Chapter Text
"Clover.." Vargas's voice called out.
"Yes, sir?" Trey replied, his broom casually slung over one shoulder. For a moment, Trey wondered if he was in trouble. It's not often the school did mixed classes in gym, and he might have been taking one too many opportunities to take it easy.
"Could you give Leech a hand with his broom?" Vargas barked, gesturing over his shoulder.
Trey sighed, though he tried his best not to make it too obvious. "Uh...alright? I guess I can."
Sometimes, he hated that he was seen as so reliable and helpful, it made him an easy target for the teachers who were not wanting to bother with their more troublesome students. It just so happened that there were no students in Night Raven College more troublesome in gym class than the Leech brothers. Trey supposed he couldn't blame Vargas for not wanting to bother, both brothers were poor flyers, in spite of the fact it was their second year in school.
'Though,' Trey thought, 'didn't they also learn how to walk a little while ago? I think I remember hearing that from someone.' It was no campus secret that the brothers were mermen, along with their housewarden Azul, and a scant few others in their dorm, Octavinelle. Mermen were very rare at their school, but they spent the majority of the time as human. Trey wasn't sure of the specifics of it, to be honest, but he'd heard it was just a matter of taking prescribed potions.
'I wonder which one I'm getting saddled with today?' Trey thought to himself, questioning which brother would be worse; The one with unpredictable mood swings, or the one that always had a fake looking smile on his face. As Trey walked to the other side of the field he could see...one of them, he couldn't tell them apart yet, standing with his broom in riding position, frozen, with a white knuckled grip on the handle. His head was down with his hair partially obscuring his face, and the closer Trey walked, he realized he could hear shallow, panicked breathing.
"Uh..hey..." Trey said, trying to get his attention without startling him too badly. "You okay?"
In an instant, Leech's head shot up, still jumping at Trey's voice despite his best efforts. "Ah..oh, I'm..." he trails off. Hastily, Leech stands up straight, trying to hide his anxiety with a slight smile, careful to not show his teeth. "I'm fine, thank you."
'Ah, it's Jade.' Trey thought to himself. "Coach Vargas wants me to help you out, it looks like you're having a tough time today."
"Oh, how kind of him." Jade replied, a bead of sweat visibly racing down his temple. "I wouldn't want to trouble you."
Trey noticed the lack of an outright yes or no response. "It's not any trouble, and I was asked to, so I don't mind."
Jade didn't move, his whole body still tensed, hesitant to accept the help. Trey reasoned that it's likely out of not wanting to owe him anything or possibly out of pure embarrassment. The latter thought almost amused him. Jade had a reputation for being intimidating, heartless even. Jade Leech didn't get embarrassed.
Trey huffed a soft, sympathetic sigh. "Come on, I'm not going to judge you, and I'm just doing what the coach told me to. Here, you can hop on my broom and give yours a break."
Jade eyed Trey with suspicion, as though trying to see some ulterior motive beyond 'the coach told him to', then diverting his gaze to Vargas. The teacher was watching them both very intently, his brows furrowed and massive arms crossed in front of him. When Jade turned his attention back to Trey, he nodded, finally. With that decided, Jade abandoned his own broom, and reached for Trey's. Trey had to admit, tutoring people how to fly wasn't something he was confident he could do, but at least he was pretty certain that his worst effort might still be better than Jade's best.
"Okay, so just climb on like you normally would." Trey coaxed, watching Jade take position. "You don't have to hold on to it that hard! Come on, you have to loosen your grip a bit."
Jade looked at his hands as though he was surprised by what he had been doing. Still, he didn't relax his grip at all, if anything, he held on even tighter until his arms started to shake. This was going nowhere fast. What was he so scared of? He'd never been able to get more than half a metre off the ground, so it wasn't that great of a height to even worry about falling from. Trey wasn't sure how to get Jade to calm down, though he had to admit, it was kind of refreshing to see Jade act like a normal person. Well, a normal person who had fears, who felt anxiety, is what he meant by that.
He thought back to the first ceremony where he'd seen Jade working with Azul, and his first impressions of him. Of course, Riddle was quick to tell him that Jade's subservience was all part of a calculated phony persona. That he was a schemer with wicked motivations, and used his cleverness and polite appearance for less than savoury things. Riddle had been partially right, Jade certainly shocked him more than once with the things he'd say with a polite smile, or how damned terrifying he could be when he was pressed to be so. Trey didn't see any of that right now, however. Jade seemed very small. Childlike almost. Maybe Trey was being a sucker, but he felt sorry for him.
"Here, come on..." Trey coaxed Jade to let go of the broom and to move back a bit so Trey could climb on in front of him. "Let me show you."
