Chapter Text
Flame was not having a good day.
He thought the first day of Unstable High would be amazing. He was finally going to the same school as his older brother. The school that he had heard countless stories from, both good and bad. It sounded like Manepear had so much fun at Unstable High.
Never would Flame had thought he would be in the principal's office on his first day.
Now, he wouldn't say it was necessarily his fault. Mane had always taught him growing up to not trust end species, let alone end demons. Some stupid history that Flame never really bothered to listen to.
But when he saw that purple end demon, something inside him snapped. He felt his body temperature rise more than normal. Something told him not to just that guy. So he attacked him.
He felt ashamed about it now. Sitting alone in a suffocating room, waiting to speak to the principal.
Mane was going to be so pissed at him. He could already picture his older brother shouting at him for fighting on his first day. A great way to add a reputation to his back.
The chair was uncomfortable, hard and stiff. The air in the room felt tense despite it just being Flame. It felt hard to breathe. His lungs were burning, the areas where he was punched stung. Every time he touched one of the spots, he let out a wince in pain.
"Ugh...That stupid chungus!" Flame growled, clenching his hands into fists.
That's when he heard commotion on the other side of the door.
He could hear something shouting, and they sounded familiar, but the door between him and the shouting muffled all the sound.
Standing up from the uncomfortable chair, Flame stalked over to the door. He was hesitant to open it. What if it was that end demon's parents? Was Flame in that much trouble? Or was the shouting even related to his situation? The amount of questions Flame had ended up contributing to him reaching for the door knob and pulling the door open, just enough for him to peak through.
Through the narrow vision he had between the door and its frame, Flame could seeing the edge of the lady sitting at the reception desk, as well as the source of all the shouting.
𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳.
The air in Flame's body was sucked out of him when he caught sight of his older brother. That familiar head of blond locs with visible lion ears. The eyes covered with a similar blindfold to Flame, only Mane's blindfold was orange. The lion tail that was standing up in anger.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.
This was Flame's worst nightmare. His first day of school, he got into a fight, and Mane was about to drill him a new one.
His life was officially over. This would be etched in his reputation forever.
Flame listened closer to what Mane was shouting about, and that's when his heart skipped a beat. A good beat.
"Are you serious right now!? You're punishing my brother over something that is your own fault!?" Mane shouted at the poor receptionist who looked scared out of her mind.
"M-Mane...Please calm down-" The receptionist tried to speak, but was immediately cut off by more shouting.
"Calm down!? This school is a joke! It's the most obvious thing in the world that different species of demons don't get along well! So 𝘸𝘩𝘺 was my brother placed in the same class as another demon!?"
Flame felt his hands ease on the door knob, his fears dying down now that he really knew what his older brother was shouting about.
Mane wasn't angry at him, he was angry with the school. Flame could totally live with that. Though, he figured he should probably save the poor lady at the desk before she had a heart attack.
Flame opened the door wider to his pretty much empty waiting room, his body coming into view.
"Mane!"
Mane tensed up, his voice dying in his throat as he heard that familiar voice. He turned around quickly, his eyes landing on his younger brother - somehow with the blindfold still on.
"Flame!" He exclaimed, running over to his little cub.
Flame laughed as he was almost tackled to the ground by Mane. He had to wrap his arms around Mane's neck to stop himself from falling over.
Mane held Flame close, hugging his little brother close to his chest. His lion tail curled around them in a protective mechanism as his hand rubbed soft, soothing circles on the nether demon's back.
"I can't keep you out of my sight for even 5 minutes, bro." Mane grumbled under his breath, though Flame heard it perfectly.
He puffed out his cheeks, whacking the lion harshly. "Not my fault! I heard what you shouted at that receptionist..."
Mane pulled away from the fierce hug, looking down at Flame with a hard expression. "It was stupid of them. They should know better." He lets out a small, quick sigh, bending down to get more on Flame's level.
"Are you hurt?" He asks, his voice way softer than it had been with the receptionist.
Flame's eyes track Mane behind his blindfold, his mouth opening for a moment. Nothing came out.
He knew he shouldn't lie to his brother. Mane knew everything. Somehow Mane could always catch when Flame was lying, so there was no use. Plus, he knew Mane would catch sight of any forming bruises later on when they were at home.
"Just a few punches and I think a scratch." He confesses, tilting his head away.
