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Creating the skylight has to have been Scott's best decision. The large eye that reminds him of someone he doesn't quite know now is transparent enough for him to see through clearly from his bed. Even through the stains of colour he can see the stars.
They aren't all the ones he's used to—those are long lost to the north—but they give him comfort nonetheless. Being able to sit in his bed, Aurora settled at his feet snoring softly, and stare at the stars in the sky reminds him so greatly of his childhood. Since he could be trusted alone at night, to move, even, he's been sneaking onto rooftops to stare up at the sky and breathe in the cold air. It's something of a coping mechanism now.
Pyro used to join him, when they actually got along. Igna, even, when she was old enough used to sit in his lap and they'd watch the stars move together.
Now he sits alone bar his baby dragon, on his bed staring up through the eye of his roof at the darkness. Pinpricks of light stare down at him in unfamiliar patterns. He remembers the last few nights he spent in Tegrith. He showed Igna his little spot on the outskirts of town where you can see the sky the clearest. It isn't far from their houses and he trusts her with her own safety more than he probably should. Then again, he's the one who taught her to use a knife.
He can almost imagine it now, the small brunette girl curled into the hand-me-down coat he gave her just before he left, staruing at the stars as he is now. He imagines they're both cold, his own room covered in icicles and clumps of snow from mishaps with his magic.
He feels as close to her as he could be now.
She was like his little sister—the girl would follow him until it was time to hunt, then she'd meet with him as he came home—and that's when his vision blurs. He misses her. He misses his little town. He didn't care there weren't many people or much to do. It was home.
He misses his parents. God does he miss his parents.
He's homesick, he knows. He wishes to be back where hunting wolves and the like was something he did with friends. He loves the people he's met here (mostly) but he misses the people he'd been raised beside. Deeply. Owen would be getting married to Luanne soon, and Scott would never see it happen. He'd be here, stuck in this godforsaken academy trying to raise a dragon no one has taught them to even care for.
He sighs an gets up, tucking Aurora back in when she stirs slightly. Getting out of his room is the easy part, as is climbing the small lattice trail he'd put up the first time he went climbing here. Getting up to the roof of their little dorm sector is about the simplest climbing job he's ever done. Standing there now, along and somehow warmer out here in the night air, he lets himself breathe deeply.
This is the closest to home he'll be getting.
The next morning is chaotic. Seapeekay shows up and gives him definitely-not-stolen items, then proclaims to know a secret.
The secret is that the wheat farms of the capital uses human bone as fertiliser.
Scott wouldn't have been as disgusted if it hadn't been homeless people they killed for the purpose. It wasn't like they didn't use bodies of animals—and sometimes humans if requested—to fertilise the agriculture fields back home. It was the easiest way to keep the soil nutrients up in such harsh weather. It was what kept them fed in the harsher winters they'd been getting.
He told none of this to Drift or Seapeekay. He didn't know if Pyro knew either but decided against asking. Going around with the newly-dubbed 'shenanigang' was certainly fun, though. They had a good time, had to call a guard, terrorised some people, general good times all round. It reminded Scott of the days when he and Pyro used to do similar things in high school. He missed that.
He didn't tell Pyro that either. The man didn't need to know.
Learning—officially—how to lock pick with Bubbles was fun. The cat hybrid was witty and fun to banter with as they went about unlocking some of the chests in the room. Learning then that you could unlock people's chests if they used a key to lock them was fun too. Although it opened far too many doors for people to steal things.
He'd need to circumvent that somehow.
In the coming days the lock picking comes in useful. He goes out with Pyro, Drift and Shelby, climbing towers and unlocking the necessary chests for them. Drift falls, and is then found by the professor, but the rest of them aren't bothered and they get a decent amount of information so they consider it a win. The books they get don't help with their impending doom, but Scott ignores that in favour of learning how his frost walking works.
