn’t coming back ( or why they sealed his room off for a while or why they didn’t talk about him anymore or why Ed came back from school looking more and more upset every year, or why her mom and dad weren’t talking to each other much unless it was about her and Ed)  but knowing it none the less. 

Ed didn’t talk to her about it either but more because he wouldn’t talk about Jacob period to anyone due to how painful it was. All of this really fed the idea that she couldn’t  speak about Jacob  ( which her dad would never say that but again they don’t talk. She doesn’t ask. He doesn’t say it. ) Rowan was the first person she really talked about Jacob with. 

She adapted really  well to her parents being separated and her dad marrying again. She’s kind of just a really adaptable person. It’s one of her Slytherin traits. 

When she was little ( like a babie ) Jacob tended to respond to her inquiries as to why people might have certain reactions to her dad raising them after her parents split with “no honey, it’s not weird they’re just idiots” and which Ed also did after Jacob went missing when people had similar reactions to their blended family which kind of formed this idea to her  that there was absolutely nothing weird about her family and everyone who might think so were just in the wrong. 

She does pick up on it being something people have certain reactions to though. (”I’m ten Eddie, not dumb”) and because of this almost every time she makes a new friend she sort of....will offhandedly mention “yeah my step-mom” or “yeah my step-sisters are” or “well I visit my mom next weekend but this week I’m with my dad and Nora” and wait for a reaction while pretending she’s not...waiting for a reaction. 

She eats breakfast with her siblings or if not lunch if not dinner ( always at least one meal) and cares very little about being told she should sit with her house like  “what are you doing?” “it’s called sitting :)” “sit somewhere else” “No <3-so anyways Eddie...”

Marti’s dueling style is -predictably- sneaky and a bit on the aggressive side. The sneaky she comes by naturally as a Slytherin and it’s what she’ll always start off on. The offensive/aggressive part of it comes more from the  fact that a lot of her train of thought when faced with an opponent is “im smaller than them so the moment a window pops up to land a hit you take it” which again is sort of...how you think when you’re the youngest of a large family. She tries to disable opponents/end duels as fast as possible. 

She likes both wizard clothes and muggle clothes equally and overall likes bright colors,  and prefers skirts and dresses ( and robes) she can twirl around in. 

[charmspoint]

Ok, I'm very curious. Who is Gojo and what is the anime he's from about? I thought he was a teacher, but now I am not so sure.

Gojo is from Jujutsu Kaisen! He is a teacher he’s just also a huge show stealer in general.

Jujutsu Kaisen is like your standard kid goes to school for special thing anime in this case the main character who was normal(ish)tm until he gets roped into the world of sorcerers whos job is it to fight curses which are to put it simply monsters manifested from negative human emotion. Oh ye he gets roped into it by eating a part of like the most powerful curse out there which is a very bad idea but that's how we roll :)

Honestly im all about this series rn, i went ahead n caught up on the manga. There is so much to every character and as someone for who a show lives or dies on the fact are the characters good or not ive found a lot here. Especially for the girls!!! This is one of those rare shonens that has little to no fanservice and the girls in there have??? Personalities and motivations??? That aren't based around their love interests :0. There's actually not that much romance at all if you don't count gojo n getos tragic love train that's still goin strong n getting worse but girls!!! Like a thing for me in anime is 'if the male characters can get gruesomely injured can the female character or do they have to stay pretty?'and the girls are allowed to get injured! They are allowed to be badasses and they stand on equal footing with their male classmates in a fight!!!! N there is no weird /// O.O a girl reaction from the guys they just act as normal as ppl like its so little but so wonderful to see if ur like me and all to used to girls in shonen mostly being there to look pretty.

Im mostly talking about character stuff cuz that's what interests me the most but there's a bunch of cool worldbuilding and even like sorcerer politics n feuds between younger n older generations for ppl more focused on story.

Anyway back to Gojo, ye hes the main teacher/mentor/strongest person guy n one of my fav jjk characters tho i gotta admit i didnt like him that much until i read the manga cuz for me he really shines in arcs that are yet to be animated. Like hes not bad in the anime, its just that he hits his character development flashback thing later on in the manga n thats what i get hooked on. But a lot of people liked him only for anime too! Like he has that laid back goofy personality of someone who knows they cant be beat so they can do whatever they want you know. This is already getting long n i could dissect just gojos character for forever;;; My favorite thing about him is the way in which hes trying to change sorcerer society to make it better and safer for his students (cuz this is a society in which sorcerers die...a LOT) n his complicated relationship with Geto who is (kinda sorta) one of the series main villains and for who gojo is pining so fuckin hard it accidentally ended up kick starting the destruction of japan. This is why u shouldn't leave twinks unsupervised.

