Chapter Text
Athena can feel the headache before they even open their eyes. They sit up, a scowl on their face as a piercing light blinds them when they open their eyes. The light does not in any way help with the wretched headache pounding through their skull. Rubbing at their eyes, they attempt to remember the night before, there was alcohol involved, Sunny, and eugh, Lonan. The one person that Athena can’t seem to avoid in the BB Castle.
They yawn and reach for their journal, only to find it missing from their bedside table. Quickly, they attempt to look through their drawers, their right wrist getting caught on something cold and metallic, stopping them from moving it more than a few inches from its original resting spot. They quickly look over, recognizing the feeling of handcuffs practically immediately, only to see their least favorite person in their new friend group looking through their journal.
“Lonan.” They grit their teeth.
Of course he was here.
“Well good morning to you too, Athena,” Lonan mutters, flipping through the pages of their book.
They didn’t like the way that the avian said their name. It was… wrong. Recited almost distastefully.
“That's mine, give it back-“ Athena quickly reaches for the book, but Lonan holds it at the other end of the bed.
“Let's see here… ah yes, ‘Lonnan is anoying, yet sadly not as ugly as I wuld’ve wishd,’ also you spelled my name wrong.” Lonan reads from the book before looking up at them, a wide grin spreading across their face.
Maybe he knows that there’s a hidden meaning to some of the words written in them. From his expression, he seems to. Athena wasn’t that good at writing, but there was no way that they were bad enough that it was all obvious to Lonan? Or could he just read between the lines really well?
“I said give it back, Lonan.” They snatch the journal from the avian's hand and whack him over the head with it. Some of the sculk on the cover gets in their hair.
“OW- rude!” Lonan whines and elbows them in the side in response, smirking at the small shocked noise Athena makes.
They set their book down on the table beside them gently, avoiding looking at Lonan’s ugly face. If they did, they’d probably do more than just hit them back.
“Why are you in here?”
“Because- we- I swear, how in the world have you still not noticed our predicament, dumbass,” Lonan jibes, grabbing Athena’s cuffed wrist and holding it up, revealing that Lonan has a matching cuff. A connecting cuff. Athena’s eyes widen for a split second, giving Lonan a moment of smugness as they watch Athena process and attempt to mask their emotions.
“What the hell did you do?!” Athena snaps at them, using their other hand to try to pull off the handcuff, immediately failing. They probably should’ve expected that, though one can still hope.
Please don’t let Athena be stuck with this ugly motherfuc-
“Me?! I didn’t do anything! Why would I want to be handcuffed to you of all people!” Lonan yanks at their arm, attempting to hurt Athena by doing so. It digs into the skin on her wrist and leaves ugly marks, and Athena can’t help hissing at the slight pain.
Just as Athena opens their mouth to complain, they get cut off by a knock at the door to their room. The pair look up and quickly move as far away from each other as possible- which isn’t very far, sadly.
“Come in,” Athena says reluctantly, watching the door as if it had wronged them. For all they know, whoever is about to walk in is not someone they’ll enjoy seeing.
The door opens and Sunny walks in, eating a cookie.
“Sup you two-“ Sunny grins, seemingly not surprised at all by the sight in front of them.
Did she-
“Sunny… What did you do?” Lonan immediately accuses, clearly thinking the same thing. Standing up, they forget about the cuffs and accidentally pulling Athena up with them.
“OWWW-“ Athena elbows their roommate and rights themself.
“Me? Oh nothingggggg-” She catches sight of their unimpressed looks. “Okay, it was just a joke- don’t worry-“ Sunny grins awkwardly, laughing at the two fighting.
“Sunny unlock us. Please.” Athena pleads, tugging at their restraint again.
The desperation in Athena’s voice is endearing, if not almost annoying- Lonan shouldn’t be bothered by it, given they also hold the same desire to be let free. But is he really than unpleasent to be around?
“Wow, never thought I'd see you beggi-“ Lonan starts, stopping their sentence at the glare they receive from the other two in the room.
“I’m ignoring that- see, I’d love to unlock you both… but-“
“BUT?!” Athena interrupts Sunny, resulting in a jab to their side instead. They refrain from jabbing Lonan back.
“But I don’t really have the key anymore-“ Sunny continues, a grin gracing her face.
“…..What…..” Athena stares at their friend, thoughts going a million miles an hour.
“You’ve condemned me to deal with this?!” Lonan yells and screams, then shoves Athena back onto the bed, who falls onto the soft, nest-like structure. The avian grabs a pillow and throws it at their sibling, who quickly flees, closing the door behind them.
Lonan sighs and falls into the bed next to Athena.