He can hold other people up, and only a specific area around him is effected but the ice is thick enough to hold a decent amount of weight before any of it collapses and he's been able to create thin ice over the sea grass that disturbs the water's surface. It's fun, testing out this power. He skates across ice for most of his free time, chasing fish through the water and generally having a great time. Aurora has fun too, jumping around on the ice and playing fetch.
He has to teach her how to swim, eventually, when she falls into some shallow water in her haste to get her ball. He's gentle with her, guiding her movements until she can hold herself up. It's adorable, watching her paddle after the ball as it bobs up to the surface.
Aurora snaps the ball out of the water and paddles back to safety on Scott's ice, making a sound he can only compare to purring as she does so.
They finish there for the day, meandering back towards the academy before the sun leaves the sky. Aurora runs on in front of Scott, just in his line of sight, to chase fireflies and other bugs through the air. He should scoop her back up into her backpack. He watches her go and decides to only do that if he hears someone coming.
They get all the way to the bridge across to the academy before he spots what looks like Maddy in the distance. He whistles Aurora back to him, picking her up as she jumps and putting her softly into the backpack. She snorts at him and snuggles into the fur he's lined the pack with. Maddy slowly makes her way to him, tilting her head with a grin.
"What are you doing out here so late?" Her voice is wavering slightly and he notes she looks tired.
He gives her a smile back though, stopping just in front of her. "Practising spells in a more… open area." Maddy narrows her eyes and he sighs. "A blizzard is difficult to create indoors?"
She huffs a laugh at that. "What you don't want to hit Pyro with it? Not even a little?"
"I don't want to hit anyone with it accidentally." He corrects. "It can pack a punch."
She shrugs, getting up onto the bridge with a big step. "Maybe people deserve it sometimes."
"Sometimes." He concedes. "I've hit people with it before, but I'm not going to stay inside when I'm using it constantly."
She nods at that, then she lights up. "You ever used it on Pyro?" He nods. "Was it good?"
Scott snorts. "I got him down to three hearts." She cheers at that and he smiles. "What are you doing out here?"
She takes another step on the bridge, clasping her hands behind her back and making herself look so much more suspicious. "Investigating something."
He looks her up and down and shakes his head. "Y'know what, I don't wanna know."
She nods, self satisfied. "Plausible deniability. Smart." He nods at her, and then continues on his way to the academy without asking further questions. She yells a goodbye, which he responds to—he's not cruel—and then he's stepping through the teleporter and walking through the halls to his dorm.
It doesn't take long until he's, yet again, interrupted on his walk. Pyro is at the top of a staircase talking with the Feles quartet Scott sees just about everywhere together. Zam is crouched behind Graecie, who is holding Legundo's hand and Sausage is speaking animatedly to Pyro. Bubbles stands at the bottom of the steps, staring up at the quintet that haven't yet seen him. Scott smiles and waves at them, standing beside her as they both wait.
Then Bubbles leans closer and whispers. "How long do you think this'll take?"
Scott tilts his head, considering. "A few minutes at least." The cat-hybrid nods and they settle in to watch the conversation play out until they're noticed. Scott ends up sitting on some of the grand detailing on the walls and Bubbles splays onto the railing of the stairs. It's at least five minutes before they're noticed, the conversation having teetered off and Pyro turned in their direction.
The five of them stare at the duo lounging at the bottom of the steps. Bubble's tail sways gently and he grins at them all. Scott waves, pushing down from where he'd sat and walking up the stairs. Bubbles follows him, grinning like a madman. "It took you all so long to notice us!" She bounds up past Scott and to the top of the stairs. "You need to work on your spatial awareness man."
Scott moves a little to the side, waving softly to Zam and Graecie before turning to the rest of the group. "No wonder so many pranks are played here." Scott tilts his head, eyes gleaming. "Nobody has any concept of the space around them. All except Zam, in the least. She noticed us quite quickly." Zam gives a shy smile, before hiding behind Graecie again. Scott just smiles fondly and moves on, squeezing past the group and further into the corridor. He waved as he left, making his was back to his dorm without talking to Pyro.
It's not like he doesn't want to talk to the man.
