Work Text:
Sharp, piercing pains weren’t uncommon for Mind. He was used to constant headaches. The kind that felt like the tip of a knife pressing into your temple, burning in the back of your eyes. Heart and Soul weren’t startled by Mind persistently rubbing at his forehead or holding the sides of his skull; it was no different a sight than Heart’s tics or Soul’s sleepy pacing. Mind couldn’t remember how long it had been since he felt relief, but the prolonged headache was manageable. Manageable, at least, until it wasn’t.
Because about three hours ago, Mind noticed himself wincing a bit more than normal, and the dull hurt that he was used to had slowly become a pounding he couldn’t ignore any longer. And still, Mind refused to let it distract him. He would not so easily give Heart any reason to take control. Heart had been led away by Soul once the latter finally got sick of them screaming at Mind. Tears streamed from under their blindfold, and Mind simply sneered at them as Soul tugged their hand away. The new silence in the space settled around him, as did the drumming behind his eyes.
Well that’s irritating, thought Mind, assuming it was the echoes of Heart’s melodic yet sharp yelling causing him the irritation. He closed his eyes and stepped back into the light, inviting himself to take control while he could. The entropy was getting out of hand lately, and only Mind’s critical and logical reasoning could fix it, he knew this to be true.
But now, the drumming had definitely turned into an audible pounding, and Mind’s eyebrows knit together to try and bear the sudden flashes of pain. He cautiously opened a squinted eye, which, in hindsight - always twenty-twenty, or so they said, - was a terrible mistake. The light sent searing bolts in and through his cortex, causing his brain to clench in pain. If he let out an audible whine, no one was around to hear him, and he brought his arm up to cover his eyes, tucking his head down. His right hand shot up to clutch the side of his head, and he stumbled backwards away from the light.
As he finally backed into a wall, far enough away that the light wasn’t warming his normally frigid skin, Mind winced. When was the last time he had suffered a migraine this bad? What caused it this time? Heart had been shouting, but that wasn’t an unusual affair. Mind wracked his thoughts for what had changed to bring this on - as much as he could think through the agony. The arm covering his eyes lowered, and Mind placed his hand to the wall, slowly sliding down to sit with his knees pulled up to his chest. He continued to push against the right side of his head with the palm of his hand. Somehow, the pressure helped satiate the vicious ache, so he resigned himself to sitting there, head down, hands pressing on either side of his skull.
However long he sat there with his eyes closed, ten minutes or two hours (the pounding in his head prevented him from keeping track of time, much to his annoyance), Mind was scared to pull his hands away from his head, knowing the relief in pressure would bring no relief in pain. Exasperated, Mind groaned and slowly let off the pressing of his skull. The consequence he knew was inevitable was, in fact, immediate. Sharply, he inhaled a breath of pain, but he needed his hands to help stand himself up, so the burst of knives’ tips speared his skull, if only for a moment.
Once the momentary pulse of pain had faded back into the original state of constant, thrumming hurt, Mind balanced himself against the wall and slowly stood. He whimpered quietly, thanking any and every deity in the else that neither Heart nor Soul were there to see him like this. Presumably, Heart would sneer and tell him how he deserved this, and Soul would stand by and watch, a twin look on his own face.
Nothing was cured once he managed to get upright and standing; if anything, he felt worse as the blood rushed from his head. Immediately dizzy, Mind leaned all his weight against the wall. The vertigo was sickening, and he felt his stomach turn. Mind locked his eyes shut, wrapping an arm around his core. He tried to steady himself again - a task which shouldn’t be this hard - because sitting back down would mean having to stand back up, and that was most certainly out of the question. The continued pounding in his head mixed with the growing nausea was bringing him to the point where he actually sort of wished one of the others were here to help him get somewhere more comfortable. He was almost ready to sacrifice his unwant of Heart or Soul seeing him this way simply just to get this process over with. What the process even was, he was unsure. One of the other two could help him figure that out since his head refused to stop spinning, and the spots clouding the edges of his vision were very distracting.
He squeezed his eyes shut again and doubled over as a hot wave of nausea washed through him, and he couldn’t prevent the groan that echoed through the expansive room. His own voice was lost to him though as the dizziness suddenly overtook him, and Mind had to accept the fact that he was about to fall to the ground once more. He managed to catch himself before his face met the floor, and he tried to find some comfort in wrapping his arms up around his skull, blocking the light from his eyes with the crooks of his elbows. The pounding in his head had become audible, and he curled his legs up to his chest as his stomach lurched. Any chance of him caring about his appearance was now superseded by his head feeling like it would implode if he moved another inch. Mind found himself humming a sort of whining tone in an attempt to sedate the pain in both his stomach and skull. His eyes slowly blinked half open, hoping to be met with one of the other two’s faces coming to help, but the empty space rapidly filled with black patches, the lightheadedness grew unbearable.