All in all jjk is 10/10 even tho it brings me emotional pain n i HIGHLY rec both the anime n the manga (tho manga more if u wanna know more about gojo in particular)

Im sorry this got so long i could rant about jjk for forever but i hope i answered this well!

[thirstygirlclub]

A Boy Named Box - Part Two (2)

KozikxGayMale!Reader

(this is my second time writing this. i had finished this, all done, until my internet crashed and i lost all of it. hopefully, this one will be as good as the lost part.)

(the second part of a request from an anon! where the reader is Juice’s twin brother that moved away from Queens to Charming for a new start and falls for a certain sandy haired son)  

also this part is dedicated to @marcus-demitri455 and @samcro-saint99 who were so lovely when i was so heartbroken about this, love you my angels! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

p.s legit thought that this was only going to be 3 parts max but I didn’t factor in the fact that i always get carried away and that this is all so cute that it is consuming me more than i ever thought possible? so this is going to be part 2 of 4 (for now but knowing me i’m going to turn it into a whole McFreakin’ book or some shit)

WARNING: CONTAINS CUTE STUFF

Tig was trying to rile you up, you knew he was, but that didn’t stop you giving him exactly what he wanted. You grabbed him by the front of his kutte and you couldn't give a shit about disrespecting the leather and sons of Anarchy colours when he was disrespecting you like he was. You had had enough of your sexuality being the butt of all of his jokes. You knew he was joking and he didn’t mean it, not really, but that didn’t stop it from offending you. Juan was getting sick of it too but he let you fight your own battles now you were both adults.

“Say that again,” you hissed lowly, “you bastard.”

“I said,” Tig said loudly with a laugh, “I’m not gonna let a gay kid beat me in the ring. Unless you’re scared-”

You bashed him roughly against the brick wall of the work bay while he grappled at your hands and work shirt; trying to get you to release him but his attempts proving fruitless. His eyes showed panic and pain, there was blood running from his nose and down his chin from where you had punched him to try and get him to shut up. Despite the expression on his face, he laughed as you were wrenched away from the older man. 

You struggled against Kozik’s grip. He had pulled your arms behind you, almost like a police grip, and was pulling you away. Even though he was strong, he was struggling to do so. Kozik practically threw you into the parking lot then pushed you back by the chest when you had rounded on him to get back to Tig.

“That’s enough!” Chibs commanded from where he had been watching the brawl and walking over to you, “Stop this now. You know he doesn’t mean it!”

“I don’t give a fuck if he means it or not,” you growled at the Scottish man, “I’ve had to deal with that shit all my life. I’m not dealing with it here, get it?”

“Alright, alright,” Chibs sighed with an understanding nod at you before turning to Kozik, “go deal with that dickhead. I’ll get the kid calmed down.”

“I’m not a kid!”

“Yeah? Then stop fucking acting like one!”

He grabbed you by the scruff of the neck and started walking you off but you fought him off. Chibs let go and put his hands up in surrender but followed you anyway. When you cast a glance back, Kozik grinned at you then turned back to go have a look at Tig’s face. 

“I’m takin’ bets on a fight night,” Chibs told you and took a drag of his cigarette, “first match is you against him. If you’re willing to clear the air in public.”

“If he’s not scared of losing to a fa-”

“Enough Box! Are you in? I’m sick and tired of you bein’ at each others throats all the time.”

“Yeah,” you spat, “I’m in.”

“Right. 2 weeks time, you and him in the ring then all this gets put to rest. Yeah?”

You had been sleeping peacefully, in a drunk and stoned stupor, snoring away when you were woken up by a voice in your ear.

“Box,” you heard them whisper in your ear, “time to get up.”

When you opened your eyes you saw Kozik stood over your bed, with his arms folded and that stupid grin on his face, you sat up with a gasp and pulled the blankets up over your naked body and stared up at him with wide eyes.

“What the fuck man?!” You shrieked hoarsely, “get out!”

Kozik laughed at your now bright red face but didn’t leave. When he didn’t say anything you shook your head in a ‘what the fuck’ kind of way. You knew you weren’t the most attractive person while you were sleeping, especially after a night of drinking and smoking. You hastily wiped the drool off of your cheek and tried to fix your bedhead.

“You know you snore?” He asked with a laugh.

“Yeah, thanks,” you said with a scoff.

“Get up now; we’re going training.”

“Training?”

“Yeah. I bet $64 on you winning and I’m not gonna get it back with that right hook so get up, get dressed.”

He picked some shorts and a black shirt from a pile of clothes from the pile of clean washing on the desk chair to throw them at you. He then stood looking around and the room that you were sleeping in.

“Uh, kinda naked here bro,” you said and held the blankets tighter to your bare chest, “you wanna leave?”

Kozik smirked, knowing he had already seen everything, but turned to leave anyway. Once the door was shut, you checked the time and groaned, standing up and pulling on the clothes.

