Chapter Text
You can’t force Illusion magic out.
Once Matt woke up for school, his bones ached from yesterday’s scandal. With relief, he realized his brother would already be gone- off to assist Miss Lilith.
After the apocalypse, he though Steve wouldn’t be gone doing his job all the time. But Matt just accepts that’s what adults have to do. At least his brother isn’t overworked anymore like he was in the Emperor’s Coven.
Albeit, Matt too was a busy man. Once he had got his internship to help rebuild Bonesburough, He often spent his weekends bossing around people and repairing whatever building had been deformed by the Collector.
Matt had tried to clean himself up as best as he could last night, but fear of being caught flooded the boy, and he was forced to go to bed without applying any healing ointment.
Matt got up defeatedly at the sound of his dads voice telling him to get up soon. He dressed himself, then looked into the mirror. Focus, He told himself. You can’t force illusion magic.
Without ease, he managed to conceal his black eye. Other injuries were beneath clothing so he didn’t worry about that. Even with a lack of confidence, he still made sure he looked presentable before he left.
It’d been a long time sense he knocked off the Mantholomule stuff. He figured he had just done it to cope with the situation, masking his dread regarding the fact Steve wasn’t around and Gus’ troupe had gone missing.
Plus Gus had told him that he noticed it was marker. It was totally embarrassing. He’s trying to grow real facial hair this time around(Gus is beating him to it).
He was almost late for class due to how long it took him to conceal himself. But hey, none of the constructionists knew what was up.
And from there his day went smoothly. Being the genius he is, he found slight refuge in the bathroom during lunch to avoid seeing Boscha, and planned to leave fast after school to avoid being left with anyone after classes end.
….He didn’t make it that far.
After lunch had ended, he dragged himself to illusions. By now he felt a little woosy— He never had used concealment for this long.
Out of all the classes of the day, this one was by far the one he was the most excited to go to everyday, but today he just felt dread.
The boy sat next to his seat partner. Gus seemed to be distracted with illusioning himself an interactive animal, and hadn’t noticed Matt as he sat himself. Matt sighed and brushed himself off, putting on a sly grin.
“Augustus, why summon a pet when you and the human have a shared Titan?” He asked, leaning over to look at the animal. It poofed away as it disappeared.
“Oh, no… Matt, you broke my spell concentration…” Gus complained, tilting his head to look at him. “It’s our assignment for today. Were you not listening again?”
Oh. He guess he hadn’t. Just how tired was Matt? “Ummm, Of course I was listening.”
Gus continued. “Even though I’ve learned how to make interactive illusions for awhile now, it’s nice to practice. Here, I can help you!” The blue eyed boy offered enthusiastically. He was always like this with Matt these days— as if he was mentoring the older boy.
Not that Matt was complaining, but for whatever reason he wanted something different. He banished those thoughts as soon as they came.
“…ffffine.” Matt replied, as if he was annoyed Gus asked. But he was just pretending.
He had only successfully conjured up a dumb snail.
By the end of class, the dual tracked boy was at the brink of collapse. Even though Gus was a bright boy, he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary for Matt.
Until he did collapse. Anyways.
“Woah, Matt—?” Gus gasped, holding him up by his shoulders. “Are you alright? The spells tricky, don’t over work…” He paused, looking disturbed. “What happened to your face?” He asked, worry swamping his tone.
To their luck, everyone was too busy packing up to notice the scene.
Matt squeezed his eyes shut, realizing he had broke concentration. The ugly black eye was on display for Gus to see.
“…I, Uh, ran into a. Broom?” He muttered, slouching over further. Gus looked unimpressed.
“I’m not that stupid!” The other boy huffed. He looked up as the teacher walked through each row of tables. “Mr. Yumaine, Can I take Matt to the clinic? He got hurt.”
Horrible. This was terrible and horrible. As Matt sat on the cot, he thought about how stupid of an idea it was to show up to a class with the best illusionist this side of the Titan. Or. Well… lack thereof Titan.
“…what really happened?” As the builder came back to it, the words swarmed his ears.
What really happened.
He couldn’t say. Boscha may be a jerk, but she probably just got a little carried away. She always did stupid stuff during the apocalypse. Even if her friends are back, the loneliness can’t have gone away.
“…Nothin’” Matt insisted. Gus looked frustrated, but didn’t snap back at him.
He grabbed a healing elixir from the top counter of the clinic and handed it to Matt, then sat across from him. The healer didn’t seem to be in today- she only worked 3 days a week.
Gus sighed. “You don’t have to tell me. I just don’t want you to be hurt. Do you have anymore bruises?”
Matt fiddled with the bottle nervously. “Yeah. But it’s fine. Aren’t healing elixir’s all encompassing?” He said, sipping the glass bottle and setting it on the side table in between the two cots.
“It speeds up healing, it doesn’t solve it right away. Where is it?”
Matt was nearly bashful. “My wrist. And my stomach. That’s it!” He muttered, looking embarrassed. He unclipped his capelet and set it on the cot— His awkwardness worsened. Gus, in turn, folded every article of clothing Matt took off and placed to the side.
“Jeez—“ Gus suddenly exclaimed, once Matt was done taking off his top. “I know I told you you didn’t have to tell me, but…” He gazed at the large purple bruise that crawled up Matt’s stomach.
Augustus was always emotional, especially out of the two. The illusionist looked like he was about to start crying.
“‘m Sorry.” Matt apologized quietly. “Don’t get upset.” The boy advised weakly, shivering at the coldness of lacking a shirt. Gus let out a shaky sigh, then proceeded to apply ointment in the worst looking areas.
Matt winced, and Gus kept apologizing.