Summary: In which Youngblood makes one he can’t keep.
Author’s Note: Thanks for giving me this idea @hit-or-mish <3
...
It’s late at night when a guard knocks on Youngblood’s door, but he isn’t sleeping. He’s poring over documents and paperwork and trying to hold his eyes open long enough to finish. Of all the worst parts about being first chair, the paperwork and lack of sleep are nearly at the top. Youngblood can only think of one part he dislikes more.
The lamp lighting the pages is giving him a headache at this point, and his eyes are pulsing behind his skull. He squeezes his eyes shut and rubs at the bridge of his nose. The Bard King expects so much, all the time, and he can’t—
Youngblood breathes out a slow breath and rests his forehead in his hands. What he wouldn’t give for Noise to show up and drag him away from work. They have a way of making everything seem okay, even if just for a little while.
But that’s the worst part of being first chair. He never gets to see his best friend anymore. He’s always busy and Noise is always doing something else, since second chair isn’t exactly an easy job either. Even when Noise is doing nothing else Youngblood usually isn’t allowed to bring him along.
He thinks back to their student days, when Noise would barge into Youngblood’s room and exclaim that they’re working too much and so they’re both taking a break right now. It’s been way too long since that happened.
How long has it been since he’s seen Noise anyway? It feels like months.
A knock on his door pulls him from his thoughts, which granted, aren’t very productive right now anyway.
Still, Youngblood groans and glances down at the paperwork he was about three quarters of the way done with. He mourns the loss of the three hours of sleep he had almost been able to have, then climbs up and walks over to the door, takes a deep breath, and opens it.
“Apologies for the intrusion, Youngblood,” the guard on the other side says, looking very much like he does not want to be there.
“It’s alright,” Youngblood says, though he’s sure his exhaustion comes through in his own voice too. “What’s going on?”
He expects the guard to give him some other form of paperwork, or tell him something that’s needed of him immediately. He does not expect the guard to hesitantly say, “It’s about Noise.”
Youngblood shoves down the spark of ‘friend!’ that comes with hearing about Noise, rubs his eyes, and asks, “What about Noise?”
“He’s listed you as his emergency contact if someone needs to—”
The guard sighs, seeming irritated mostly because of exhaustion, but irritated nonetheless. “Come with me.”
Youngblood grabs a jacket that he keeps near the door and his set of keys on the hook next to it, and nearly slams the door shut on his way out. He looks to the guard, who is supposed to be moving already, why isn’t he?
The guard sighs, sounding weary, and gestures with his head down the hallway, heading off past Noise’s room, in a direction Youngblood hasn’t been in before.
“Look,” the guard says as they walk. Youngblood is barely paying attention, just looking ahead of them for any kind of sign as to where they’re going.
“Hey,” the guard says firmly, and Youngblood turns.
“What? I’m a little preoccupied now,” he hisses, trying to avoid waking the people around them even as he needs to get his anger across.
“Yeah, and I’m not saying that isn’t sweet, but you need to be careful,” the guard says, crossing his arms. “There’s a reason you’re already not allowed near each other most of the time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m just saying I’d be more careful about letting on to the Bard King that you’re this attached to each other,” the guard says, looking around as if someone is watching them. “You’re not exactly being subtle.”
“What— what are you talking about?” Youngblood asks again in bafflement.
The guard just sighs, shakes his head, and keeps walking.
Youngblood is about to ask again, but a second later the guard turns to the side and pushes open a door that spills light out into the hallway. As soon as it’s opened Noise’s voice can be heard from inside, and Youngblood immediately moves forward and in through the door.
“Noise? Noise!”
Noise is lying on a table near the back of what appears to be a medbay, with a doctor looking over him. Youngblood feels his heart rush into his throat, and moves forward as close as he can to Noise’s bed, stopping just behind the doctor.
He’s apparently close enough for Noise to see him, though, because they glance up and their face brightens. “Youngblood!” they call happily, reaching out and making grabby hands at him. “I missed you!”
Youngblood swallows, and reaches weakly forward until Noise grabs onto his hand. “Noise, what— what happened?”
“He says he was attacked by a monster,” the doctor says, and Youngblood glances over at her. “He’s not in great shape, so he’s on painkillers. He might be a little… out of it.”
“Youngblood, come cuddle me!” Noise calls, making more grabby hands.
