Notes: Written for Anonymous on tumblr, who gave me the prompts Flora & Tony and "Injured". Set about a year post-PL3, with some vague Lost Future & Spectre's Call spoilers.
Tony was a big, tough teenager who definitely did not cry. Because crying is for little kids, right? None of the Black Ravens ever cried (at least not that Tony could remember), so there's no way that he was going to cry. People would think he's just a baby if he cried.
...But all the same, at fourteen, he didn't feel like he was that much of a teenager. Still mostly a kid, if he's entirely honest. And he wasn't even that big, either. These days even Sean was starting to catch up on him, which really isn't fair. Tony just knows that he's going to have a growth spurt one of these days. However, until he does, he's not big and he's barely a teenager.
As for tough, well, he doesn't feel very tough at all after tripping up the steps that led to Mr. Layton's house. He just felt shaky. And he could even see some blood blossoming from the newly-formed graze on his knee.
The worst part was that Arianna wasn't even there. He could deal with anything as long as his sister's with him, because they look out for each other. Tony's certain that had Arianna been at his side, he'd already be brushing the whole thing off like it was no big deal.
Arianna was not there, though. She was somewhere else in London, catching up with Luke, while Tony waited here at the Professor's house. Because he was a nice boy and knew that his sister needed time to talk to Luke while he was back from America for a short visit. Tony wanted to see Luke as well, of course, and had been promised that they'd all spend time together that evening. But Arianna was especially fond of Luke. She missed him a lot and Tony knew that she did. So he didn't begrudge the two of them spending time without him.
Except maybe he did a little, because that meant they wouldn't be back for maybe hours and he'd have to deal with his cut knee all by himself.
Upon that realisation, even Tony could feel himself start to bubble. He narrowed his eyes and scrunched up his face in an attempt to stop the tears from flowing down.
"Oh dear, are you all right?"
A young girl in pretty ribbons and an orange dress came bounding down the steps towards him. She was Mr. Layton's daughter, Flora, Tony had been told. When they'd arrived at the house earlier, she'd been busy cooking, so Tony hadn't had a chance to talk to her before now.
It didn't take a moment for Flora to kneel down and inspect the injury, a serious frown across her face.
"That does look very bad. A nasty cut, if I do say so myself," she observed, "I've been telling the Professor those steps are dangerous for a while now, but he just doesn't listen. Never mind though, we need to get that bandaged up."
She sounded like she was exaggerating how bad it was to make him feel better. And Tony knew this because it's exactly what Arianna would have done. But since it did indeed make him feel better, he didn't do anything more than sniff and nod.
"Okay..." he whimpered.
"Let's get inside, I've got some nice bandages in the drawer. They've got little duckies on, so I hope you don't mind," Flora chattered, helping him up from the steps and holding his hand to walk him into the house.
"I don't mind, I like ducks," mumbled Tony, as if he was making the most shocking revelation of the century.
"Me too. But then again, who doesn't like ducks? They'd have to have encountered some very rude ducks to not like them, I imagine. And Luke tells me that ducks value themselves on their good manners, even when you're asking for bread," Flora went on, as she hunted through the drawers for bandages.
"Um, I've never met a rude duck," Tony replied.
He was giggling now. Even though he suspected that Flora was just saying this silly stuff to cheer him up. It was nice of her. She seemed like a good person, just like Luke had told them.
"Then that makes two of us," concluded Flora, pulling a strip of duck-patterned bandages from somewhere in the depths of the drawer, "Now stand very still, this will only take a moment."
Tony stood as still as he possibly could as Flora wrapped the bandage around his knee. He felt much better now. Even if the graze wasn't actually that bad and even if he might not be a big, tough teenager just yet, he was still happy that a cool person like Flora would let him wear a duckie bandage.
Maybe Arianna and Luke would have tons to tell him about their day out in London, but as far as Tony's concerned, his misadventure in the Layton house was much better than any of that. Wait until they hear how brave he was for only crying a little bit and how Flora had rushed to his rescue. Maybe Arianna would be so impressed that she'd want to be big sister friends with Flora and then Tony could have two big sisters to play with.
...Or maybe his imagination was just getting away with him again. But all the same, Tony spent the rest of the afternoon waiting eagerly by the window for the two of them to get back.