Balan migraine fic is doooone! full text under cut but also link to ao3 here
He doesn’t even need to open his eyes to know, the throbbing pain in his head proof enough of the storm.
Balan groans, burying himself deeper into his sheets- which quickly reveals itself as a mistake, as a sharp pain shoots through his leg from the movement. He hisses, tendrils thrashing out from his back reflexively as he drops back into his previous position.
Great. His hip was also acting up today. If it was merely a migraine, or merely his hip, it’d be much easier to deal with. Easier to hide away, to let it rest. Instead he’s forced into stillness, bothered by the lights, yet unable to hide from them.
His tendrils at least can flop over his face, though the sensitive skin on them did cause an irritating buzzing sensation to run through his back.
He lays there in silence, eyes shut again to protect from what little light was able to seep around his tendrils.
Something smooth taps his arm, before poking at the tendrils on his face. Balan peeks one eye open, seeing a golden eye filling his vision.
”Rrrrusty?” The eye’s owner moves, filling his vision with red fluff. Indeed, it was Rusty, the giant tim gently patting Balan down with his beak. Balan grunts, giving Rusty’s beak a pat in return. Now aware that his owner is awake, Rusty trills, happily shoving his face into Balan’s. This of course meant Rusty was also trying to climb onto him. Unfortunately, due to being eleven feet tall, Rusty was very, very heavy.
Even with his own body weight, his hip acted up. With a half ton of bird on it, Balan was in agony.
He hisses again, trying to move the massive tim off of his poor hip. Rusty immediately picks up on the spike of emotions, hopping off of his owner and peeping worriedly. Balan groans, unable to move into a position without any pain.
He can’t focus on anything but the pain, floating in a mental pool of agony.
Outside he could hear the rhythmic click of someone walking, though in his haze of pain he could barely tell who it was. It at least sounded heavy enough to be a maestro, which narrowed down his options considerably.
“Balan.” Lance. The negative Maestro was standing in the doorway, still open from Rusty sneaking his way in. His eyes couldn’t focus enough to figure out much more than that.
“Huoygh.” That was nowhere close to what he’d meant to say.
“Hm, is it that bad? Your current state is rather sad.”
“Less words.” Balan croaks out, breathing heavily in an attempt to distract himself.
Lance hums, rubbing her thumb across her medallion in thought. “Five or four?”
Balan briefly raises his hand, flexing his claws, before dropping it back down.
“Mhm. That certainly explains your miserable languor.”
Lance disappears into Balan’s closet, followed by an angrily trilling Rusty. He’s saying something towards the tim, but with how quiet he’s being, Balan can’t make out any of it. A minute later, he exits again, walking to the room’s other side and placing something on Balan’s desk.
Lance’s tendrils wrap around his limbs and torso, carefully lifting Balan out of bed and onto his chaise. Before he can ask any questions, Lance is already rubbing his forehead, fluffing up the fur of his mask.
“Shhhrrr.” Somewhere between shushing and a purr, a familiar noise from his younger years. Her other hand gently curls around his hair, pulling it behind him, letting his locs lay on the chaise’s arm. Lance grabs something off the desk, before holding it up for Balan to see.
With Balan’s approval, Lance slips them onto his face. There’s movement behind him, followed by feeling Lance move his hair again. He moves towards Balan’s legs, a familiar garment in her hand. His brace. Pulling his leg in thankfully isn’t too painful, allowing the brace to be slipped around his leg easily. Actually fastening it…
Lance’s tendrils curl around his waist firmly, his Mirror staring at him expectantly.
“As long as you don’t fight.” With that, he’s lifted up. It hurts… about as much as merely lying there did. With Balan suspended, Lance is able to quickly fasten the garment. Being set back down hurts a bit less with the orthotic in place. Lance snaps her fingers, and in an instant Balan’s dressed in some loose sweatpants and a tank top. Thankfully, outer clothing worked upon the same rules as costumes.
