Work Text:
Lloyd laid on the floor of his room, looking at the ceiling. He didn’t want to think right now. He didn’t want to do anything right now. He didn’t want the visions, he didn’t want the stress, he didn’t want anything.
Lloyd wasn’t good at resting, but right now he wore a tank top and sweats, and laid on the floor, wanting the stress and sadness to melt from him. He flicked his tail and rubbed his fingers on a scar on the back of his hand.
Then he heard knocking on the door.
“Come in.” He said, not bothering to get up. The door opened and he saw his student standing there, fiddling with his hoodie. It looked a bit charred for some reason. Lloyd immediately put the pieces together and sighed.
“Hey Lloyd.” Arin said. “Do you have a spare hoodie?” Lloyd smiled a bit.
“Third drawer down.” Lloyd pointed at the dresser and the edge of the room.
Arin walked over to it and pulled out a dark green hoodie. He gestured to Lloyd’s bed, asking if he could sit down. Lloyd nodded.
“Wyldfyre?” Lloyd asked. Arin sighed.
“Yep.” He said. “You know how she hasn’t been eating much, so Sora and I went to give her some food, but she refused, and when we pushed she got mad and, let's just say, Sora’s gonna be asking Nya for replacement clothes as well.”
Lloyd winced. “Yeah,” Arin nodded. “How’ve you been holding up after, you know?”
Lloyd looked away. Truthfully he wasn’t doing great. He had stopped wearing his matching earrings. Just like he had after Nya “left.” But he wasn’t going to worry Arin with that right now.
“I’ve been trying.” He answered. Arin only looked away, and graciously decided not to ask Lloyd anymore.
Arin pulled his hoodie off and pulled down his plain white shirt. Then he didn’t put the new one on, and he stared at Lloyd. Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve got a lot of scars.” Arin said.
Lloyd chuckled. “Being a ninja does that to you.”
He pointed to a burn scar on his shoulder. “Me and Kai were training that day.” Then he lowered his tank top a bit and showed a bite mark. “That’s from a serpentine from when I was held captive.” His tail pointed at a few on his leg. “Those are just from various battles.” Lloyd sighed. “Unfortunately I do have some from myself.” Arin’s eyes widened. “Aw don’t worry, that was ages ago, I’ve long since abandoned that habit.”
Arin sighed in relief, then pointed to a scar across his left arm. “What’s that one from?”
Lloyd looked at the scar Arin pointed to and cringed. “That one is from,” Lloyd wrapped his tail around his leg. “Harumi.” Arin frowned and kicked his legs.
“Have you ever,” Arin thought for a second. “Dated anyone? At least after her?”
Lloyd smiled a bit. “Yeah, I did.” He stood up and walked to his dresser. He opened the first drawer, and pulled out a couple photos and gave them to Arin. “That’s Brad.”
Arin flipped through the photos as Lloyd sat next to him. Arin looked at one photo and Lloyd pointed at the taller man, his fluffy black hair and blue eyes still visible in the photo.
“That's the picture we took on our three year anniversary. It was a few months before The Merge.” Arin turned to another photo. “That’s our first date,” Arin flipped to another. Lloyd laughed. “Nya took that one, she had caught us sitting together on the harbor and took a picture.” Arin stared at the photos for a second.
“You seemed happy together.” He said thoughtfully.
“We were.”
“Have you…”
“No.” Lloyd looked at the floor. “No, I’m not sure where he is.”
Arin held Lloyd’s hand. Lloyd looked at him smiling and squeezed his hand a bit.
“Could you help calm Wyldfyre down?” Arin asked. “She can be pretty scary.”
Lloyd chuckled. “Yeah, let’s go.” Lloyd got up, and squeezed Arin’s hand once before letting go and walking out the door.
____
Wyldfyre laid on the floor of the dragon den. Heatwave wasn’t here so she couldn’t snuggle with him right now. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to, she felt hot. Really hot. And Heatwave wouldn’t help.
Of course she felt hot. She just yelled at Arin and Sora and her powers got out of hand. Course they did. Can’t control them for the life of me. She thought. Kai would know what to do.
NO. No. Don’t think about that right now. You just had a meltdown about that, and you don’t want to have a panic attack or whatever.
Wyldfyre curled in on herself, feeling her body betray her as tears pricked her eyes.
“AGHHHH!” She yelled, putting her hands in her face, as if trying to stop the tears. She took her hands off her face and met Sora’s blue eyes instantly.
“AHH!” She screamed and sat up. Sora stood straight up, panic filled her eyes, but she didn’t scream. “Holy shit Sora.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Sora said. “I just wanted to check on you.”
