Nathaniel huddled up in the blankets, hugging the pillow close to his chest when it was given to him. He stirred for a few seconds, but soon settled back down and started quietly purring again in content. He was smiling gently in his sleep and seemed like he would remain this way for a while longer. He wrapped his wings around himself to keep warm and yawned a bit.
Zedd pulled the blankets over Nathaniel quickly before moving towards the stairs. He sighed, remembering what happened when he woke up without the angel. He freaked out. Grabbing a sticky note from the counter, Zedd began to write a small note. That was until he remembered that Nathaniel couldn't freaking read. Crumpling up the paper, he took another note and drew a little staircase with a down arrow above it to represent that he was downstairs. Sticking it on the bedroom door, he left and went down to the shop below.
Nathaniel slept for another hour or so before he stirred and woke up. "Mmmm… sir?" He called out, nervously clutching at the pillow. "Sir?!" He slipped out of bed, leaving the pillow behind. He noticed the note on the door and picked it up, taking a few seconds to figure out what it meant. Once he realized, he relaxed a bit, but his heart was still fluttering. "Mr. Zeddicus?" He called out meekly, leaving the room to head down the stairs, still in his pajamas. "Hello?"
(Bump)
(Frick)
(Hullo)
(Hiii I'll reply real quick now)
(Yeet)
Zeddicus was focused his potion making, adding ingredients to the mix in front of him. He was attempting something more difficult than he usually did. It was one that provided peace to the consumer for a small amount of time. It was harder for the reason that it influenced emotion. Depending on the type of influence, these potions were illegal. Luckily, Zeddicus was making one of the few that were safe. He was carefully adding in a bit of lavender extract upon hearing Nathaniel's worried call. He nearly let the dropper in his hand slip, but managed to set the small tool down. Only for it to roll off of the table and crack. He sighed, carefully picking it up before alerting Nathaniel of his whereabouts.
The door was beside the one that contained Nathaniel's forge now. Thinking about it, things were going to be a lot more difficult as the knife making would be a bit loud. He'd need something to block out all the banging if he worked the same time as Nathaniel.
Nathaniel made it down the stairs and found Zedd, sighing softly in relief. He hugged the man tightly, curling his wings around himself as he purred almost inaudibly. "Sorry I always get so nervous when I can't see you…" He sighed. I just don't want to lose you too… He kept his thoughts to himself for the time being, but winced a bit as they entered his mind. "What are your doing, sir?" He asked softly, looking over at all of Zedd's potion equipment.
Zeddicus had almost let himself say "it's fine," before stopping himself. Now that he was more awake, his mind remembered that Nathaniel wouldn't be here for long. He wanted to get the boy somewhere safe eventually, and here wasn't the right place. Zedd could not raise a child.
"I'm making potions. I do run a potions shop," the man reminded softly. He at least knew now to keep his tone gentle around the angel. He allowed the boy to embrace him from the side a moment before patting his head. "The forge is finished as well, if you were wanting to look?"
"Oh, okay! I… um… yes, I'll go do that, sir! Thank you!" Nathaniel stammered nervously, releasing Zedd and hesitating a few seconds before retreating back out of the room and heading into the forge room. He admired the room with a curious expression, running his fingers along the anvil and tools and metal. Eventually, he out up the forge and picked up a bar of metal that he wanted to work with first.
Zeddicus sighed. He hadn't meant to make Nathaniel feel unwanted or that the boy was bothering him. Tossing the pipette into the trash, he stood to clean up his work for the time being. He poured what he had at the moment into a larger jar and placed it on a higher shelf. The man then walked next door and leaned in the doorway. "Already wanting to work, hm?" he asked, a light smirk on his face. The kid was still barefoot and in his pajamas.
"Mhmm! I'm just waiting for the forge to heat up…" Nathaniel situated a bar of metal in some long clamps so he could hold it in the fire when it was ready. He walked around the room to make sure everything was in order before returning to the forge. The temperature gauge showed that it was hot enough, so he held the metal in the flame until it was red hot, at which point he brought it over to the anvil and started hammering at it.