“We’re fucked.” They mutter and glance over at their enemy.
“Just stay quiet and I won’t cut your hand off to escape.” Athena threatens, then grabs their book from where it had been thrown on their bedside table, writing fairly aggressively.
“Yeah right-“ Lonan mutters and peeks over Athena’s shoulder, attempting to read what they were writing. “Hmmm, ‘Sunny traped me with the bitch-’ OI- says you-!” Lonan reads out before Athena snaps shut the book. “God you’re actually so shit at writing-“ the avian jabs.
“I’m learning! Shut up asshole-!” Athena grumbles and puts their book away.
Lonan sighs and lays back down, staring up at the ceiling with mild interest in their glowing golden eyes. Athena hesitantly lays back as well, closing their own eyes.
“Let's just… stay inside as much as possible- okay?” Lonan mutters, Athena couldn’t tell if this was them trying to order them to do something, (which they would object to and yell at them), or actually trying to work with Athena. They decided on the second. Maybe that would end better.
“Fine, I guess-“ they mutter, draping their free arm over their eyes to block out the light slipping through.
Lonan sighs, watching Athena quickly fall back asleep. After a few moments, they rest their hand on Athena’s chest so as not to be uncomfortable, despite how much they dislike touching them (all of the soft moss-like fungus that grows on the taller is nice to the touch, though Lonan would never actually tell them that.) Athena shifts slightly in their sleep, pulling Lonan closer with their restraints. It’s in a way that Athena would never dare to do while awake, almost like they were clinging. He’d rather not deal with the taller’s annoying complaints, so they move even closer just slightly, so the metal isn’t digging into their skin. That’s what they would tell Athena if they woke up and asked what Lonan was doing.
That’s all it was.
Lonan soon fell into the same dreamless sleep, if anyone walked in it’d look like they were… cuddling.
Lonan awoke to the sound of a door opening and the lights snapping on. Wincing, they hide their face the best they can. They hear footsteps and a chuckle before they peek out and open their eyes.
“Hey there-“ Fal chuckles and gives them a look. Amusement, mixed with… knowingness? It’s almost teasing. Not something that Lonan would expect from him.
“Uhm… heyyyy. Why are you looking at me like that?” Lonan mutters and props itself up on its elbows.
“Well you’re on top of the person you say you hate oh so much, so…….” Fal gestures to the position the two are in.
“What- I'M NOT ON TOP OF THEM! SUNNY HANDCUFFED US AND I-“
“Yeah, yeah, they told me, while dying laughing,” Fal chuckles and rolls their eyes. He waves his hand around slightly, the style and way his wrist bend and hand move giving Lonan an idea of what exactly Fal had been told. Which is, everything.
Fun.
“Of course they did-“ Lonan huffs and nudges Athena, whining, “Wake uppp, my arm hurts.”
Athena whines and rolls over, tugging Lonan closer to them.
“OI-!” Lonan squawks and tugs at their arm, trying to free themself, though Athena only clings tighter. Their handcuffed arm is awkwardly thrown around the avian. “I’m a human- well, part bird- and I am not a stuffed animal to cuddle with!”
The other only whines
“Good luck with that, I’ma go-“ Fal laughs and walks out, closing the door behind them.
Lonan flips Athena over so their wrist isn’t strained anymore. Athena huffs and opens their eyes,
“What d’you wantttt-“ Athena whines and glares at the avian.
“You’re hurting my arm, and it’s like two P.M., how are you still sleeping??” Lonan mutters.
“I sleep whenever I want, cry about it little boy.” Athena jibes and sits up. Apparently they’d decided it was time to take a break from sleeping too.
“I need to do some potion making, so you’re gonna need to come with me,” Athena grins and tugs Lonan off the bed and over to their chests lining the wall, near the desk and the brewing stand. It’s a familiar sight, the brewing setup.
“Why can’t we just chill for the day while Sunny finds the key?” Lonan complains as Athena grabs ingredients from various chests.
“Do you really think Sunny is looking for that key? I mean, Fal just said Sunny was laughing while telling them what happened.” Athena mutters, tugging Lonan over to sit in a chair at the desk.
“I mean, why wouldn’t she look? They kind of hate any possibility of a relationship between us, so they probably don’t want us bonding-“
It makes sense, given anytime the two of them interact physically in a way beyond enemies, Sunny gets all defensive over her brother. Neither of them is sure why, though they can only imagine that it started when Athena first pinned Lonan to a wall during an argument.
“Well cause they find it funny, does Sunny need any other reason?”
“I… I guess not…” Lonan whispers. “What are you making, anyway?”
“Just… potions- it's none of your business…” Athena mutters, their face flashing between annoyance and what Lonan could only explain as secretiveness. Why are they getting so defensive over potions?
