"I said leave but all I really want is you to stand outside my window throwing

pebbles screaming 'I'm in love with you.'"

TW: MENTIONS OF SELF-HARM

M A R K

I cursed louder than I ever had in my entire life.

"ARSONIST, I SWEAR I'M GOING TO––" actually, I didn't know what I was going to do to her––but that didn't matter right then. Because that's when a blast of wind decided to hit me in the face, blowing a fistful of leaves into my mouth. "Great," I spluttered, crawling out of my fort, "just great."

I was soaked head-to-toe in some sort of drink, may have swallowed a leaf, and had sand in my hair.

However, as I packed up my things and got ready to go back up to my room, I couldn't help but smile. Trust Tanni to ease the tension by pranking me like that, I wasn't even sure I was mad. Not really. And I had to admit, I was a little impressed––at her nerve, I mean.

I shivered from the cold as I made my way back to the dorms; the temperature had decreased significantly overnight, and walking back to the safety of my room felt more like hiking up Mount Everest.

"You could really use some of my fire-summoning expertise now, wouldn't you?" a voice whispered from behind me. I smiled to myself, recognising it immediately– then I quickly fixed my face. There was no way that I was letting her make me grin like an idiot again, especially after what she'd just done.

"What are you doing here?" I grumbled, trying to sound as angry as possible.

"Same as you," she smiled, indicating the pile of blankets and pillows in her arms. She seemed calmer somehow...more natural. Like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.

Damn it.

She had a really nice smile.

"Why do you look so giddy?" I mumbled, looking down, embarrassed of my thoughts. "Oh," I said, after a pause. I suddenly became very aware of my soaked clothes.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not talking to you, Aronist," I said, teasingly, looking the other way. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was joking or not.

"Why not?" She pretended to be confused.

"Wipe that grin off your face. In case you have not noticed," I said, "I appear to be drenched, head-to-toe."

Tanni's mouth fell open in offence.

"You think that was me?" she said, in mock surprise "Oh, I could never, you know how much you mean to me!"

I couldn't help but snort.

"Yeah sure."

We both walked in silence for a couple of minutes, until we caught each other's eye.

Then we burst out laughing. And not even quiet sniggers...Full on stomach-hurting, collapsing to the floor laughter.

Yeah, we were probably high from lack of sleep.

"I hate you so much," I chuckled, once we were done laughing our heads off––which probably took longer than it should've.

She grinned. "Yeah, I know. But you have to admit, you didn't see it coming."

"I was half-asleep, Arsonist," I pointed out. She shrugged, a look of pride still painting her features.

"Well, uh–I'd better go," I muttered, still unsure as to why I was still talking to this girl. Hadn't she just ruined my morning?

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you in ability research," Tanni smiled, and I had to control the grin that was making its way onto my face. I settled for an awkward nod before I scurried away in the other direction.

Tanni was beginning to give me more and more reasons to not hate her.

I wasn't going to give in to it.

I wasn't.

♡♡♡

Right outside my dorm, I managed to trip over nothing. "Oh no," I thought, "Tanni must have rubbed off on me."

I mean, only Arsonist could trip over air.

I managed to get up but noticed a loose floorboard. Huh, I hadn't noticed that before––and I'd been living in that room for a long time. I lifted the floorboard, staying on my knees so that I could see under it. And I found...Paper?

I frowned as I unfolded the small slip to reveal a note, similarly structured to two others that I had in my pocket. The one I found under my shoe after I saved Tanni from that fire.

I almost killed someone who would give up his soul to save someone else's.

Description– He isn't that tall, about the same height as I am. Wavy blonde hair. He has a slight tan and freckles. He's pretty much always smiling, seems like the kind of guy who would hide his trauma with humour.

Opinion– Super nice and caring. Probably can be annoyingly optimistic at times, but I guess I don't know him well enough. I only had detention with him.

AWWC Quote/s–

"Look, I'm not saying I would beat an octopus in a fistfight, but– wait, they don't exactly have fists, do they?"

(It just seems like something he would say, okay?)

I frowned in confusion, who the hell was almost killing all these people? And why were they leaving notes around the school for anyone to pick up? Were they not scared for their own safety? All those questions rushed through my mind at a million miles an hour.

Sighing, I pushed it to the back of my mind and focused on getting back to the dorms without falling flat on my face again––I wasn't going to risk another broken nose. Cautiously, I pushed open the door to our room and almost screamed in horror when I saw Amira face-to-face with me.

"Hi," she said dismissively, not bothering to explain why she was in my room.

"You scared me," I said in exasperation, "have you seen Nico anywhere?"

"I have no idea where he is, actually. That's why I was here, I needed to get my history book from him, since he'd forgotten he had it in the first place," she shrugged, waving the book around. I glanced down at her other hand, which held Nico's sketchbook in it.