“Pff.” Wyldfyre scoffed. “I don’t NEED checking up on, I’m perfectly fine, I'm perfect, wonderful, amazing, super totally cool.”
Sora raised a brow at her. “Wyldfyre, you just had a huge meltdown over me and Arin trying to give you food after you hadn’t eaten in two days. You're not fine.”
“Shows what you know!” Wyldfyre countered, knowing that what she just said made no sense at all. “You don’t know me! So you can’t tell me if I’m fine or not!” Wyldfyre crossed her arms.
Sora sat next to Wyldfyre, but she still left some distance. “You're right, I don’t know you. At least not much. But, I can help you.”
Wyldfyre gave her a skeptical look. “How? Have you had a parental figure fall into a strange portal that you know he’ll never come back from so it’s better for you to consider him dead?”
“Well, no.” Sora said, playing with her fingers. “But I don’t need to have.”
“Why?” Wyldfyre asked, a bit harsher than she intended.
“I can get your mind off it.” Sora smiled at her. Wyldfyre found herself wanting to smile back, but pushed it down.
“How’s that gonna help?” She asked.
“Well, you should never avoid your problems, so think of this as postponing them.” Sora stood up and grabbed Wyldfyre’s hands to bring her up too. “And you need to take care of yourself girl. So we’re gonna do that!” Sora started to run out of the room, still holding one of Wyldfyre’s wrists, dragging her with her.
“What?” She asked.
Sora didn’t answer as she led them into the kitchen. Thankfully there wasn't anyone there. Sora let go of Wyldfyre and went to a small cabinet and pulled out a pie.
“Arin made this as a gift for me a while ago and we’re gonna eat it in my room.” She smiled.
“Lloyd said you're not allowed to eat in your room.” Wyldfyre said, still confused.
“Exactly.”
Wyldfyre finally smiled. “I like it.”
The two girls snuck into Sora’s room with two plates, forks, and a knife. Sora cut two slices and they started to eat together.
“Damn, the ninja nerd can bake.” Wyldfyre said. Sora nodded.
“Heck yeah he can! I’ve been having his pies for years now, and I’ve never gotten tired of them once.” Sora smiled as she chewed.
They finished their slices of pie, and opted for another one. Wyldfyre scarfed hers down, but Sora could only eat about half.
“Alright.” Sora set her plate on her nightstand on top of Wyldfyre’s, then she opened the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a brush. “Sit on the floor.” She told Wyldfyre.
Wyldfyre looked at her, a confused expression on her face. “Huh?”
“Wyldfyre, you obviously haven’t brushed your hair in days. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were rats living in it.” Sora said.
“Well as long as you're not surprised.” Wyldfyre said as she sat on the floor, smirking.
“Gross!” Sora yelped as Wyldfyre laughed. “Maybe I won’t brush your hair.”
“I’m kidding,” Wyldfyre said as Sora sat behind her on the bed. “Probably.”
Sora whacked her on the head with the brush.
Sora grabbed all the strands of hair in front of Wyldfyre’s shoulders and put them on her back, then started to brush through the tangles. She was soft at first, untangling Wyldfyre’s hair gently. After a while of Sora silently brushing Wyldfyre’s hair she got all the tangles and just started to play with it. Brushing it, gently massaging Wyldfyre’s head, and braiding it occasionally.
It felt…nice. Really nice.
Wyldfyre apparently liked the feeling of Sora’s hands through her hair, scratching her scalp, and braiding the bright red locks. Wyldfyre felt more relaxed now than she ever had in her whole life.
But…Wyldfyre wasn’t kidding when she said Sora didn’t know her. Wyldfyre had probably called her a friend subconsciously, but they weren't besties by any means. Why was Sora doing this for her?
“Sora?” Wyldfyre broke the comfortable silence.
“Hm?” She responded. She sounded just as relaxed as Wyldfyre felt.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked. Sora stopped threading her fingers through Wyldfyre’s hair, (much to Wyldfyre’s dismay) and set her hands on her shoulders.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“After I had a probably really embarrassing meltdown, you came to help me. You got me pie, you brushed my hair. Why?” Wyldfyre turned to look at the older girl now, making Sora let go of Wyldfyre’s shoulders. “Not that I wouldn’t like to be, but it’s not like we’re super close, so why?”
Sora sighed, and Wyldfyre could see her face flush the slightest bit even in the dark.
“Well, when The Merge happened, I was alone for a long time before I met Arin.” She said softly. “It was really scary for me. I had to find a place to stay all on my own, I had to fend for myself, while I was only twelve years old! I had a lot of meltdowns, and anxiety attacks.” Sora looked at her fingers, trying to pick off the light blue nail polish.