“Well these look like regen, health, and just… random ingredients, I’ve never seen half of these used in a potion before-“ Lonan starts, Athena cutting them off with a scoff.
“Just shut up and let me do my job won’t you?” Athena scowls as they pour blaze powder into its compartments. “Potions aren’t your thing.”
“They are, I do make potions, and I enjoy it!”
Athena doesn’t respond, though the look on their face is answer enough. Lonan considers adding some other comment, maybe to get the other to stop ignoring him, though he eventually decides otherwise. Triggering Athena was fun, though maybe a bad idea while playing with fire and dangerous ingredients.
Lonan sighs and watches, resting its head on the desk, its hand awkwardly close to Athena’s. They watch as Athena makes various potions, making snide remarks every once in a while. They’re continuously ignored- it stings a bit. Only a bit. And maybe the anxiety of it causes Lonan to drum their fingers repetitively and obsessively on the table, or bounce their legs, but it’s fine. Normal jitters, that was the excuse they’d give.
Soon enough Lonan passes out once more.
Lonan wakes up in their bed yet again. How they got there strikes them as a mystery at first, until they realize that Athena probably dragged them over while they were unconscious. He looks over to see their clock, which reads 02:26 A.M. Well shit.
He’s getting as much sleep as he did whenever his illness flared up again, a fairly obvious difference from their normal schedule, which is horrendously fucked up. Yet it isn’t nearly as bad as Sunny’s. Maybe the extra sleep is just cause of Athena. Or maybe it’s another wave of the mystery sickness.
I hope I don’t get Athena sick, Lonan thinks at first, before quickly amending it. He doesn’t care if he gets Athena sick, he doesn’t.
And, well- Lonan had never contaminated Sunny and she often visits him when it gets bad.
Athena has their arm lying across Lonan’s chest, their leg draped over Lonan’s, and her head is tucked into his neck. He’s practically pinned under them. They sigh and place a hand in Athena’s hair, threading their hands through their long dark strands, the light peaking through the window lighting up the locks almost teal, like the dyed ends. It’s pretty. It reminds Lonan of Samuel’s hair, almost- but not quite.
Athena’s far more attractive, though Lonan would never dare admit that out loud.
Athena shifts slightly but doesn’t, to Lonan’s knowledge, wake up. He sits in this position for a good thirty minutes before falling back to sleep.
Sunny sits in her bed, twirling a small key on a ring around her finger, grinning as they text their friend about their day.
Hopefully, the handcuffed duo is having fun.
Athena wakes up to silence, to their delight. Lonan’s face in a peaceful rest, their hand still in Athena’s hair. Rather than moving and waking up the small avian, they sit there, at some point, they grab their journal and start writing. Sometimes they’d feel a finger in their hair twitch or hear its wings shuffle and flutter behind them, but none of it woke the smaller. Athena just continues writing, putting down questions (that Lonan would mock them for before answering later), potion (and drug) notes and recipes, and just general thoughts. Anything that came to mind really, though there were things they would never dare write. They had to be careful now that Lonan reads through the book as almost a habit, clearly to mess with Athena and tick them off.
How would Lonan react to some of the things Athena actually thought, though always repressed?
They feel Lonan move under them, and they close their book quietly.
“Look who’s alive.” Athena chides, sounding slightly disappointed but in an almost mocking way.
“Oh shut up mushroom-“ Lonan mutters.
“MUSHROOM?!”
“Well yeah, look at all the mushrooms growin’ on you,” Lonan gestures to some and raises a delicate slitted eyebrow, “Am I wrong?”
Athena feels their face already going red with anger, and they’d barely been interacting with Lonan for thirty seconds.
“I am not a damn mushroom, bitch bird.”
“Woah woah woahhhh, calm down with the insults, my feelings are sooo hurt.” Lonan mutters sarcastically and rolls his eyes.
“You’re insufferable,” Athena whispers and sits up.
Lonan sits up and stretches both sets of wings out to their full length, muttering something under their breath about ‘preening’, though Athena is too caught up staring at the feathers on the bed that Lonan had yet to notice. Seems that some of them fell out while he was sleeping. Athena glances at their partner (IN CRIME) before taking the feathers and pocketing them. Could make good… for something.
“And then I—were you listening?” Lonan’s voice sadly enters Athena’s head again. They blink and look at the bird.
“Huh? What- no I don’t listen to you when you talk to me.”
“Rude-“ Lonan scoffs.
“That like- my whole thing darling, being rude, condescending, ann-“
“Wow, that’s a big word to be in your dictionary, I’m so proud of you!” Lonan mocks, patting Athena on the head, right between her sculk-covered horns. She feels an eye twitch.
