Nathaniel soon stirred after Zedd left him alone. It felt like there was an odd chill in the room despite the fact that Nathaniel had always slept alone. "Mr. Zeddicus?" He called out, slipping out of bed to go look for Zedd. He shivered once out of the warm blanket cocoon, but continued on. "H-Hello? Are… are you still here, sir?" He looked around nervously, fidgeting with the oversized sleeves of the hoodie he was wearing as he wandered through the apartment.
Depression and Choccy Milk (OXO with Caustic)
group
Meanwhile, Zeddicus had just finished setting up everything downstairs, turning the sign on the door to open and unlocking it. Rubbing at his eyes, he went to go sit behind the front desk to sip at his coffee. A few minutes passed before someone already entered. "Damn, you look awful," a regular patron joked. Zedd rolled his eyes playfully. At least he had a few people in the world he at least somewhat liked. The man in front of him had shorter light brown hair which had slight waves to it. He was quite muscular and tall as well. The two men seemed to be a decent fit as they were both intimidating, except Zedd was less cheery. The other man was also noticably darker than Zedd with a caramel colored tan. "Same to you," Zedd replied sarcastically. "So what the hell is it you need today, hm?"
The customer usually was always hurting himself or needed something to help his boyfriend's nightmares.
"Cameron's been constantly worried over all the scars on my back and swears he'll start protesting our occasional dates if I don't do something about them."
"Mr. Zeddicus?" Nathaniel called out again, growing a little worried about the lack of response. He headed downstairs, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. He still seemed to be exhausted and he was pretty sluggish. "Oh! There you are!" He noticed Zedd and headed over to him, smiling softly. He seemed confused when he noticed the other man in the room. "Hello! I'm Nathaniel. Nice to meet you! Are you friends with Mr. Zeddicus?" He asked, politely holding out his small hand to shake the hand of the stranger. He fluttered his wings a bit before folding them tightly to his back.
group
A light smile spread over the other man's lips as he crouched down closer to Nathaniel's level. "I am, despite the fact that Zedd will never say it out loud," he joked. "Call me Cal," he said, taking the angel's hand gently. After letting go, Cal stood back up to his full height. "Since when did you get a kid? I didn't think you ever wanted to adopt-"
Cal was cut off quickly. "It's a long story, but he's not mine. Obviously," Zedd stated. The other male pursed his lips, looking between Nathaniel and Zeddicus. "He's cute," Cal complimented.
"I was living on the streets so Mr. Zeddicus said I could live here and sell knives!" Nathaniel grinned, fidgeting with the hoodie sleeves again. He pulled out the little dagger he'd made and showed it to Cal. "See? I make them myself! I made this one back when I lived at home since we don't have the stuff here yet." He seemed quite pleased with himself and didn't seem to realize that this was not a normal subject for conversation. "Mr. Zeddicus said that it's good and I should sell knives like this here, and I can live here!"
group
Cal's eyes went wide at the fast explanation before turning towards a very pale Zedd. "You're letting a little kid sell and make knives? Really, Zedd?" Said man set his head down on the desk and let out a small groan. "Please just end me…" Zedd said, though he sounded muffled. Picking his head back up, he looked at Nathaniel tiredly. "Please don't tell everyone that. I could get in so much trouble…"
Cal meanwhile crouched down again, looking a bit closer at the small blade. It really was made well.
"It's almost startling how well this is made.
"Oh… okay, Mr. Zeddicus." Nathaniel turned his attention back to Cal when the dagger was complimented. "Thanks! I think they're fun to make. It's really sharp, see?" Nathaniel ran his finger along the blade and showed Cal the thin trail of blood it left behind. "I sharpen it when I can… I always carried it around when I was living on the streets just in case I got attacked or something." He sucked on his bleeding finger a bit, humming thoughtfully to himself. "I liked to work on this kinda thing when I wasn't training."
group
(Omg I'm getting too attached to this kiddo)
(He's baby)
group
Cal flinched at the sight of blood, just being able to stop himself from moving Nathaniel's hand away from the blade. "Nathaniel, try not to cut yourself anymore? It's not a good habit to start," Cal suggested politely. Zedd however simply handed a small bottle of pink liquid to the small boy. It was smaller than his finger, so it wasn't too much of a loss if it broke or spilled. "Put some on your finger and go get dressed. Your clothes should be dry," Zeddicus stated, already moving to get a larger bottle he already assumed Cal was looking for. It was a light blue tone rather than pink. It was used to assist deeper and older wounds, thus was a bit more expensive.