“Are you joking?” You asked him as you stormed through to see him sat drinking coffee at the little dining table in the kitchen, “it’s 6-fucking-05 in the morning. What is your problem?”

“Gotta get there before the crowds. Come on. Let’s go, we’re jogging to the gym.”

He stood up and hit you on the bicep as he walked passed you and out the front door. You sighed and followed him, stretching and yawning as you went.

Evidently, you weren’t as fit as you thought you had been. You had been jogging for a total of 10 minutes and you already needed to sit down since you were puffing, panting and sweating profusely. You grabbed the back of Kozik’s shirt and braced yourself on your knees before collapsing on some nearby grass. Your running partner chuckled then same to sit by you. Luckily, it was still morning and reasonably cool out.

You had only been in Charming for about 6 weeks but you were already sick of the heat. You were so used to the chillier, grey weather in Queens and you hadn’t yet acclimatised to it like Juan had but then again, he was always a fan of warmer weather. You used to say he was like a lizard.

“Come on Box,” Kozik groaned once you had caught your breath, “we’ve been sat here for 20 minutes and I actually want to get to work today.”

“I still have to go to work after the gym?” You huffed then rolled onto your side and curled up in a ball when he nodded.

“Stop being a drama queen.”

“Who are you calling queen?” You asked venomously.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that! Fuck you’re grouchy in the morning!”

You sat up to glare at him and saw that he was already stood up and was holding his hand out you to help you up. You sighed in defeat, taking his hand and letting him help you stand and you weren’t sure but maybe he held it for a second too long when you were on your feet. And maybe there was that mischievous glint in his blue eyes but you couldn’t know for sure because as soon as you had thought you had seen it he had turned around to run on ahead of you.

Training with Kozik was simultaneously the toughest but most entertaining thing you had done in your life, kind of. You had got a chance to talk to him properly about everything you had been through and it was nice to open up to somebody that wasn’t Juan. As much as your brother loved you, you knew he was getting fed up of hearing about your ex. He would never say anything to you about it but you could just tell. That twin intuition, you know?

Kozik had listened patiently to your worries while you battered the punching bag. He eased your concerns that the guys hadn’t accepted you as yourself and still just thought of you as one half of The Juice Box, that they all thought you were running away from your past, that they didn’t accept you for your sexuality with them being a biker gang and all.

“You know the guys talk shit but honestly Box... listen to me. They love you, alright? We all do besides, we all got our thoughts on Tig. Nobody gives a fuck if you’re gay. And yeah, you’re Juice’s brother but you’re also Box. We get you’re a different guy all together. Got better hair for a start,” Kozik had told you, ruffling your sweaty hair and making you laugh; diffusing the tense atmosphere you had brought with you that one particular day, “and don’t worry about running from where you came from; we all got something we’re running towards. You know?”

You hadn’t been ashamed to wipe away a few tears when he told you that; you needed to hear that and it meant so much coming from him. But as he patted you comfortingly on the shoulder you couldn’t help wondering what it was that he was running to. 

On the plus side, you hadn’t been in better shape for a long time. You were waking up at 6am every morning without needing him to barge into your room and drag you out of bed. He had given you special instructions not to drink, smoke, do drugs for the entire 2 weeks you had been training with him and he had even put you on a special diet. This mostly consisted of you sharing his lunch, normally some kind of salad with lean meat or pasta, while you were working and him bringing you the food for your dinner. It was nice to have someone looking out for you every now and again.

You had a good little routine going too, wake up at 6 then run to the gym with Kozik at 6:30; work out and train until 8 so you were all ready to hit the showers and seeing him in just a towel afterwards was always a bonus, not that you would tell him that of course; he was already big-headed enough. 

The buzz around TM and the club house was electric on the day of the fight. Word had got out that Kozik was training you up and teaching you the way that Tig fought so he had enlisted the help of Chibs. This meant that it was no longer just a competition to see who was the better fighter but also who was the better coach too. The animosity and fighting talk was so bad between the two teams that Clay had to schedule the shifts so that neither team was mixed together. You had tried to defend yourselves and say that it was all friendly but Clay was having none of it.

You had also been promoted to “mechanic’s assistant” which essentially meant you were Kozik’s own personal go-fer boy and he was loving it; he was asking you to get any number of different things that he could easily get for himself. Every time you complained about it, he would remind you that Clay was keeping an eye on you to see if you were worth keeping on the team which would make you grumble but kick him the wrench that was about 3 inches away from his hand.

The sound of a motorcycle drew you out of your angry thoughts and you turned to see Juan climbing off of his motorcycle wearing his Sons of Anarchy kutte and sunglasses. He carried himself differently when he was wearing the vest and you kind of wanted one too but you had a feeling that regardless of how accepting they were as people, the other charters and club rules probably wouldn’t allow a gay man into the club. It didn’t stop you craving the sense of belonging that your brother had found with them though.