"He won't be happy to see that you've gone through it, he almost decapitated me the last time I tried to," I pointed out.

"He won't mind," Amira said, giving me a knowing smile, "I've done it before." Finally, she got up and made her way to the door. She seemed in a daze.

"You okay?" I asked her, "just making sure," I added when she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine," she grinned, making her way outside. Then she stopped in her tracks. "Oh. Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"When Nico comes back, be careful. He's going to be in a very giddy mood," Amira said, then she walked out of the door.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously, and when she didn't answer, I poked my head out of the door, "AMI, WHY?"

"YOU'LL SEE," she yelled, while she walked away.

I shook my head, going back inside. This day was getting more and more confusing by the minute.

"MARK!" I heard a voice scream, excitedly behind me.

I spun around on the spot. Was it seriously everyone's life goal to scare the hell out of me?

The voice was Nico, and Amria was right. He was really excited.

"What happened?" I asked in a bored voice, "don't tell me you finished that book that Amira gave you, because I really couldn't care less about demi-gods, titans and whatever else is going on."

"That's not what I was going to say, but well done for remembering that they were called demi-gods," he said, "not godlings."

It was one time, okay? And 'godling' was easier to remember than demi-god.

"Anyway," Nico waved his hand dismissively, "guess what they're doing this year."

"Who's doing what for when?" I was confused. Extremely confused.

"Have you not realised," he replied, "that next week is your birthday?"

Oh.

Oh yeah.

"Well now that you've told me," I said, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're turning sixteen, Mark."

"Yeah, and?"

"You were thirteen three years ago."

"Well no shit, Sherlock," I rolled my eyes. My best friend was an idiot.

"And," Nico said, "the war ended when we were thirteen, more specifically––your thirteenth birthday."

Huh?

"Ohhhhhhhhh," I finally realised, "but you still haven't told me what's gonna be happening."

"The school's just doing a bit of a celebration for the three-year, end of war anniversary."

"What kind of celebration?" I asked, apprehensively. I didn't like where this was going.

"Just a ball kind of thing, no dancing involved though. I know what you're thinking" he shrugged, a knowing look on his face. He knew I would hate the idea, and he would drag me along with him for the sake of having a stress-free night.

"No."

"No, what?" he asked innocently.

"No, I'm not going," I said. He pouted.

"Please."

"No."

"For me?"

"I will throw you out of the window."

Nico rolled his eyes and mumbled something which sounded like a sarcastic 'love you too.' Then his eyes widened with excitement.

"If you don't want to go, why does your neck say that you're 'exuberant'," he teased.

See, if he'd said that sentence in front of anyone else, they'd probably think he was a lunatic. Thankfully, I'd known Nico for long enough to realise that when he said things like that, he meant my ability.

I'd hoped he wouldn't notice. Seeing myself in the mirror across the room during our conversation sparked a fear inside of me.

"I'm not exuberant," I muttered, pulling my hood up to cover the word.

Why did my scar decide to use such fancy words, anyway? Wasn't it enough to say that I was excited? I wasn't, by the way. But still.

"THE SCAR HAS SPOKEN!" Nico yelled dramatically, standing on top of my bed, which I was currently sitting on with my legs stretched out. I threatened to trip him up if he didn't get off.

He didn't.

"THE HEAVENS HAVE SENT A SIGN!" He was fake crying now. "OUR DEAR BABY MARKAROO'S ALL GROWN UP AND GOING TO SOCIALISE."

That's it. I swung my legs over to the side of the bed, knocking Nico over in the process.

"Ouch, thanks for that," he muttered, rubbing his side after he toppled over and conveniently landed on top of me.

"You're welcome, maybe aim to fall onto the floor next time, though," I replied.

"Hey, what's that on your desk?" Nico said curiously, I glanced at the table on the other side of the room to see what he was talking about.

There was a record of my favourite band and a copy of Macbeth sitting there, as if they'd been there forever. However, I was very sure they hadn't been there before.

"Someone must have put them there," Nico said, turning the book over in his hands. "Plus, who else knows about your Shakespere obsession but me and Ami? They'd think you were a dork."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, "I must have bought them a couple of weeks ago and misplaced them or something like that. It seems like something I'd do."

"Amira stopped by today, by the way," I told him, getting up. "She took your sketchbook."

Nico's eyes lit up with excitement and his hair swiftly changed into a blindingly bright shade of yellow with pink highlights.

"I'm guessing that's a good thing?" I asked. He nodded.

"Oh you have no idea," he grinned. "You're gonna enjoy next week so much."

I opened my mouth to remind him that I wasn't going to whatever ball, dance, or celebration he was talking about but decided it was no use.