Maybe it is. They've learnt quite the bombshell and Scott hasn't been the same since. Maybe he's just anxious. He's been told he has that kind of disposition.
He sleeps restlessly. Even as exhausted as he is, he can't get the chill from his bones and it keeps him up at night. There are pains echoing from his joints and he whimpers through them. He hopes this doesn't become a regular occurrence.
The next few days are filled with the same routine: train until sundown, get back to the dorms, barely sleep, get up at the crack of dawn and leave again. He ignores the worried looks from Drift and Shelby, lets Boa drag him away for food but never anything more and he evades Pyro somehow.
It feels like they're avoiding each other, and Scott is almost grateful for it. Then he overhears Drift talking about Pyro not even talking to JoJo anymore and he knows something's up.
He clambers up the staircase up to the hallway he shares with Pyro and stands outside the man's door for a minute before knocking. Nothing happens for a moment, then there's swearing coming from inside. Scott can smell smoke suddenly and he's moving into the room with a graceful but urgent stride. It doesn't take much to put the small fire out, thank the gods, and Pyro is staring up at him with bewildered anger in seconds.
"Why are you here?"
Scott sighs, then crosses his arms over his chest. "Because someone decided ignoring every person in existence was a good idea?"
Pyro scoffs, waving him off with a sneer. "Like you aren't doing the same?"
Scott tilts is head, giving his best disappointed look. "I'm at least eating with Boa, talking to people I walk past." He waves at Pyro's dishevelled appearance. "You look like you haven't changed in days. Let alone been outside."
Pyro puts his hands in the air, makes a sound of anger, and then storms to the other side of his room. There smoke coming from his mouth and Scott worries for a moment he might set something more on fire. "Look. I'm fine. So let go of your pity and just leave me alone."
Scott stares at him incredulously. "This is fine? You choking on smoke and lighting your carpet on fire—something you haven't done since you first awakened—is fine?"
Pyro growls at him but does nothing more so Scott takes the moment to step forward. Pyro doesn't move, so he closes the gap mostly, stopping an arms-length away. "You can lean on people you know?"
Pyro, again, scoffs. "Rich coming from you."
Scott takes a deep breath. He doesn't want to snap here, but he knows if Pyro keeps going like this he will. "You need to talk to people. JoJo at least." He stares into Pyro's eyes, searching for something. Anything. "Humans are social creatures. Deprivation of social interaction can be just as bad as starvation."
Pyro points a finger at him, poking him right in the chest. The point of contact is warmer than Scott has been in days. "You don't get to tell me how to live my life."
Scott takes hold of his hand, both of his enclosing around the tan skin. "You can’t push everyone away and expect nothing to happen." He cuts Pyro off the second he sees the man try to butt in. "If you turn away from everyone who ever tries to care about you, you’ll end up dead." He'll forever deny the way his voice wavers over the word. He keeps his voice steady. "And no one will notice. They won’t care."
"Maybe I want that." Pyro sneers.
"No. You want to be remembered. You want to be in the history books." Pyro's eyes widen just a fraction. "Dying without anyone knowing is the opposite of that."
"You don't know that." His voice is light, wavering enough for Scott to know he's hit the problem on the head.
He moves closer again, the air between them cools slightly. "I do. Because I know you." Pyro's eyes flicker with anger, then all the fight leaves him and he slumps forward. Scott barely manages to catch him before they both topple to the floor.
Scott doesn't count how long they stand there, he just knows it's a while. It's long enough he can see the stars in the window at Pyro's back and count out his favourite constellations from this realm. Scott, for the first time since his powers manifested, feels warm. It's a novel feeling, and he sinks into it for a moment.
The aches from his arms are numbed, the ones in his legs leeching just slightly away. The warmth spreads through his body like a painkiller and he sighs happily. Pyro just stands, his arms cradled to Scott's chest, head tucked into his neck, and breathes.