You were leaning casually against the front of a green dodge charger, beside Kozik as he was under the hood of the car, as you ate the rest of the blonde man’s chicken salad, when Juan came sloping over to you with his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face. You sent your twin a quizzical look which he returned sarcastically.

“You ready for tonight little brother?” Juan asked you, “you think you’re gonna win?”

“Uh yeah,” You scoffed, stuffing another bite in your mouth, “why? You got no faith in me?”

“Nah, obviously I do. I just mean that Chibs is a good coach, that’s all.”

With that comment, Kozik raised himself from under the hood of the car and stepped in front of you, between you and Juan, with his arms folded and his chest puffed out. Juan tried his best not took look threatened but his small step backwards betrayed his smug face. You peeked over Kozik’s shoulder and smiled around another bite of salad. Your brother looked between you and Kozik with a knowing smile but said nothing, turning to head into the clubhouse.

You knew Juan knew about your teeny tiny, minuscule crush on your fighting coach. Again the twin intuition, but knew better than to call you out on it. 

“You wanna pass me that wrench?” Kozik asked you once you had clipped the lid back on his tupperware tub.

He was pointing to a black handled tool in the tool box. All he had to do was bend down and grab it but he really was loving having you as his personal servant. With a sigh, you bent down to grab it and give it to him but he stood with his hand out stretched until you had placed it in his palm but even then he didn’t close his fingers around it.

“I meant the other one, the one next to it,” he said, that mischievous glint back in his eyes.

You sighed and raised your eyebrows at him before grabbing the other wrench and swapping it for the next size down. 

“No, the other one,” he grinned.

“Are you fucking kidding?”

“Less of the attitude mister,” he hit you in the chest with the wrench you had just given him before turning back into the car, “Clay is always watching you. You wanna be my butler forever?”

“If I don’t kill you first,” you muttered but turned away when you saw Clay peering at you through the blinds in the office.

“What?”

“Nothing man, just saying how much of an honour it would be.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought you said.”

You laughed with him and brushed your shoulder against his as you lent under the hood to watch what he was doing, sharing a look with him before he turned back to his work with a smile on his face.

(legit have no idea how to write guys, i’m sorry!!)

[solangelover]

um id write this myself but im not a great writer... i NEED a fanfic where the nico bean is crying in his cabin because he got hurt during training and its a lot worse than he let on and then the will bean walks in and sees him crying and immediately goes into concerned doctor mode tm and could you please write this for me i cant survive without it

A/N: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. It took sometime to figure out because Nico is tough and doesn’t cry over small injuries.But here it is :)

Read on AO3 or FF.Net or Wattpad

Nico was learning to live at CampHalf-Blood. He was still getting used to waking up for breakfast, though hewould usually skip it if he really didn’t want to care that day. He was stilltrying to figure out why people enjoyed singing obnoxiously at the camp fireevery night.

The one thing he knew he’d always likewas training. Any kind of training made Nico feel good. He felt useful andactive, and he didn’t have to talk to anyone unnecessarily. Nico’s favoritesparring opponents, besides Jason and Percy, were the Ares kids. They had themost fire and trained just as much as he did. Those who were all talk and hadlittle skill Nico enjoyed putting down quickly, the only way to tell a child ofAres that tact and training was actually important.

Any of the older Ares campers usuallyliked to spar with Nico. They were mature enough to appreciate all that Nicodid in the wars and were only slightly afraid of him. Today, Nico was sparringwith Chase, a son of Ares that was bigger and stronger than Nico. Not that thatever stopped him before.

“Pretty good, Di Angelo,”Chase said while wiping sweat off his forehead. They had been going at it for abit, both enjoying the burn in their muscles.

“Same to you.” Nico wasprobably a bit more tired than Chase, seeing as he had to use his speed to movearound quickly. He couldn’t overpower Chase even if he tried, so dodging andjabbing had been his strategy. Unfortunately, that left him tired, and hissword arm had already been hurting before training, probably from avoidingtreatment in the infirmary. It was only to spite Will, who had beenparticularly overbearing that week. Or maybe Nico had just had a bad week andcouldn’t take the nagging. Hard to tell.

As Nico and Chase did their dance fora bit longer, Nico’s weariness began to slow him down and caused more and moreclose calls. At one point, Chase slashed down at Nico, an easy enough move toparry. Unfortunately, Nico couldn’t move fast enough to counter or dodge, sothe sword ended up making contact. He more saw the sword slice his arm thanfelt it as it cut into his skin. Dammit,was really all Nico could think in the moment.

Nico fell back onto the ground asblood gushed out of his wound. Chase almost seemed surprised that Nico fell,standing above him for a moment in shock.