“YOU FUCKING-“ Athena jumps on Lonan, pushing them down onto the bed and pinning them to the bed. “Don't you fucking make fun of my limited English vocabulary-“
“Another big word, I’m so proud-“
Athena snarls and pushes their arm against Lonan’s neck. Fuck everything else, he was going to kill-
The door opens, “Hey do you guys….”
Sunny looks back and forth at the two. Her eyes are dark, cold, and distant, a dying star. “You have five seconds to get off my brother before I kill you,” She mutters, before walking back out and shutting the door.
Athena quickly gets off Lonan, sitting on the bed next to them and keeping their limbs as close to themself as they can, then Sunny walks back in.
“Now that's what I want to see!” Sunny grins and puts her hands on her hips almost smugly. The light had returned to her eyes, mischief, and mayhem, danger. The light of a burning sun.
“What did you need, Sunny?” Athena murmurs.
“Well now I forgot what I was gonna ask for…” the bee hybrid mutters disappointingly. “Welp, bye you two!” She says in a singsong tone before walking back out.
That seemed pretty pointless.
”…..Did you call me darling?!” Lonan quickly sits up to glare at Athena.
“Oh calm down it’s just a nickname-“
Lonan groans and runs their free hand through their hair, disturbing the strands even more than all the sleep had.
Yeah, a nickname. Definitely, Athena.
“I’m hungry, let's get food.” Lonan decides, dragging Athena out of the room.
Lonan pulls Athena to the kitchen, if you could call it that. It’s really just a spare room in one of the towers of the BB Castle, a counter, chairs, barrels, and a furnace are the only furniture. Dim lights are scattered around the room.
“Well this is… depressing,” Athena remarks, looking around the room before Lonan tugs them to the counter.
“It’s the best we could do, shut it, Mushroom.”
“Again with the Mushr-“ Athena starts to reply before Lonan shoves a piece of bread in their mouth.
“I said shut it, Athena.”
Athena swallows the bread. It goes down painfully, thanks to the tightness closing their throat in on itself. Attempting to think of a way to get back at the avian, they look around the room.
“Stop scanning- I can feel you looking around for something to do,” Lonan mutters, sorting through a barrel and shifting Athena’s handcuffed arm around in the process.
They’d gotten, regrettably, rather used to being attached to the other.
“Am not!”
“Yes, you are.”
“No proof.”
“Oh my-“
“Exactly, you have no proof!” Athena grins victoriously before throwing a small orange at Lonan.
“OI- what the fuck!?” Lonan holds the back of their head, whipping around just to see Athena whistling and looking at the ceiling, acting as if they did nothing. Which. They hadn’t. There was no evidence of such.
“One of these days I am going to bash your head in that counter.” The shorter mutters.
Lonan’s voice is… it’s strange. Clearly it leans more towards masculine, though it’s definitely a good mix been between fem and masc, fitting for his primary pronoun being they. It’s slightly raspy, in almost a sick way, and seems to struggle sometimes with getting the right sounds to come out and make the words they want to say.
And, of course, Athena had heard them chirping before. It was weird. They sounded just like a bird.
Lonan starts to peel the orange away, seemingly slightly grateful for the snack. Who knew birds like oranges so much? Athena’s a genius! If only they were appreciated for it.
“I’d like to see you even attempt trying to fight me-“ Athena scoffs and smirks, “You're so weak! And small, I mean just look at you. Even Sunny agrees!“
“Oh my gods-“
“You’re so short, and skinny, and I can tell you haven’t worked out a day in your life, I mean just look at your arms-”
“How much have you looked at me to determine all this?” Lonan taunts, lips pulled back in an almost daring way. Athena knows immediately that they’ve said the wrong thing.
“Well... We’ve been handcuffed for a while so- I just- had time.” Athena snaps back, attempting to hide the shock in her voice. “You’re right there. It’s hard to avoid looking at your ugly face.”
Sometimes she wasn’t used to Lonan biting back, even if that was half the point of their… whatever it was.
“Uhhh huhhh.”
“I mean, you looked at me long enough to notice the growths.”
“Who hasn’t noticed?! Have you looked in a mirror?” Lonan exclaims, gesturing to her general body again. “It’s pretty obvious!”
“I’ve been pretty busy, dumbass. When am I going to find time to look in a mirror?”
Lonan rolls their eyes and turns back to their (apparently very fascinating) orange. “Whatever.”
“….Got anything fun we could do?” Athena asks after a long, awkward silence.
“Uhhhh other than like… alcohol.. no.”
Well.
That didn’t sound too bad.