Aphmau SMP + My Inner Demons Oneshots (Closed Requests for now)

Unspoken Gratefulness (Rhys x Asch hurt/comfort)

"Thank you once more for the lesson, Lady Grandma," Rhys gratefully stated while bowing to the elderly woman, his mentor in front of her chamber door after studying magic by her side. She slightly bowed her own head in response. "You're a good student, Rhys. I am sure you will continue to do great things within this palace."

Rhys's face brightened and his posture adjusted itself at the compliment. He had been doing well as not only Lady Grandma's student, but also as Asch's royal advisor, something that he took great pride in. Nearly every minute, Rhys would spend his time wondering how to assist and please his prince, hoping that Asch appreciated his devotion. However, he didn't expect Asch to ever explicitly state such a thing, the hot-head could hardly apologize to anyone without snarkiness slipping into his tone, let alone display gratefulness for Rhys simply doing his job properly. This never bothered Rhys, not to a great extent at least. He knew not to expect too much praise from him, so his hopes were never high.

Rhys eloped deeper into the palace, his mind pondering what he should do in his free time. Asch was currently in a "summit" of sorts that was designated for the sons and their father only, so he couldn't stay by Asch and monitor his safety, leaving him with time for himself. This was a rare occasion, and quite honestly not all that pleasant. Without anything to truly do, Rhys felt rather, as childish as it was to admit, bored and lonely. He decided it may be best to catch up on some reading within the royal library, so he turned himself in the direction of the large assortment of literature.

Before Rhys could get far, a low grumble and shuffling echoed in the opposite direction, startling the mage. He whipped his head around, ready to arm himself with a spell, before immediately dropping his guard in concern and confusion.

Asch was dragging his feet along the castle tiles, holding his seemingly burnt arm while wiping away warm tears from his face. His face was painted in shame and anger and even a splash of fear, occasionally wincing at his burnt arm. His near blank eyes focused on Rhys, who stood opposite of the long hall and was now rushing to his side.

"Prince Asch!" Rhys nearly shouted in worry before Asch put a hand up to silence his knight. "Sil-silence Rhys."

Needless to say, Rhys was taken aback at this sudden protest. He knew that Asch was a stubborn man, but this was simply reckless. He quickly shook his head and tried to support Asch, only to be batted off by the prince, who now had a harsh scowl on his face. "Don't touch me!" Asch shouted, despite his clear exhaustion and pain.

Rhys took very clear notice of one thing about Asch, and that was the primal fear in his eyes. The visual display of fear transferred to his breath that now shook, and reached his full body that now trembled and stepped away from him. Something happened during that "summit" and Rhys wasn't a fan of it by any capacity. After a deep breath to appear less panicked, Rhys calmly spoke to Asch. "Prince Asch, please, let me help you. I can even find Leif for you, if that's what you'd like."

Asch's mouth opened to dismiss the attempts to assist, but shut as he stumbled onto Rhys's shoulder, a weak grunt escaping his throat. "..don't get Leif. I-I don't want to-to be seen like this by anyone else," Asch weakly murmured through his quivering voice.

Rhys nodded at Asch's request and gently put his arm under Asch's arms to lead him to his royal chambers. Asch's body seemed to slightly relax at Rhys's touch, his chilling body a nice contrast to that of his own burning one. Eventually, the two of them reached Asch's chambers and Rhys sat Asch down on his bed.

"Do you mind me touching your burns? I can't exactly heal them, but I can cool them down and make them less painful," Rhys questioned with concern still laced in his voice.

Asch hesitantly nodded and allowed Rhys to use his magic on him. Rhys's eyes danced between the burns on the prince's body and his face itself, which now possessed tightly shut eyes and a tense jaw, almost bracing himself for pain. This filled the advisor with sadness and anger, now feeling a fire within his gut to punish whoever harmed Asch in the first place. His Asch.

Rhys's hands started to turn an icy white before his hands placed themselves on Asch's main burn that sat on his arm. A near silent cry managed to make itself known to Rhys, causing him to whisper an apology while continuing his spell. After a few painful, eternal seconds, Asch seemed to have calmed from his panicked state and untenced himself. Rhys smiled up at Asch, causing Asch's eyes to soften at the sight.

Once Rhys was finished, he removed his hands to examine the scars, which were a lot less visibly painful. He sighed with relief and slight proudness at his own abilities. After a few moments of silence, he tried to question what happened at the "summit", but was interrupted by Asch.

"I'm sorry I'm such a failure of a prince," Asch pitifully choked out, hot tears now slipping from his bloodshot eyes.

Rhys physically recoiled at this sudden statement of self-loathing. This was extremely out of character, not to mention worrying. Asch was a man with a lot of self-confidence, borderline egotistic at worst, but still very confident. To hear such a pitiful "apology" was baffling to Rhys. After sitting in shock for too long, he scooted himself closer to Asch. "Prince Asch, you're not a failure. I don't understand where this is coming from, but you're simply just wrong."

"You're lying to me. I know you are. You're just kissing my ass to stay on my good side, but I don't need any pity points, I have enough within myself," Asch brutally exclaimed to Rhys.

"Prince Asch. I don't dare do such a thing, if you're in the wrong, I have simply stated that. Even though I want to please you, I don't condone lying to you and leading you into a false direction. That is why I am disagreeing with you. What happened at the summit today? Be honest, Asch."

Asch's gaze fell to the floor before speaking, "The summit wasn't an ordinary meeting like usual. It took place in the arena, where father wanted me and Rhal to battle. I don't know what he wanted out of it, but we did it anyway. And I lost. After I was humiliated, my father...had a talk with me. A long, eye-opening talk."

"Your father is nothing short of a fool," Rhys spoke out of turn.

Asch froze at the attack on his father. He remained frozen before he stifled a chuckle, which slowly evolved to a giggle, and escalated to full-out laughter. Rhys was confused, he was being dead serious, after all. He observed the prince as he continued to laugh, but couldn't hide a smile as he gazed upon Asch's face. Rhys found it beautiful when Asch smiled and laughed, he wished he saw it more often, or at all besides today. Rhys took a moment to breathe and cool his face, which had suddenly grown warm.

Once Asch had gathered his bearings, he commented, "I didn't know you had such strong feelings."

"Anyone who could say things that would lead you to feel such a way is a clear buffoon, by all means," Rhys commented.

"...you mean that?" Asch questioned with a softer tone than he usually had.

Rhys's face suddenly heated up once more at Asch's voice, but he still responded as calmly as he could. "Of course I mean it, you're a wonderful prince. I should know, I've seen you at your worst moments and your best."

Asch chuckled a bit at the statement. "Yeah, I guess this moment would go in one of the worst, huh?" Asch joked slightly, though his joke had an air of genuinity to it.

"Actually, I'd consider this a high moment, in its own way. It takes a lot to be vulnerable, especially in your situation," Rhys responded.

Asch nodded as he thought about Rhys's words, taking them to heart. He slowly lowered his head onto Rhys's shoulder again, shifting his position to be more comfortable. His own cheeks couldn't be anymore red than they already were as he muttered, "Thank you for that, I guess. And for helping me and dealing with me all the time," Asch crossed his arms and avoided eye contact while he spoke.

Rhys smiled and rested his head on Asch's, his hand slowly wandering to the prince's before they interlocked fingers. He never expected to hear a thank you from Asch, so he didn't have an actual verbal response to say back to Asch, and instead relied on body language to answer for him. They both slowly entered an embrace with one another, in mutual contemptment. They didn't need words to know how much they cared about each other at that moment, their shared embrace was enough.