There was an intense silence that passed between the two brothers, and Flame was worried that Mane would start shouting at him too. His heart began to quicken its pace. He refused to look over at his brother, even though he couldn't see the emotion in Mane's eyes.
Mane let out a heavy sigh. He stood back up straight, reaching a hand out to grab Flame's hand. "They couldn't even be bothered to fix you up...What assholes." He muttered the last part under his breath. He knew he shouldn't be swearing around his younger brother, but the anger inside him just boiled more and more.
Mane dragged the nether demon out of the empty waiting room and down the hallway. He was accustom to where the infirmary in the school was. Mane wouldn't lie when he said he got into a lot of fights, especially when he was younger and wild like Flame was now.
He stopped at a door with a small sign saying "Infirmary" on the front, putting his free hand on the door and pushing it open.
Flame was surprised to find out that the infirmary was a lot bigger than he was expecting, though it made sense. Being in a school where all species hung around each other definitely caused a lot of fights as well, which always leads to injuries.
The infirmary wasn't empty though.
Sat on one of the beds was a boy the same age and height as Flame, one hand bandaged up while the other was holding a tissue to his nose. Flame instantly recognised him.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯." Flame thought, his grip on Mane's hand instinctively tightening. His eyes widened behind his blindfold, the flames on his right hand suddenly burning brighter.
He could feel his chest tighten at the sight of the two horns growing out of the boy's purple hair, the demon tail that swished behind him just like Flame's did.
The boy must've noticed Flame and Mane, because his eyes met Flame's behind his blindfold.
There was an intense staring competition. Neither demons moved. The two of them just...stared.
Mane didn't move. He didn't know who the other boy was, but he could tell what type of demon he was. The fact that the two boys were just staring at each other made Mane feel uneasy, yet also glad that neither of them had started attacking each other. It wouldn't matter too much if they did, Mane was pretty confident in his ability to stop either boys.
After a moment of intense staring, the end demon adverted his gaze to Mane. He seemed tense seeing the older lion, his shoulders raised and his tail unmoving. Mane felt a little bad for the guy. It wasn't his fault either for fighting Flame, it was probably just his instincts. Though, Mane still didn't have a huge idea on what happened.
"Hey, let's all be civil for now. I need to bandage up my brother, alright?" His voice was steady as he talked to the end demon, who seemed to calm down just slightly at Mane's words.
The boy turned his back to the two brothers, his focus going back to holding the tissue against his nose.
Mane dragged Flame over to the opposite side of the room, sitting him on a bed. "Show me your injuries, Flame."
Flame swallowed hard, his gaze shifting over to the end demon. The boy wasn't looking.
He slowly reached up to his blazer, unbuttoning it and pulling it off. He lifted his shirt up with a shaky hand, refusing to look at Mane directly in the face, even with his blindfold on.
There were three major bruises on his body. Two to his ribs and one on his chest. The bruising had been immediate, purple swelling against his chocolate skin.
Mane winced as he saw them. He hated seeing his little brother hurt, even if he had nothing to do with the reason why. Well, he somewhat did. He was the reason Flame was attending Unstable High, so the whole lead up to the fight was his fault...
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore his thoughts. Instead, he kept himself busy by grabbing a few patches to place over Flame's bruises. He tried to be extra careful as he stuck the patches on Flame's injuries, though he still earned a few winces from the nether demon.
"Ouch, they really hurt..." Flame whispered, his fingers grasping tighter onto his shirt that he was still holding up for Mane. It was a relief when Mane finally pulled back, finished with his work.
"Those will take a while to heal properly." The lion said, standing up straight.
Flame lowered his shirt, throwing his blazer back on. He didn't bother to close it back up, plus the pain was starting to become more obvious to Flame.
As the two brothers made their way to the exit, Flame looked back at the end demon.
He was still sitting on the bed, holding the tissue to his nose. Flame glanced to the boy's wrapped hand, remembering how he had grabbed nether demon's hand engulfed in flames. He probably burned himself, and Flame's chest tightened at the thought. Stupid flaming arm.
Flame rushed out of the infirmary, followed by Mane behind him.
"Thank you for helping me, Mane..." He said, stopping halfway down the hallway.
Mane's eyes softened behind his blindfold as he tracked Flame's movements. "Anytime, Flame."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "I'll speak to the principal about this, don't worry. For now, just go back to class."
There was a silence between them before Flame eventually let out a small sigh and nodded. "Alright...Bye, Mane, see ya after school."
"Bye, Flame."