“Then I met Arin. And I stopped having them as often. A few years later I had another one, in front of Arin. He gave me time to cool down, then he came to my room with a pie, and he brushed my hair.” Sora smiled fondly at the memory. “He helped me, a lot. And after that whenever I felt sad or anything, he was there to help and support me. I just wanted you to have that.”
Wyldfyre had sat still longer in these twenty minutes than she ever had before. She was completely engrossed in Sora’s story. But Sora’s answer to her question was unexpected. She stared into Sora’s blue eyes. She didn’t know how to respond as she felt her face heat up. Damn powers. She thought. Then Sora smiled again.
“I also might have just wanted to get closer to you.” She said nervously.
Wyldfyre’s face heated up even more. It didn’t feel like her powers though.
“Whoa!” Sora suddenly said, breaking Wyldfyre out of whatever trance she was in. Sora looked at Wyldfyre’s hair. “Your hair puffed up!” She chuckled and ran her hand through it again. “It’s really hot too. Wonder why?” Wyldfyre patted her hair down like a fire she was trying to put out. She didn’t know why it did that, but it gave her an idea.
“Sora.” Wyldfyre looked directly into Sora’s blue eyes with her own orange ones.
“Yeah?”
“Will you cut my hair?”
“What?”
Wyldfyre rummaged through Sora’s drawer, finding a pair of scissors. “I said will you cut my hair?” She grinned at Sora’s confused face. Sora smiled a bit.
“Why not?” She responded. Wyldfyre sat back down. “What do you want?” She asked.
“Short.” Wyldfyre replied.
“Okay.” Sora chuckled. “I’ll try.”
Wyldfyre watched her bright red locks fall to the floor. Apparently she had a lot more hair then she thought she did. She could hear the scissors snipping, but that was the only sound in the dimly lit room.
“Done.” Sora said after a few long moments. She took a mirror from her drawer and gave it to Wyldfyre. Sora stood up and turned on the light so Wyldfyre could see herself better.
Wyldfyre’s hair was certainly a lot shorter than before. It went just above her shoulders, and somehow it looked brighter. Her bangs had mostly gone away, but you could tell they were still there. Honestly Sora had done an amazing job, but it didn’t feel right. At least not yet.
“So?” Sora asked, sitting on the bed again. “How is it?”
“Missing something.” Wyldfyre replied.
“I thought as much.” Sora answered. Then she took out her own hair. Wyldfyre watched the bright pink locks fall onto her shoulders, and frame her face. Sora had also taken off her head phones, and Wyldfyre could see that she had earrings, a few piercings at that. Wyldfyre felt that strange heat in her face again. Sora took Wyldfyre’s head and turned it to face forwards. She then brushed back Wyldfyre’s bangs, along with some more of her hair, and made a small ponytail at the top with the hair tie she took from her own hair.
“How’s that?” Sora asked.
Wyldfyre looked at herself. You could see the tiny ponytail from the front, and her hair framed her face perfectly. It looked a lot brighter now. It was perfect. She couldn’t contain her excitement anymore.
Wyldfyre jumped up and pulled Sora off the bed to hug her. “It’s perfect Sora!” She jumped in place a bit. “I love it! I love it! Thank you, you're amazing!”
“Okay okay!” Sora said, pushing Wyldfyre off her a bit. Her face was a bit flushed. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Sora, I love it!” Wyldfyre shook her and bit before hugging her again. “I give good dragon hugs don’t I?”
Sora laughed. “Yeah.” She hugged her back. “You do.”
Suddenly the door opened and Wyldfyre jumped off Sora like a scared cat and lit a fireball in her hands.
“Calm down!” Lloyd said. “It’s just us.”
Wyldfyre sighed and put the fire ball away. Lloyd and Arin stood in the doorway. Their eyes widened when they got a good look at Wyldfyre.
“Woah Wyldfyre!” Arin said. “How’d you do that?”
“I didn’t!” Wyldfyre said, then she wrapped her arm around Sora and pulled her close. “Sora did! She brushed and cut it!” Sora nodded.
“Cool!” Arin said.
“Wait, why’re you guys here?” Wyldfyre asked.
“Arin came to my room after what happened, and we were going to try to help calm you down, but it seems you're good now.” Lloyd answered. Wyldfyre smiled. “However, we are gonna have a talk.” Wyldfyre’s smile dropped immediately.
“Aww, whyyy?” She groaned.
“Cause it’s important, now come on, all of you.” Lloyd left the room with Arin trailing behind him. Wyldfyre let go of Sora’s shoulder, pouting. Sora smiled.
“Come on, let’s get this over with.” She said, and started to leave the room. Wyldfyre didn’t notice when Sora took her hand, but she didn’t let go either.