@phoenixcoin asked: ❝ breathe with me. in and out… good job. just keep doing that. ❞ | | HURT/COMFORT | accepting
He was the Phoenix. He was the guiding light and hope for all of Rosaria. He was supposed to be their leader, and leaders didn't cry. They didn't sniffle or sob or become teary-eyed no matter what happened.
Especially not if it was something as little and inconsequential as a scrapped knee.
His mother was always so fretful over him, anxiously watching over Joshua like a mother hen. To allow for him to part from her side for any amount of time always took an endless amount of pleading and bargaining, and it always came with firm insistence that he would be fine. If it was ever proven to not be the case--
Which meant he needed to hide the scrapped knee that he had gained from being clumsy and tripping while visiting his uncle.
It was a small, minor wound. Not enough to be worth crying over. The scrape was barely even bleeding, just some tiny red dots amongst the dirt and pebbles that his knees had been dragged over. It was nothing! But it hurt, and combined with the worry over what would happen if his mother found out resulted in the child barely able to hold back his tears.
The words from his Uncle helped a little, though the fact that he wasn't adding to the panic helped more. Joshua drew in a shaky breath as he tried to do as instructed - breath in, and out, and in, and out--
"You won't tell Mother, will you?"