"Okay, sir!" Nathaniel accepted the small vial and returned up the stairs. He found his normal clothes and put them on, reluctantly taking off the hoodie so he could wash it. He was nowhere near being able to reach the laundry detergent or fabric softener, so he climbed on top of the washing machine. He managed to grab both, although they were very heavy for him. He slipped when he tried to get down off of the washing machine and slammed into the ground, getting the wind knocked out of him upon impact.
group
(nO NATHANIEL)
(YOU DON'T HAVE TO WASH IT BABY)
(DON"T HURT YOURSELF)
(HE WANTS TO WASH IT BUT HE'S TOO SHORT)
(HE'S TRYING HIS BEST OKAY)
group
(Zedd: nATHANIEL WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DID YOU FALL?)
group
(I'll respond soon)
(Ee)
group
Cal was just handing Zedd his pay when they both heard a loud thud from above them. Cal blinked a moment before asking, "Do you… uh, maybe wanna go check on him?" Zedd sighed, taking the money before marching up the stairs to see what had caused the loud noise. "Nathaniel?" Zeddicus called, looking for the small boy.
Nathaniel choked trying to respond, tears stinging his eyes. With the wind knocked out of him, he couldn't breathe. He lay trembling on the ground with the laundry detergent and fabric softener laying beside him, both thankfully undamaged. Nathaniel wasn't terribly hurt either, but not being able to breathe was understandably pretty scary to him. He couldn't call out to let Zedd know where he was.
(Okay but getting the wind knocked out of you is scary as hell and I feel like authors rarely do it justice lol)
group
(Facts. The first time it happened to me, I thought I was dying)
(Y'all know what time it is)
person_off
Deleted user
(Dudeeee you stream when I need to sleep. Ill hope in for a sec-)
group
It was strange not hearing any sort of response in return. Usually Nathaniel was very quick with his replies- mostly apologies. He moved to check the bathroom, wondering if the boy had tripped or knocked something down when getting dressed when he noted the door to the laundry room wide open. Zeddicus stepped towards it to see Nathaniel gasping for air on the ground. He carefully moved Nathaniel so he was at least sitting up, leaving a hand on his back. "Keep trying to breathe. It's okay, you'll live."
Nathaniel choked and coughed again, a couple tears rolling down his cheeks. He was still shaking and pale, seeming scared despite Zedd's assurances. After another couple or minutes, he drew in a shuddering breath. He was pretty lightheaded by now, but still conscious for the moment. "I-I'm sorry, I… t-tried to wash the hoodie you g-gave me, and… I c-couldn't reach these, s… s-so I got on the washing machine, a-and… I got them, b-but then I fell…" He stammered, still not breathing great.
group
Remembering how well the hug worked last night, Zedd pulled Nathaniel gently into his arms. It didn't feel as entirely odd as last time. "Shh. You don't gotta wash it. Next time you can toss it in one of the baskets in here, okay?" Zedd offered, gesturing to two woven laundry bins to the left of the washer and dryer. His lips turned into a light frown, hoping the small boy would calm down easy enough. It still hurt his heart seeing Nathaniel so spooked. Not that he'd say that.
Nathaniel nodded shakily, rubbing at his eyes as he huddled close to Zedd for comfort. "And w-when I hit the ground, I… I c-couldn't breathe…" He choked on his words and coughed again. "I-I don't think I damaged anything, sir…" He glanced over at the bottles of laundry detergent and fabric softener, which both seemed to be entirely fine. "I-I'm sorry if I made you come up here and stop talking to your friend…" He said softly. "And I'm sorry for talking about the knife…"
group
"I came up here to check on you. I don't really give a damn if the bottles fell over. As long as you're not freaking bleeding again…" Zedd trailed off. "And secondly," he started again, looking Nathaniel in the eyes now. "I told you not to tell anyone else because I don't want some dumb orphanage people or some crap like that to be on my case for letting you do something you're trained to do," he said, moving his hands as he spoke. The feathers on his wings ruffled thinking about all of the court issues he'd get involved in should anyone report the 'danger' the angel was in.
Nathaniel nodded again, hiccuping a bit. "I-I don't think I'm bleeding…" He examined himself carefully, his gaze pausing on the bandage around the deeper gash from the previous day. "Oh… that one started bleeding a bit again, but aside from that, I'm okay." He eyed the blood blooming through the bandages curiously. "I'm sure it's fine." He huddled closer to Zedd and sighed shakily. "I'm sorry for the trouble anyway…"
group
Zedd couldn't help but sigh. "I swear, I'm gonna have to make you carry around healing potions and bandages constantly at this point," he said. It was treated like a joke at first, but now Zedd was seriously considering it. "It's okay though. I think I'll just close up downstairs for today. Gotta get you clothes and stuff so you aren't wearing the same thing every day." Zedd began to stand up from the floor to do exactly that, patting Nathaniel on the head as he did so.