Making my way over to my desk––I needed to get my headphones––I noticed Tanni's book on the floor. A World Without Colour. My mind took me back to one of our recent sessions when she gave me it and told me to read it. Yeah, there was no way I was going to do that. I turned the novel in my hands and began to skim through the synopsis.

Okay. It looked interesting enough, but it sounded too sweet for it to be something Tanni would read.

"Where did you get that," Nico suddenly appeared behind me. Seriously, he knew that I was jumpy and yet he still managed to scare me like that.

"Tanni," I sighed, placing it down on the desk.

"Aww, you two are exchanging books now?" he smiled.

"Shut up," I lightly shoved him away, fighting a grin that was slowly making its way onto my face. "It's for the project."

The project, which meant I'd have to talk about my memory loss, sooner or later.

"You won't remember, you'll be worthless. No one will care... no one ever did."

No one can know I can't remember.

"Yeah, well just don't forget about me," he said dramatically.

"As if anyone could replace you, Picasso," I ruffled up his hair––it was something I'd always done for two reasons: It annoyed him, and he couldn't do it back to me because I was frustratingly taller than him.

"Screw you," he laughed, pushing my arm away. We both fell silent for a couple of minutes, until I noticed Nico tugging on his sleeves.

"Woah, what happened?" I asked softly, pulling his hands away from his jumper.

"Nothing?" he frowned, looking up at me, "I'm fine."

"You haven't...?" I trailed off, not wanting to say the words out loud. Nico only got into the habit of covering his arms and tugging on his clothes because of one particular thing––and that hadn't happened in over a year.

The memory of the first time it happened was still fresh in my mind; it was about three months after the war ended, and we'd become pretty close. Not close as we were now, obviously, but we were comfortable around each other.

I had been walking back from class. Nico left the lesson early on, saying he felt sick and needed to see the nurse. Of course, I was worried about him. So I snuck out, and went to the nurse's office, only to find out that he'd never been there in the first place. Then I made a beeline for the dorms.

I didn't knock, I never did. I ran into the room, my heart racing, and my side aching me from all the running.

That's when I saw Nico sitting on the floor, scissors in hand, and fresh cuts on his arms. His eyes had widened with fear at the time, like he was afraid. Afraid of judgement, of pity, of himself.

So, I sat down on the floor with him. Naturally, he leaned into me and I held him tight for the rest of the day––as if letting go would kill him. It would have killed me.

And that's when I realised that if I could steal anyone's wounds and past and engrave it all into my body and mind, for the sheer possibility that it could ease their pain––it would be Nico. My brother. Not one who was there when I was born...But the brother who would be beside me the day I died.

It took around a year before he stopped cutting himself. It took many nights of silent tears, no tears at all, nights where he would rant to me about everything, or sit there for hours on end without saying a single word. It took everything and nothing. And in every situation I was there, sitting beside him because he needed me to.

Every time he showed signs of starting it again, my heart felt like it might stop.

"I haven't," replied Nico, finally, "but lately it's felt like I might."

I shuffled closer to him, and whispered. "Rant, comfort, or distraction?"

That had always been our motto whenever one of us was feeling down. Rant, comfort, or distraction?

"All three, in that order," he said, and began his rant.

"...And I'm just terrified that things will never be fully okay again, Mark. I've tried so hard to feel like life might be worth it, you know?" he choked back tears. "And I––I don't think I deserve that."

I nodded. Although my brain was screaming 'YOU DESERVE IT, YOU DESERVE THE WHOLE WORLD AND MORE BECAUSE YOU'RE MY WORLD.' But instead I said:

"The hardest times are just as important as the best, Picasso."

He looked up at me and scrunched up his nose in confusion. "Woah, when did 'deep quotes' join our motto?" he teased lightly. I laughed.

"I'm being serious. Without you and Amira, I'd probably be six feet under––yet here I am. And that's because you helped me out of whatever horrible situation I'd gotten myself into. Whether that was something like my own issues, or I'd just been an idiot and actually tripped and fell into a ditch," I said. Then I realised I was going off track. "I mean, I was stuck in that ditch for two hours, but if I hadn't been––then I wouldn't have had that epic story to write about in my English exam which I got full marks on. So, all the bad stuff always has something good come out of it."

Nico grinned at me, it was a sad smile. But a smile nonetheless.

"Yeah, you're right," he mumbled.

"And if the bad stuff happens again, I'll go through it with you and keep a smile on your face, even if it means putting a frown on mine," I added.

Nico didn't know how to respond to that, so instead we just played an album on the record player and sang along until we felt we could control the earth.

Because we were kids.

War couldn't take that away from us. Not all of it. Not if we didn't let it. 

a/n – nico my sweet baby and my first ever comfort character ;'(. but its ok, he'll be ok. do you have any favourite quotes so far from him? anyways, love ya and have a great day/night and pls vote/comment/share if you enjoyed!!!