“Oh shit,” is how Chasecleverly reacted. Then he noticed the wound. “Oh shit.”

“Nice battle, Chase.” Nicocringed at the tightness in his voice. He didn’t usually outwardly show hispain, and he had a high pain tolerance anyway, but his arm currently felt likeit was on fire. The moment he hit the ground, the wound began stinging andthrobbing and burning all at once. He’d had his fair share of sword training-relatedinjuries, but this one hurt the most by far for some reason. It had a lot ofblood coming out, but generally it looked pretty typical. Nothing out of theordinary in the training arena.

“Dude, are you okay? That’s a lotof blood there.” Chase looked slightly concerned, probably because hewasn’t used to winning against Nico di Angelo, let alone landing a hit.

“Uh, yeah, no, it’s fine. It’sjust a surface wound. Looks worse than it is.” Nico could barely pick uphis sword from where he dropped it and put it back in its sheath, but whatever.He struggled to stand for a second before Chase offered his hand, which Nicogratefully accepted. Once on his feet, a few black spots danced in his visionwith the amount of pain in his arm, but he managed to stay upright.

“You need help going to theinfirmary?” Funny how Chase assumed he’d be going there. Nico guessed anysensible person would. He probably should.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for thespar.” Nico stumbled over to a shadow and disappeared before anyone coulddo anything.

—

Nico landed with a thud on the floorof his cabin.

“Ugh,” Nico mumbled into hisfloor, “This isn’t the infirmary, Nico.”

In hindsight, he probably shouldn’thave shadow travelled. Now his head hurt and he felt even dizzier than he had atthe arena. He momentarily forgot about the injury and moved his arm to sit up.Unfortunately, he was painfully reminded as a new wave of blood began to flowfrom his wound, accompanied by a sharp sting shooting up his arm. It was sobad, Nico actually felt tears prick the back of his eyes.

He attempted to stand, but he was intoo much pain and his muscles were still tired from sparring.

After lying on the ground for minute,Nico readied himself to move. He carefully pushed himself up with his good armand crawled over to his bed. Using his bed frame, he pulled himself to his feetand stood there for another minute. His head was still spinning and his musclesstill burned, but he somehow made it to his bathroom. He was vaguely aware ofblood dripping down his arm onto the floor, but he didn’t have the mind to careat the moment.

When he looked up at himself in themirror, it wasn’t a pretty sight. He looked paler than usual, making the darkcircles under his eyes stand out. His black hair was sticking to his face fromsweat. And his arm. It looked horrible now. It had fresh red blood all over andsome yellowish liquid as well, which didn’t make Nico feel better. He couldn’tactually see the wound due to the blood, so he knew he had to wash it off.

Nico carefully moved his arm under hissink faucet, wincing as he did so. He slowly turned the water on, letting itrun over the part of his arm without the wound. He lightly rubbed off the bloodaround the cut, finally putting it under the water. He hissed, pain shooting uphis arm. Tears sprung from his eyes as he attempted to clean away the blood. Hewas surprised at how much it hurt since it really shouldn’t be this bad. He wasonly sparring after all.

When most of the blood was gone, Nicofinally saw the cut - it did not look good. It was an angry red color andswollen. Along with the redness, it looked yellowish white inside the wound.Really it just looked gross and Nico had no idea why.

Then he noticed the other marks aroundhis wound. His scars and stitches Will gave him for the scratches from Lycaonwere red and reopened. Which probably explained why it hurt so much.

Well. Will was going to kill him.

As if on cue, Nico’s cabin door burstopen and the son of Apollo marched right in. When he got to the bathroom, Nicolooked up and made eye contact with him. Will saw the tears spilling fromNico’s eyes right away and knew that this was more than a typical sparringinjury. Will’s expression change immediately from anger to concern. His eyeslanded on the wound and Doctor Mode™ activated.

“That wound is infected. It needs tobe treated right now.” Will’s stern doctor voice told Nico that the injury wasworse than he thought.

“I know, that’s what I’m doing,Solace.” Nico’s voice was shaky and not as strong as he had hoped it would be.He didn’t even know why he tried to pretend he was fine. His arm felt like itwas on fire and he was sweating profusely, not to mention his dizziness.

Will took two strides to reach Nico,his eyes never leaving the wound. “You need more than water, idiot. You needmedicine. You need to come to the infirmary. Now.” Then he looked up intoNico’s eyes. Nico could see that, behind the doctor concern, there was realconcern for Nico’s well-being. He suddenly regretted getting himself into thissituation and upsetting Will.

“I—“ Nico began to say something,though he wasn’t sure what, but got cut off.