Eventually, Aurora yowls and jumps from her pack, landing onto the floor like Scott has seen cats do countless times. It almost reminds him fo Elle. The vision of the black and white cat is gone just as quickly and Pyro straightens up, stepping away to his own dragon. Scott shakes his head, feeling the cold rush back with a vengeance. He shivers, just slightly, and Pyro is whirling around to face him again.
His eyes are narrowed and Scott ignores him in favour of picking Aurora up, with stiff movements, and making his way to the door. He stops for a moment, just at the edge of the mana veil. "Talk to JoJo. They've been worried."
Then he walks out and closes the door behind him.
He doesn't hear Pyro's response, if he even has one. He walks across the hall and into his room. It's like stepping back into Tegrith. Except he has no way of keeping warm anymore. He lets Aurora wander the room and beelines for his bed. He doesn't make it, barely getting up the ladder before he's collapsing to the floor and passing out cold.
Waking up from his sudden bouts of unconsciousness is never fun. Normally though, he doesn't pass out for more than a few minutes. This time he wakes to the sun high in his skylight and blaring down into his eyes.
He doesn't know how long it's been. He barely remembers where he is. But he pulls himself up and hobbles over to his bed. He barely takes his shoes off before he's unconscious again.
It's night again when he wakes. He's in his bed, still in his going out clothes, and not even under the blankets. He doesn't remember where he is anymore. Aurora—how does he know that?—jumps onto the bed next to him, whimpering and nudging into his leg.
He can't get himself to move before he's passing out again.
Having a baby dragon clawing at your door is not something you expect to wake to three days after being yelled at to be more social. Well, maybe yell isn't the right word. But it's close enough. He's spoken to people since then. JoJo had in fact been worried, as had Drift and Shelby. It was nice, almost. He ignored that thought though. He'd never admit Scott had helped him. he'd never admit anyone had helped him.
Having Scott's dragon whining and tugging on the hems of his pants snaps him back to reality. Right. Baby dragon clawing on his door. Aurora seems to be trying to drag him into Scott's room across the hall. She's trying her hardest, he'll give her that. Cinder pokes her own head through the doorway and snorts out a puff of smoke, making Aurora rear back. Pyro rolls his eyes, knowing the dragon wont listen to him, and makes his way to Scott's open door.
That's when he notices the frost covering the doorframe. There's a small amount of snow drifting out into the hall and Pyro tilts his head at it. Scott's always had better control than this. Why's it wavering now?
He moves past the blue curtain, and sees the carnage that is Scott's room. There's more ice and snow than he's seen since Tegrith and even he shivers a little. He lifts a hand, creating a small fire, and moves further into the room.
"Scott?" His voice seems to echo, bouncing off walls as Aurora leaps up the ladder to the loft.
He follows the dragon, gingerly making his way up the half frozen wood. Scott isn't in the first level of the loft, though there is a spot of blood on the floor that draws his eye. Aurora paws at the spot, whining, before she bounds back up the stairs to where Scott's bed lies.
Pyro is almost scared of how Scott will look. "You better not be dead." He mumbles, wiping some accumulated snow from his shoulders.
He climbs the stairs two at a time and stops dead when he sees Scott. The blonde is laying limply on his bed, blood colouring some of his hair red. He's not even under his covers and it seems he'd barely been able to get his shoes off before he collapsed. Aurora is there, pawing at Scott's hair with an urgency that gets Pyro moving. He hears Cinder moving behind him, chittering away with something even he can tell is worried, but she doesn't get closer.
The closer he gets, the worse Scott looks. His hair is dry, his skin is slightly flakey in its pale, taught, form and Pyro is reminded quite suddenly of the only time he'd ever seen Scott sick. The man in question shivers and Pyro moves again, gingerly moving him to be actually in bed. The second he feels Scott's skin he flinches back. The man is cold. Far too cold for a human to be. His skin is like ice and it's no wonder he's shivering, breathing as shallowly, as he is.
Pyro grumbles, but at even his own dragon's insistence he settles onto Scott's bed, hovering hands over the man's skin in hopes of warming him even slightly. He takes a look at the small ring of blood coating the man's scalp, deeming it an already healed wound—though why Scott hasn't gotten the blood out of his hair he doesn't know—and lays back against the headboard with a sigh.