Jade was quick to latch onto Trey's waist the moment Trey had settled himself into position. He was STRONG. Trey felt his breath being pushed up out of him like toothpaste from a tube. "Not so tight! You have to hold onto the broom, not me!" He practically had to pry Jade's hands off his body and guide them back to the broom. "There..now just focus your magic into the broom, we're not going to go high, just a bit off the ground, okay?" Trey said, putting on his warmest 'helpful big brother' tone of voice that he often used with the underclassmen in his dorm.
Although Jade's breathing quickened a bit, Trey could feel the gentle static of magic being directed into the broom. Progress! There was the tiniest bit of lift, perhaps not more than a few inches off the ground before Jade's nerves got the better of him and the magic fizzled out in an instant. Trey noticed Vargas shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. It felt unfair. Vargas was way harder on the Leech brothers and Ashengrotto in flight class than anyone else, but wouldn't it make sense that people that came from the literal bottom of the sea would be anxious about flying?
"Jade, I'm going to take us up a little bit, okay? Then, try and focus, keep us steady, and I'll keep us up."
"Not too high..." Jade whispered so softly, Trey almost didn't hear it.
"Okay..not too high. Just use your magic to keep us level, I'll do the rest." Trey assured him. He waited until he felt Jade nod against his back. Now, Trey was a fairly confident flyer, at the very least he can do the basics without falling off or crashing into anything, but trying to keep his broom under control with such nervous magic being pumped into it was a challenge he hadn't been expecting. Still, he got them a few feet off the ground, enough so Jade's legs couldn't touch the ground if he tried. Not that he was trying to, as soon as he couldn't feel the grass, Jade tucked his legs tightly under his body.
"Take a deep breath, okay?" Trey said calmly, "Just keep us level..."
Jade was trying, though his magic was still jittery, unsteady. Trey could feel the broom wobble, even with his own magic keeping them afloat. Taking on this task might prove to be harder than Trey had initially thought. Having two peoples' magics battling each other for control gave him pins and needles in the palms of his hands, but he still got them off the ground, he wasn't going to give up just yet.
"It's okay..you're doing good, Jade.." Trey assured him. "Keep breathing..."
For a moment, the broom started to sway a little less, and Trey couldn't help but pat himself on the back for it. Maybe he wasn't too bad at this whole teaching thing. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he felt it; The near electric shock of intense magic coursing through the broom, causing it to arc upward far too fast. Trey couldn't get it back under control, and it just kept going. Trey winced as he felt Jade's arms around his middle again, his fingers digging hard into his body through his clothes.
Try as he might, Trey couldn't keep a grip on the handle, the broom was near vertical when he felt it slip out from his fingers. It didn't seem like they had gone that high, but it felt like they both fell for longer than they should have. Trey landed hard, half his weight hitting the ground, the other half landing on top of Jade. He thought he heard a pop, but he wasn't sure. In the distance he heard his broom clatter to the ground, followed by the thud of hurried footsteps and the panicked murmur of students' voices.
"Clover! Leech! Are you two alright?" Vargas's voiced boomed at them.
Trey blinked, trying to make sense of the shapes moving around him. At some point his glasses had fallen off during the fall, or maybe during the impact with the ground, but he couldn't make sense of anything. He felt disoriented, dizzy, like his body wasn't his own, everything was so numb he couldn't even panic. He was vaguely aware of the tang of blood on his tongue, heavy and sour, and something was oozing down his face but he couldn't tell what it was. Every part of his body felt like there was pain trying to claw its way through him beneath the numbness, but the adrenaline was keeping his brain from properly feeling it.
"Get the school nurse! The specialist too!" Vargas called out.
More footsteps were heard, and the sound was deafening. Trey squeezed his eyes closed and tried to unsuccessfully roll over, becoming suddenly aware of Jade's body half under him. How could he forget! Was he okay?
"Jade..?" Trey gasped, trying and failing to turn his head to face him. He heard shallow breathing. It sounded wet. Was it his own breathing, or was it Jade's? He honestly couldn't tell. His head felt like it was spinning out of control, and he was uncomfortable being in this position but again, he couldn't move. Jade didn't make any attempt to move either, or he simply couldn't. When Vargas carefully pulled them apart, presumably for the medical mages to come take them, Trey was immediately grateful, finding the soft grass to be a slight comfort in this muddy chaos of colour and noise.
Trey squints in Jade's direction, but he couldn't focus on his features. "..Jade?" he rasped, his voice failing him. All he could see was blobs of colour, teal and grey and red. It didn't seem as though Jade had moved at all since they hit the ground. There were footsteps approaching. Trey could feel himself being magically lifted and moved. Voices spoke over each other, and he couldn't hear what they were saying. It was like they were speaking in another language. He tried to keep an eye for Jade's teal coloured hair, but people in white coats got in the way.
The next moments were but a blur, he felt nauseous as the medics sprinted him to the infirmary and Trey eventually lost track of time. He didn't remember closing his eyes but he was grateful for the silence.