“The infection is in your bloodstream. Your immune system can’t handle it without help.” Will reached forwardto put a hand on Nico’s forehead before Nico could even react. He didn’t seemto mind that it was wet with sweat. “You’re already running a fever. And I canfeel some darkness in you. You shadow-traveled here didn’t you?” Nico openedhis mouth to reply, but Will didn’t let him get a word in. “You’re gettingweaker every second. We need to go, now. Can you walk?”

Nico nodded, which made him dizzier,and took one step before swaying and almost falling over if not for Will’ssteady hand on his good arm.

“Never mind.” And with that, Willscooped Nico up in his arms, told Nico to hold his injured arm steady, andwalked quickly to the infirmary. Nico didn’t dare complain, one because Willwas in Doctor Mode™ and nothing would sway him, and two because he was weak andtired and this was nice.

When they got to the infirmary, Nicowould’ve immediately passed out on the bed, but Will said, “Nico, please stayawake for a bit longer. I know you want to sleep, but I need to make sureyou’re good before you rest.”

Will gently rubbed a salve on Nico’sarm that made it go numb. Then he set to work, doing things Nico didn’t care tokeep track of. He felt a dull pain, but he was so sleepy and feverish that hedidn’t care anymore. Nico vaguely remembered Will saying that he could sleepbefore his eyes were finally too heavy to keep open.

—

When Nico came to, he felt gross. Withhis eyes still closed, he could tell that his bed was a bit damp from all hissweat. He felt cold now, so the fever must’ve broke while he slept. That wasgood.

He reflexively moved his arms to shiftin bed and found that his injured arm felt okay. It wasn’t perfect, there wasstill dull pain, but nothing like what it was. He did feel something weird onhis arm though, so he finally cracked his eyes open.

It was probably afternoon time,meaning he slept for a while. That happened pretty often when he was sent tothe infirmary for legitimate reasons (Nico doesn’t consider Will’s littlecheck-ups legitimate). Nico looked down at his arm and found it had thisplastic thing on it, almost like a dog cone.

“What the…” Nico mumbled as he satmore upright. That’s when he noticed Will slumped in the chair by his bed. Hemust’ve stayed to make sure Nico woke up. It was both endearing and annoying toNico that Will put himself through these things for him.

At that moment, Will stirred, his eyesslowly opening. When he registered that Nico was up, he bolted up out of hisseat. “Nico! Oh gods, are you okay???” He looked Nico up and down, assessinghis health quickly. He put a hand on Nico’s forehead. “Oh good, your fever isgone. How do you feel? You’ve slept for like a day. Are you hungry? Does yourarm still sting? Does your head hurt?”

Nico was used to this little freak outthing Will did. As a doctor, he’s usually calm, but for some reason Nico alwaysgot frantic doctor-Will. Probably because he always had bad injuries. “Will,I’m fine. Thanks to you. But why do I have this thing on my arm?” He lifted hisarm slightly, glad that it didn’t hurt to move it.

“Oh, that. You were scratching yourarm in your sleep, so I had to cover it so you didn’t reopen the wound. Orshould I say, wounds.” As if Willsuddenly remembered why Nico was this injured in the first place, his demeanorchanged into the upset but caring friend that he was to Nico. Not Nico’sfavorite side.

Nico only smiled sheepishly, awaitingthe lecture he’d known was coming.

“Nicodi Angelo. First of all, you didn’t come to the infirmary yesterdaymorning, or the mornings before that, for your check up on your summerinjuries. I told you that they’re almost, butnot completely, done healing. This thing might not have been so infected ifyou had come in.” Will put his hands on his hips, his anger rising a bit as hereached the next part of the lecture. “Second, why in Hades didn’t you come straight here after the match?? I know thatyou know that you should have. A wound this bad must have hurt a lot prettyquickly.” Nico hated it when Will was right. “You wouldn’t have felt like shitif you’d come quickly. Or accepted Chase’s help in getting you here. Yeah,shadow-traveling when you’re not totally healed was a way better idea.” Will rarely swore, even mildly, and used sarcasmwith patients, so Nico knew he was in trouble. Will just looked at Nico,waiting for him to say something. Probably the wrong thing.

“In my defense,” Will quirked aneyebrow at him, “I had kinda meant to shadow-travel here. I just… missed.” Nicowasn’t trying to justify his actions. That was the only thing that came tomind.

“You’re an absolute idiot. Want toknow why it hurt so much?” Nico nodded. He was wondering about that. “It’sbecause you reopened the Lycaon scratches. Let me remind you that Lycaon is avery dangerous and powerful being, and fighting him could have easily killedyou. So, having reopened those with a dirty sword was not very good for yourhealth. The infection spread quickly, which is why you had a fever and weredizzy. And that’s adding on to the dizziness you already feel from shadow-traveling.”Will sat down after all that, sighing as he said, “I’m just glad you’re betternow. Chase had come to me and told me what happened right when you disappeared.He probably knew you weren’t coming here.”