The room is a reprieve from his own typical heat, the kind that leaves you moving through the world like it's molasses. Pyro feels cool for the first time since his powers awakened and he's grateful for it.
He sits there on Scott's bed for long enough his eyelids droop and he's falling asleep with his arms around Scott's shoulders before he can regret the action. He feels Aurora settle in at his hip, then a second dip of the bed that has to be Cinder, and he's gone to the world.
Scott wakes up warm. This in an of itself is alarming. Coupled with the arms around him, he's confused and a little terrified.
Opening his eyes doesn't take as much effort as it did whenever he last woke, and he knows—however foggy it is—where he fell asleep. His room looks horrible, is the first thing he notices. There's excess ice and snow everywhere and he doesn't remember causing any of it. The second thing he notes, outside the arms around him because he's ignoring those for now, is the deep red dragon curled into his stomach.
Cindy peers up at him and blinks slowly. He blinks back. She turns and buries her face back into his stomach, creating a warmth he won't bring himself to deny. That's when he decides to face the music and he glances at the arms around his middle.
They're Pyro's, he knows. The red and black fabrics interwoven with silver accents are distinct, especially when he's known the style all his life. He doesn't know when Pyro got here, or even how. He doesn't even know what day it is. He doesn't want to move, though. It's not because of Pyro, he assures himself, he simply doesn't want to disturb Cindy.
Aurora then appears from by his legs, jumping over to crawl to his face and nuzzle into his neck. He smiles slightly, dipping his head to bury his face into the ice dragon. She purrs—as close as a dragon can get to a purr, at least—and he puts his arms around her. He stays like that for a while, cuddling two dragonlings, before his stomach rumbles and he knows he needs food.
He sighs, wriggling from Pyro's surprisingly strong grip, and scoops up both baby dragons as he goes. Aurora climbs his shoulders, taking her place there as she always does, and he keeps Cinder settled to his chest. She doesn't seem to mind the movement if he keeps holding her. He takes them both down to his little kitchenette, grabbing some raw meat for them to eat as he makes his own little breakfast. None of his food is warm, and he's already lost all warmth he got from Pyro, but he settles to just using Cindy as a heat-pack of sorts.
Scott settles before the fire, watching as Cindy lights it with a quick breath before snuggling back into Scott's cooled body. He sighs with a smile, sitting down on the floor in front of the fire and trying to get his joints moving properly again.
The cold had always made his shoulders and knees click, but now all of his joints seemed to refuse to move through cold air. He eats the fruits he'd grabbed, and promptly falls back asleep leaning against the front of the couch.
Pyro wakes to an empty bed and almost panics. Then he hears the dragons downstairs and he thinks Scott may be awake. Getting downstairs, he notes the man isn't awake anymore, but he must have been because he lit a fire, and got some food from the looks of it. Both baby dragons are cuddled up to Scott and Pyro sends Cinder a betrayed look. "Really? Him over me?" The dragon responds with a puff of smoke, before hiding her face back into the icy skin of the blonde.
Pyro rolls his eyes and moves to the kitchenette to grab himself some food before settling next to Scott. He needs to know what's happening, and why the guy is asleep so fucking much.
He counts at least ten minutes before Scott is startling awake with a gasp. Both dragonlings startle as well, making twin noises of quiet shock before pawing at Scott's face. The blonde turns to Pyro, seemingly noticing him immediately, and tilts his head. "Why're you here?" His voice is rough from disuse, low and slurred with exhaustion. Pyro refused to acknowlege the small thrill that flitted down his spine at the sound.
Pyro shrugs, looking up to the window to his right and noting the rising moon. "Why have you been gone for almost four days?"
That gets Scott to straighten up, nudging both dragonlings from his arms and into his lap. "Four days?" His eyes are wide and Pyro almost gets lost in them.