Panicked, he cried out, “Soul…” (though this cry was, in reality, a whispered breath), and his mouth formed to even beg Heart’s name, yet that faded from his voice as he let the black spots overtake his sight, and finally, his consciousness.
-
Mind’s eyes fluttered open, taking in the still-too brightness of the room. However, he found himself in a different room, and the floor was somehow more comfortable.
Wait… that was wrong, wasn’t it? He attempted to take in his surroundings as best he could through the ringing in his ears. The pressure fogging his brain hadn’t relieved - if anything, it may have gotten worse still - but lying now in a bed (or so he assumed he was, he had once again closed his eyes) did help him relax under the weight of the migraine.
“What’s up with you?” a nonchalant question came from above him. Mind simply groaned in response, unprepared for this exchange. Admiringly, the airy, harmonic voice carried on the seemingly one sided conversation.
“Did you two fight again?” the crackling voice gently demanded. Mind replied with another hum and the most miniscule shake of his head he could manage, hoping it was noticeable.
“Then why did I find you passed out and curled up on the floor?” It was less a question, and almost more of a taunt. Mind could groan endlessly if he had the energy to keep up.
“Soul, I’m not particularly apt for your interrogations at the moment,” Mind snarled, drawing himself together as the persistent nausea began to seep back in with his consciousness. One hand weaved itself into his lethargic curls as if his hair contained the ability to lessen the hurt. Although Mind couldn’t see it with his eyes shut, Soul raised an eyebrow remorsefully at the sight.
“Are you ill?”
Tears threatened the seal of Mind’s eyelids. How was he to know when all he could concentrate on was not gagging at the vertiginous pounding in his head? “Just a headache…” murmured Mind, barely above a whisper. Soul responded with a droning hum.
“I can’t recall the last time a mere headache put you on the floor,” - neither could Mind, to be fair, - “but this seems a bit more extreme than that,” continued Soul. Mind said nothing in response, just clutched his torso tighter.
“You’re not going to be sick are you?” Soul hissed harmoniously. “Because I really don’t want to deal with that mess.” Mind was reluctant to give an answer, partially because it felt like his temples were being stuck by a blunt needle when he spoke, and partially because he was uncertain he would be able to keep the nausea at bay if he opened his mouth. He didn’t feel profoundly inclined to deal with the effort or the mess either.
Soul sighed, resigned to the fact that he would receive no response from the hunched figure on the bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress, timidly placing a calloused hand on Mind’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry for my… animosity. Can I, um, do anything to help relieve some pain?” Tentatively, Soul searched for the most empathetic words he could. He wasn’t so accustomed to showing kindness to Mind, nor Heart for that matter, as self-damning as it seemed. He typically was forced to play the role of a harsh mediator, responsible for aligning Heart and Mind, or at the very least, bringing them to a compromise, and that did not tend to integrate with kindness. Mind shook his head, another feeble action.
“Well, I left water on the table next to you, and, uh, there’s a bin on the floor too. Y’know, in case… but please try not to need it.” Soul chewed the corner of his lip. “I have stuff to do, but I suppose I can… come back later if you need.”
Mind muttered the softest “thank you” that he could after a minute of silence. Whether Soul heard him or not, he did not know, and Soul said nothing in return, but the hand that had rested on Mind’s arm was lifted, and he found himself missing the physical contact. It had helped ground him and rid a bit of the sickening trembling he felt. Not out of emotion did he wish Soul would have stayed a moment longer, but simply out of the realization that he didn’t know how would be able to reach the supposed glass of water or, if the situation arose, the bin on the floor. It was all he could do to ignore the dejection and infelicity pressing in his chest, feeling the empty space cooling around him.
He wasn’t sure how long he let himself ease into the sadness, migraine agging on, but he must have drifted off to sleep, because he was abruptly startled awake by a quiet thud in the doorway. Mind cautiously opened one eye with a groaning hum. Expecting to see Soul there to check on him as promised, Mind was stunned to see Heart gripping the doorframe, eyebrows seemingly furrowed together under the blindfold.
Mind paused, giving Heart the chance to begin, but when Heart gave no explanation for their presence, Mind sighed.
“Heart?” Mind inquired, sonorous voice hushed, knowing the other would hear without issue. “Why are you here?” The inquiry was not without a tinge of bitterness, though the sight of the timid character was intriguing.