The banging was louder than he had expected. He winced at first, but it wasn't too hard to bear. "Nathaniel. You have no shoes and your pajamas still on. You should go upstairs and change before you get hurt!" he shouted, only being loud so he could be heard. He suddenly thought of everything that could go wrong in this moment. Nathaniel's clothes could catch fire, Nathaniel could hit himself with the hammer in his hand, Nathaniel could drop something on his foot! Oh stars, maybe this was a bad idea to let the angel do this so soon.
"Alright, alright, just a minute, sir…" Nathaniel replied absently, still hammering the metal. After a minute or two, he flinched and dropped the metal and tools. "Shit…" He muttered, pressing his fingers against a small, bleeding wound on one cheek. It seemed like a sharp fragment of the metal had flown up and struck him in the face.
Zedd's eyes widened, mostly concerned about Nathaniel getting hurt than the profanity spoken at that moment. Well, even if Nathaniel had been properly dressed, it wouldn't have helped the metal avoid his cheek. Zeddicus moved to crouch beside Nathaniel, looking at the wound. It was shallow, so it would be fine. That was when he realized the angel had cursed.
"Wait. Nathaniel, what was that you said a second ago…?"
"Hmm?" Nathaniel looked up at Zedd, fluttering his wings a bit. "Um… 'just a minute', I think?" He replied, seeming genuinely confused. He was too distracted by the wound to remember muttering profanity. "Is it bad?" He asked. "It doesn't hurt too bad, but sometimes the pain gets bad after a minute or two when the wound is really bad… mm, it's starting to twinge a bit now…"
"It doesn't look deep…" Zeddicus hummed before shaking his head. "Nathaniel, don't change the subject, you said something under your breath," he stated, looking the angel in the eyes. He was both a bit impressed and saddened. He knew he'd regret not watching his mouth eventually.
Nathaniel flushed a bit and shied away from Zedd's gaze, feeling guilty. Now that he was less focused on the small injury, he was able to remember a bit more clearly. "I-I… um… s-sorry…" He stammered weakly, fidgeting with the tips of his wings. He wanted to break the eye contact, clearly uncomfortable with it, but he couldn't. A wave of heat washed over him and a pit started gnawing away at his stomach.
"It's okay. Just try not to say it again, okay?" Zedd asked, keeping his voice calm and light. He wasn't angry in the slightest. It was a word he had accidentally taught Nathaniel after all.
Nathaniel cowered a bit, his eyes stinging with tears. His throat tightened up and his breathing grew more quick and harsh. "I-I'm sorry… I'm s-so sorry, I… I'm sorry I lied… and said a bad word… I'm sorry…" Nathaniel fell to his knees and started unbuttoning his pajama shirt, steadily growing more distressed as he continued. He wasn't saying much other than rushed apologies at this point.
Zeddicus watched Nathaniel a moment before sitting on the ground in front of him. He was confused why he was undressing down here instead of upstairs.
He opened his mouth to ask when he froze. Scarring and bruises of all sizes littered the angel's small form, some of them even looking to be from as soon as a week ago perhaps. Most of them looked to be in thicker lines. For as calm as Zedd usually seemed, the amount of panic his face showed was more than what was originally thought possible. The man was sitting there, clenching his eyes shut.
Nathaniel slipped off his pajama shirt and lay it on the ground beside himself, a couple tears rolling down his cheeks as he sat in front of Zedd. He was shaking violently and seemed to be waiting for Zedd to hit him, which was clearly terrifying to him, but he had accepted it. He'd said a bad word and lied about it. He deserved to be punished, right? He had his eyes closed now, too scared to meet Zedd's eyes anymore.
Zeddicus opened his eyes after a second, pulling Nathaniel into a firm hug. He felt so angry at whoever had done this to a kid. Especially since it was this kid. Zedd held him close for a solid few seconds before whispering to the boy in his hold. "I don't know if you know this already, but on earth, people don't hurt their children… I… I'm sorry you thought you had to be punished that way…"