He shrugs. "You tell me to talk to people. 'You can lean on others.' Blah, blah, blah." He raises an eyebrow. He's deflecting his worry, he knows, but he's never been good at emotions. "And yet you disappear for almost four days with no reason?"
Scott coughs, surprised. "I obviously didn't mean to!" Some of the bloodied hair falls before his eyes and he freezes. Pyro had almost forgotten about that. Scott's hand shakes as he looks the strands over, then touches his scalp with a wince. His hand only comes back covered in dried blood, thankfully, and Pyro definitely doesn't track every movement he makes obsessively. "Oh what the fuck…" He whispers, eyes glancing back to Pyro. "What happened?"
"That's an answer I'd like actually." He tilts his head, staring at Scott with an attentiveness he isn't sure he deserves when he's this disoriented. "That was there when I was dragged in by your menace of a dragon."
Scott's arms immediately go around both dragons in his lap. "She is not a menace." He looks down at them, then back to Pyro. "You don't know what happened?"
Pyro sighs and gets up. "Look. I was dragged in here this morning by your dragon. You were passed out barely on your bed, and your skin was like ice." He sees Scott go to talk and cuts in. "More so than usual. I wasn't just going to—I don't know—leave you like that."
Scott nods, like that was all he needed, before turning back to the fire. They stay there silent for a while, Scott watching the flames and Pyro watching Scott. He takes in the man in all the ways he'd refused to let himself before. He's beautiful, Pyro thinks. He refuses to let that thought ever be verbalised. Then Scott speaks up. "I don't know what happened." He takes a breath, and starts to clean Aurora's scales oh so gently. "I got back from practising my magic one day and I just— passed out.I haven't been awake this long since then."
Pyro nods along, tilting his head. "Could it be magical exhaustion?" Scott's eyes narrow slightly and he raises a brow. "When you overuse your magic it can go haywire. It'll make you sick, sometimes just comatose for a bit, while you regain that energy and mana." Scott nods, eyes already drooping again. He yawns, and Aurora yawns with him. It's cute and Pyro almost can't stop himself from smiling. "You wanna go back to bed? I'll wake you for food later, okay?"
Scott's eyes narrow again. "Why're you being nice?"
Pyro sighs, then moves back into the cooler sect of Scott's room. "Your room is colder than mine."
Scott doesn't stop looking suspiciously at him. "That's it?"
Pyro nods. He definitely hadn't been worried about Scott. Not at all. He stares at Scott for a while, then turns around. "You need to shower."
Scott makes a noise of shock, then makes a face at Pyro's back. He hears Scott's knees crack and winces with him. Pyro watches Scott move past him and sighs. "I got a shower in my dorm? Perks of not having a neighbour."
Scott stops, giving him a slightly dirty suspicious look, but moves across the hall to Pyro's room. Pyro shakes his head, then grabs some more comfortable clothes to give to Scott before moving to his own room again. He finally closes Scott's door, sweeping away the accumulated snow before closing his own door behind him.
He can hear Scott in his shower, and distracts himself from the thoughts of that by playing with the dragon babies now left to their own devices. Cinder barely listens to him, but Aurora is as gentle as she is with Scott. They play fetch as Scott showers, then changes into the offered clothes.
Seeing Scott in anything other than his typical large overcoat and layers of cloth. He's draped in darker clothes than he normally wears and Pyro can't drag his eyes away from the sliver of skin he spots at the blonde's stomach. Scott yawns, stretching and showing even more skin for Pyro to drink in before he's making his way to Pyro's own bed. " 'S warm in here." Pyro nods and watches silently as Scott just plops himself into his bed and passes out again.
Both dragonlings hop up onto the bed and curl around him happily. Pyro sighs and resigns himself to waking Scott up later.
It's another couple days later when Scott is able to actually stay awake an entire day, but he's elated to be able to go out and about and talk with his friends. Pyro stays at his side the entire time, keeping his body temperature high enough for his joints to not crack every second. His own body temperature keeps Pyro from sweating too much so he doesn't dehydrate and all is well, mostly.