“What— what do you mean he was attacked by a monster?” Youngblood asks. “What mission was he on?”
“Actually, that part’s rather confusing,” the doctor says, turning to face Youngblood and pushing her glasses up her nose. “They weren’t on a dangerous mission, they were apparently just supposed to be dropping off some supplies. And they’ve been too in pain or too out of it to explain what really happened.”
“But,” Youngblood shakes his head, “That doesn’t make any sense.”
The doctor shrugs helplessly and turns back to start looking at Noise again.
Noise, for their part, continues to reach for Youngblood and whine about wanting cuddles, to the point that Youngblood steps forward slightly further and lets Noise grab onto his hand and cuddle it to their chest.
Youngblood blows a slow breath out of his mouth and turns, rubbing his forehead and trying to think of anything that could have happened.
His gaze lands on the guard from before, who has a knowing look on his face. Youngblood looks at him for a moment, and takes in the grave expression. The guard seems to take that as a question, because he nods. And despite not having asked a question, Youngblood understands the answer.
“Youngblood,” Noise whines, drawing Youngblood’s attention back to him.
Youngblood swallows. “Hi Noise.”
Noise beams back at him. “Come here,” they say, making grabby hands again. “I miss you. I never see you anymore and it makes me sad, Youngblood. You’re making me sad and I don’t like it.”
Youngblood takes a shaky breath. “Sorry, Noise,” he says. “I— give me a minute, okay?”
“Nooo,” Noise cries, but Youngblood pulls his hand away and walks over to the guard.
“Are you saying—” Youngblood starts.
“Shh,” the guard hisses. “Don’t say it out loud. All I’m saying is you should be more careful.”
“I—” Youngblood squeezes his eyes shut and takes a deep breath. He has too much to think about and he’s not in the greatest situation to do it, not while Noise is hurt behind him and yelling out that Youngblood should get back there and cuddle them.
Finally, Youngblood looks back at the guard. “I appreciate that,” he says. “But I’m okay. We’re okay. I can protect Noise if he needs it, and I’m sure he can do the same for me. And I’ll never let anything else hurt him.”
The guard looks at Youngblood in silence for a moment, then sighs. “Okay,” he says. “Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
With that, he turns and leaves.
Youngblood watches him go for a moment, then turns around to head back towards Noise. The doctor turns to face him as he does.
“They’ll be okay,” she says. “They just need to rest. They’ll probably need to be looked after for a couple of days, if you know someone who can do that.”
“He can stay with me,” Youngblood says quietly. “And… thank you.”
The doctor smiles a little and turns to head back towards the other side of the room.
Youngblood turns to look down at Noise, who’s blinking up at him like they’re amazed by what they’re seeing, and clearly still very out of it.
“Hey,” Youngblood says, smiling weakly. “How you holdin’ up?”
“Not as good as I would be with cuddles,” Noise says, like it’s a fact of life.
Youngblood laughs a little. “Okay,” he says, and pulls the cover back, being mindful of Noise’s bandaged stomach would. He wraps his arms gently around Noise, who makes a happy little sound and rests their head under Youngblood’s chin.
“Ow, Noise, your horns,” Youngblood says with a wince.
“I love you too,” Noise says happily, which means nothing because he’s high on painkillers and Youngblood can’t take one more thing right now.
So instead, he shifts so Noise’s horns aren’t poking him so much and pulls the blankets back over them both. Noise gives a happy little sigh and closes their eyes, falling asleep almost immediately against Youngblood’s chest.
Youngblood presses his forehead against Noise’s and takes a shaky breath.
“It’s going to be alright,” he murmurs, quietly so as not to wake Noise. “I’ll take care of you, and you’re going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it.” He leans forward one more time and gently kisses Noise on the first horn he reaches.
If certain characters are blocked. Why not make Noor a lead? We know her, the other characters know or are acquainted with her. It's good grounds to build. Moyo is a great choice too! He's an interesting dude, much can be explored and explained about him.
These Noyo Crayons were on sale for Prime Day and I’m so glad I snatched them up! They are more like a gel crayon but MUCH better than the messy Mr. Sketch ones. You can smudge them for a pastel effect or add water to make water colors. They have good pigment and glide across the paper smoothly. Plus, they don’t smudge!
Muere, entonces, con tu chacarera. Con tal, hoy y siempre la vida me mantendrá despierta en este pútrido estado intermedio...ente lo onírico y la nada.