“Can you sit upright?” Balan attempts to rise a bit before hissing, slowly sliding back down.
“I shall take that as not. Let’s give the saddle a shot.”
Lance clicks her tongue twice, before addressing Rusty. “Elddas pu. Evaheb rof em.” There’s a bit of movement, before- “Rusty.”
Balan turns his head to look at them. The tim was standing up on his haunches, feathers puffed up in defiance. Lance was visibly unamused, given how her tendrils were thrashing, negati marks pulsing with energy.
“If you do not cooperate I shall be forced to get Gluttoni to take your place.”
Rusty snaps his beak, getting a wince out of Balan. “Just… listen t’ her.” Rusty looks back at his owner, head tilting to the side. Balan sighs. “Elddas pu. Cooperate.” Begrudgingly the tim sits down, but not before nipping at Lance. He scoffs.
“Yes, yes, just be still. Your maestro is feeling ill.” With a now cooperative bird, getting Rusty saddled up was much less of a struggle. As Lance was fastening the last few straps, Balan manages to roll over with not too much pain.
The saddle had a unique design, partly to fit onto a large enough Tim, ones bigger than a Tam- jokingly referred to as a Tom. The other part was that one lay prone upon it, specifically made for days like this, when he can’t sit well enough for a wheelchair.
He’s placed gently onto Rusty’s back, hands closed around the tim’s horns. The warmth from the tim’s body heat was delightful, soothing his body ever so slightly. Settling himself into the saddle more, he’s remarkably comfortable and quite sure he’ll stay put.
“Follow me. Let us do something for those agonies.”
He’s placed back down in the lounge, dimly lit by the fireplace at the back. Gentle enough to not hurt, but illuminated well enough to see. The seats in the lounge, while similarly comfortable to his bed, allowed him to rest in a different pose. That, and the lounge was less sensitive to air pressure changes- something that Balan (and indeed some guests) had found to be a lifesaver.
Rusty, no longer being ridden, immediately scuttled off to laze in front of the fire, still fully saddled. They’d bother with removing it later.
Balan shuts his eyes, listening to the fireplace crackling and the ever-present ballad haunting the lounge. While louder technically, the gentle tune was soothing, more so than the quiet of his room, a gentle distraction from the pain.
He lays there for a bit, before hearing a gentle chirp from Lance. Balan looks up, seeing Lance with a small folding table in one hand, and three dishes in her tendrils.
Lance sets the table up, before placing a mug and bowl onto it.
“Ereh.” Lance places something in Balan’s hand, something he has to squint a bit to fully see.
Small white pills- ones he was rather familiar with. Migraine medication.
Human medications did work on maestros, but the dosages had to be adjusted for their greater body mass. Thankfully they had bothered to do all that math years ago, when they’d both been in a clear state of mind. Now, all Balan had to do was merely swallow the pills down, chasing them down with a swig of tea. Green, sweetened with honey. His favorite.
Setting the mug back on the table, he turns his attention to the bowl- it was easier on him when he had food alongside the medication.
Inside were grits, topped with some crumpled bacon and a rather gooey egg. A meal Balan had grown fond of over the years, with the added bonus of being easy enough to eat in his current state without assistance.
Lance curls up onto the other end of the couch, nibbling on a sandwich for herself- presumably a croissant with brie and turkey, her favorite- though Balan couldn’t see it that well. The two eat in silence, partly to avoid aggravating Balan’s head, and partly due to Lance being a poor conversationalist. He’s fine with this- Lance’s words were there when it truly mattered.
Balan yawns, setting the now emptied bowl onto the table. The pain had drained what little energy he’d had from before, and with a belly full of warm food, a nap seemed like a good option. Draining the last few gulps of tea from the mug as well, he settles down, resting his head against the cushions. Perhaps in a few hours, he’d be a bit clearer, but for now, his consciousness was being drawn back to the silence of sleep.