When they made eye contact, Nico couldsee that Will’s sharp gaze had softened. He felt bad for causing such a fuss.He really had no good reason to, it was just his natural tendency to deal withhis own problems. Now, people actually cared and wanted to actively help him.It was still relatively new to Nico.

Nico looked away from Will. “Sorry. Ididn’t mean to worry you. I swear I wasn’t avoiding you or anything, I reallydon’t know why I didn’t come here… I just… I don’t know.” Nico was looking downat his hands in his lap. Will reached out and gently placed his hands overNico’s, causing Nico to look up at him. Will understood that Nico was stilllearning to trust others. Will gave him a small, understanding smile. Nicoreturned the gesture and continued. “But thanks for healing me. So, I’m goodnow?”

Will stretched and stood up. “Uh, no.You’re stuck here for three days, Death Boy. This is to take care of thatwound, which you will NOT be reopening ever again, and to punish you for youridiotic actions. I swear, I’m gonna have to start monitoring you at all timessoon enough.” Nico didn’t really think that last part sounded too bad, but hekept that too himself.

As Will walked away to get food, Nicosighed, settling back into his pillows. He was going to be here awhile. But, aslong as Will was there, he guessed it wouldn’t be too bad.

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICO!!! Also I don’t knowhow infections work *shrugs*

[cawcawpeasants]

Do you always take some braidshroom scenario ? Because i wanted to asked you a scenario about the return of Nozel in his home after the EOTMS base attacks and Fuegoleon, who have wakes up of his coma, waits for him ? Oh and can we have Nozel who punches Leon ? If you can't see him like this, feel free to skip this.

Okay, first of all, my HEART Q.Q 

Its a bit angsty and all, and Im not that good at angst, and it didnt turn out as Braidshroom as I wanted, but I hope this is to your liking.

And yes, I usually take braidshrooms as long as it doesnt involve death, abuse or something. If I should feel uncomfortable with a request I’ll say so :) And thank you very much for consideration. Thats a very kind thing of you to do

Waking up aftersuch a long time was…strange.

He didn’t feelrested at all, more than that, he was the most tired he’d ever been. It was also quite hard to deal with this new reality. It was for him rather likecurrently dreaming a nightmare than having woken up from one.

The season,the persons around him, himself…all had changed. It was unbearable for him, andhe couldn’t wait to finally wake up.

Wake upfrom this broken body of his.

Wake upfrom the concern of others.

Wake upfrom the pitiful looks they threw at him.

Wake up fromthe dreading certainness that this was his life now.

He couldn’tfathom how one instant turned him from the respected, trusted, strong bigbrother, captain of the crimson lions, rival, heir to the throne and candidate forthe position of magic emperor to the wreck of a man, powerless, hollow, who couldn’teven eat alone without troubles.

Not thatanyone would let him starve, but the faint rest of his pride took a harsh blowevery time someone held his fork for him, cut his food for him or else.

He wasn’t usedto this kind of treatment, he didn’t want any of it. He wanted his arm back, hewanted the pain and the embarrassment to be over. The people around him wantedhim to be relaxed, to have him take his time to recover. But all the while he didn’tknow what for.

His orderwas taken over by his sister, and he doubted that he would look like a goodalternative in his state. He wasn’t sure if he would get the lead back.

Hisrevenge? Taken by the royal knights.

His brother?His family? How could he even look them in the eyes? He didn’t want to hurtthem by having them see him in his deplorable condition. He wasn’t anywhere nearbeing a proud royal, first son, successful magic knight. He was a failure, adisappointment. He couldn’t do that to Leo, couldn’t let him see him like this.

And hisrivalry? Like hell would a man like Nozel still see him as a challenge. He wasn’tstrong, he had no position and his name was soiled, too. Like the Silva wouldspent any second thoughts on him now.

There wasnothing left for him.

Nothing tofan the fires again.

He wasburnt out.

He wasgoing over his days in the hospital, eating, sleeping, doing a few exercises totrain his muscles, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was barely making progress,he got that much from the hushed talks that weren’t even made in his presence.He disappointed more and more people, but the growing concern was sickening himeven more into lifelessness.

He refusedto let his family see him, denied every visit and cut himself off from all newsabout what was going on. He played with the thought of moving away, startingover, but his heart ached badly at that thought. At all he would leave behindhere

He heard amuffled commotion outside his private quarters.

‘Sir, you can’t-‘

‘Please, hesaid so visitors-‘

‘Wait-‘

Suddenlyhis door swung open, hitting the wall with a loud bang and he turned his headto look at the intruder.

In hisentryway stood a heavy breathing and very pissed off looking Nozel Silva, followedby a small army of Nurses and doctors.