Heart wrung their hands anxiously and took a small step into the room. “Soul mentioned you were in here. He asked me if we got in a fight.” Their head flinched slightly left. “I’m sorry for screaming, I’m try-”
“Did Soul make you come apologize?” Mind’s stomach twisted. If this was either Heart’s or Soul’s sick idea of taunting him, he was especially not inclined to take it. The nausea grew suddenly, as did his regret in yearning for Soul’s comforting hand on his shoulder.
Heart’s mouth fell open in disdain. “Are you serious? Even when you feel like shit, you’re still insisting on this cynical criticism? I said I was trying, we promised we’d try! I came to make up for it, and Soul said you were sick, but you still face me with the same cold and bitter facade!” Heart’s face soured, and their breathing sounded choked.
Feeling a pit form in his stomach, Mind began to form his own apology, but as he opened his mouth, the sinking pit suddenly rose, as did the pressure in his head. He lurched forward, scrambling to grasp the bin Soul had promised. Heart jumped at the sound of Mind’s abrupt movement, a shrill whine of panic escaping their chest as they heard the latter gag and cough without warning.
The only thing allowing Mind to hold back his tears as he choked and spit out blue-black bile was the fact that Heart couldn’t actually see him hunched over the side of the bed, embarrassed by his feeble appearance. After his last gag proved ineffectual, he set the bin down haphazardly, let his eyes fall shut once more, and laid back down. As unpleasant as it had been, it actually relieved a bit of the pressure in his head.
Heart piped up, gently. “Are you done?”
Mind would have responded with some snarky comment, but Heart’s question seemed sincere and bereft of any snide attitude. Mind hummed what he intended to relay as a “yes.”
Adjusting their hair so it would cease tickling the sides of their face, Heart slid cautiously forward, feeling out the space in front of them with their feet so as not to trip over the offensive bin they knew was nearby. Once their knees nudged the side of the bed, they sat tentatively on the corner, next to where Mind had his face buried under his arms once more (though, naturally, Heart couldn’t see this detail). Well, where Mind’s face had been buried; he peeked out again as he felt Heart’s weight sink into the mattress, another moment unseen.
“What is it now?” Mind grumbled from the side of his mouth. He could feel Heart tense up with unease as they gathered their response.
“I… I wanted to, uh, help. You feel better.” they stammered. “And I did mean it.”
Mind ignored the repose of the warmth from Heart next to him as he prompted, ”mean what?”
“That I’m sorry. I didn’t exactly have any efficacious reasoning for yelling, I just-” they cut themself off with a sigh. “I just get frustrated, and sad, and angry, and lonely, and I don’t know what to do with that,” Heart’s voice began to spiral, tears seemingly building in the back of their throat. “And it’s easy to just yell at you sometimes.”
Mind gently raised an eyebrow at the comment, but in actuality, he couldn’t damn the other for it when he was equally one to take out his issues loudly and viciously. He let out a whispered hum, part of him hoping the conversation would end quickly so he could go back to sleep, but at the same time not being discontent talking with Heart for once.
“I can take the yelling. You’re not always as intimidating as you make yourself out to be, you know.” If he had the energy, he would have smirked at the way Heart’s brow furrowed, trying to decide if they should take that as an insult, but Mind continued on, voice fading into a yawn. “Just, please, hold off for now. This migraine is worse than when you, well, you know…”
Mind’s eyes sank shut once more (Jesus, he wanted to sleep more than anything at this point), and Heart remained silent. Only the muffled rhythm of their heartbeat gave a sign of life in the room.
Mind had just begun to fade into sleep when he felt a hand rest gingerly on his hair. Heart wove their fingers in the curls and caringly started to massage Mind’s head, somehow knowing exactly where to press to relieve some of the tension. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Mind was able to relax under the touch, and he felt the tears comminate to spill. Any other time Mind would stiffen and force them away, but he was so tired, so worn out, and it may have felt nice to let the hot tears roll down his cheek and onto the pillow.
Heart took notice when they heard Mind sniffle at his side. The hand working through the curls paused, and if they noticed Mind lean in closer, they wouldn’t say a thing. They wanted to ask if Mind was crying, because that certainly would have been a sight, but they thought better of it, to just let him have a moment to feel whatever he needed and could. Instead, Heart leaned back to rest against the wall as they sat, gently continuing to rub Mind’s head.
Some minutes passed and Heart, with the softest touch they could manage, brought their free hand over to Mind’s face. He made no reaction as Heart wiped the tears that remained sitting under his eyes, and Heart felt a flutter in their chest, comforted by this shared moment of peace.