He seemed inshock, taking in the Vermillion’s state, and then squinted his eyes in anger.His scowl returned.

‘You!’ Heturned around and yelled at the staff. He pointed at the hall he just came from‘Out! NOW!’

Nozelrarely raised his voice, a sign of imminent death, so it was no wonder the othersdisappeared quickly without resistance. Nozel slammed the door shut, thenlooked at Leon again.

‘And you!How dare you?’

Leon justblinked at him in complete indifference, which made Nozel even more furious. Hestarted moving closer to him.

‘Don’t youdare hide your cowardly acts behind your injuries. How dare you do this toeveryone around you?’

Leonflinched. He knew he disappointed all those around him, but to hear this fromsomeone else was …hard.

Nozel stoodat the end of the bed, eyes fixed on the redhead.

‘Do youeven know, how hard it was for everyone these last months? For you men? Your family?Me? What we all did, to find ways to get you to wake up, to get revenge, tomake you proud off all the achievements and growth that happened, because you gaveus all the strength, the motivation? The fire? And here you are, wallowing inself-pity, destroying your self and making no efforts to get better? To comeback? And especially, how dare you refuse seeing us?’

Leon wassilent, he couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at the other. Its not like hewanted to be like this, he just couldn’t help it. He wasn’t worth being aroundthem. He didn’t want them to be discouraged by seeing the man they all lovedand respected was no more than a shadow of his former self.

He juststared. Sadness and shame filled him, sucking all energy out of him, renderinghim unable to speak his thoughts.

Nozel came upto him in wide strides, burying his hands in Leon’s collar. He couldn’t stand seeingthe other like this. No pride emanating from the tall body, no sharp eyes glowingwith intelligence, no smile for his loved ones, no words to give comfort.

Pale, waxedskin, a skeletal body, hollow eyes and the utter sight of loss. He felt likecrying. He wanted to do something to help Leon, but he wasn’t good at this kindof thing. Fuegoleon had always been the one who knew how to cheer someone up,how to drag them out of the hopelessness, and if it had to be by force. Nozelalways admired that talent, just as much as he loved the man himself.

He had spentmonths hoping for him to wake up, done all in his power to find ways and tofind the perpetrators, and then, just as he came back from the mission, he heardthe Vermillion woke up. Unfathomable joy filled his whole body, he got to thehospital as fast as he could fly, only to be met with a refusal. The joy turnedinto red hot anger very fast, and here he was, staring at another loved personhe lost.

Not yet!

He let ofthe redhead.

He took astep back.

And then hehit him on the head.

It wasn’t atrue Fuegoleon-Vermillion-WhackTM but he had the feeling it would dohis job.

A fewinstants went by, filled with waiting, then:

‘What thehell?’

Nozel feltlike crying again, Leon finally spoke.

‘Did youreally just hit an injured man?’ Leon looked at him, irritation at thistreatment open on his face. Emotions. Life.

‘Don’t startcrying, Vermillion. You can do that later when Lady Mereoleona is done with you.And for now, I’d really like some answers’

Leon lookeddown at his lap.

‘Yeah, I don’tthink so. I can’t- I couldn’t bear to see them be hurt because of me.’ His voicebroke at the end of the sentence, and Nozel had to urge himself not to hug theother man.

He placed ahand on the others shoulder nonetheless.

‘I promiseyou, not one of us has ever thought of you as less. Quite the opposite, youfaced a dangerous opponent alone and unprepared and are still alive, even thoughthey wanted you dead. Your strength has never been as great as in the last fewmonths you had to fight for your life. We are all proud of you. And we missedyou.’ Batting his eyes, he added quiet ‘At least I did.’

A newturmoil of emotions filled Leon again, he felt…relieved, lighter, as if all hisdoubts just lost most of their weight. He felt tears rising in him. He missedhis home, and all the people that belonged to it, too.

He grabbedthe man’s hand and pressed it as a sign of gratefulness for his words, that he listened,but couldn’t answer without crying right now.

Nozelsheart made a little jump, he responded in the same manner, then he withdrew hishand.

‘Please letus know, when you are ready. And be prepared, half the kingdom wants to see you’he said before leaving.

At the doorhe paused, and looked back at the Vermillion, who looked way different thenwhen he first saw him today.

‘Ah, Leon?’he asked, using the others nickname for the first time in a long while, savouringthe feel of it in his mouth like a treat.

Fuegoleonlooked up at him askingly.

Nozel smiledover his shoulder at him, something the Vermillion couldn’t help but unconsciouslysmile back a little.

‘Welcomeback! And don’t you dare leaving me like this again.’

Then heleft, the door falling shut behind him.

Leon laughedat the others way of saying ‘I love you, take care’ and prepared himself tomeet his family.

A new startwas upon him.