This is super dumb. I don't know why I did this but it was funny and adorable in my head and I wanted to see it done. Like, there's this gender!stuck Homestuck comic that I like and I'm such a dork that whenever I like something it just starts to morph into something else that I like and then I thought about how that comic could turn into a character study for Ienzo and Aeleus and then this happened. Just a little drabbly thing about pre-sh*t-going-down-in-Radiant-Garden apprentices being brotherly and all that. You have been warned.

Please read, enjoy and review. That would be awesome.

"Aeleus, can you help me?" Ienzo called while knocking on the door to the big man's room.

Aeleus looked up from the book he was reading in his armchair as Ienzo walked in as if he'd already been invited, which he technically was. Aeleus had never refused Ienzo access to his personal spaces before. He thought he could already see what Ienzo's problem was.

"I'll see what I can do," Aeleus said, humouring the child tenderly. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It's this lab coat," Ienzo moaned, lifting his arms up and showing how the sleeves dangled off his hands. The hem trailed on the floor behind him. "Everything's too long. Can you hem it for me?"

"Of course!" Aeleus replied, going a little pink in the cheeks at the honour of being the one Ienzo trusted to do this.

They managed to scrounge up some sewing supplies from the stores in the mostly disused women's quarters of the castle and then returned to Aeleus' room since his large window offered good light to see by. Aeleus sat Ienzo down in a chair by the window and threaded a needle with white thread, a task not so hard since being a scientist often required working with tiny things. He wasn't exactly sure about how to go about the task but he figured some things were common sense, like turning up the sleeve to the correct length. However, Ienzo had a running commentary of objections:

"Are you sure you're okay to do this?"

"It's fine."

Ienzo raised an eyebrow when Aeleus started to sew. "Maybe you should have started on the inside so the knot won't be visible."

"Maybe? I don't think it'll be too noticeable," Aeleus replied, beginning to doubt his own efficacy.

"Are you sure I should still be wearing this while you sew? What if you sew it to my shirt?"

"I'll be careful but you'd better hold still," Aeleus assured him, shakily sewing another loop. It was becoming painfully more and more obvious in the crooked line of uneven stitches that his sewing left something to be desired. He pulled the thread so tight it twanged. "After all, what kind of big brother would I be if I couldn't even handle a little task like th-"

snap

The little needle snapped in half under the might of Aeleus' strength. Ienzo's mouth quirked at the corners as Aeleus gaped at it, horrified.

xxx

The next morning someone came a-knocking on Dilan's door while he was finishing off shaving his facial hair, making sure to curate the sharp shape of his sideburns. He rinsed his face before he left his bathroom to answer the door, still shirtless and drying his face. It honestly did not surprise him that it was little Ienzo, already washed and dressed and obtrusively without a lab coat.

"Did you finish it?" the boy asked expectantly, not even sparing a greeting.

Dilan sniffed derisively at the rudeness but nodded and reached over to a side table by his door. He picked up a folded white garment and handed it over to Ienzo, whose face lit up like a child receiving a present. He snatched it out of Dilan's hands and hugged it like a favourite toy.

"Thanks for doing this." Ienzo pressed the cloth to his face and breathed deeply. It smelled so clean; Dilan must have laundered it too.

"It wasn't a problem," Dilan replied dryly, "but next time maybe you should come to me first. Or better yet, find someone whose job it is to alter clothes."

"Why would I do that when I have such great big brothers to help me?" Ienzo said cheekily, flapping the lab coat to unfold it. He put it on as he turned to walk back down the hall. "It fits a lot better now. Thanks again, Dilan. See you in the lab."

"Of course." Dilan gave him a short wave and went back to getting ready for the day ahead.

Back in his own room, Aeleus wept silently over his failure.

Okay, might need a bit of explanation:

1) I have this headcanon where before Xehanort stuck his ugly head in stuff that was not his business Ansem's apprentices all sort acted like brothers to each other and all lived in the castle having a right ol' time and everything was awesome (f*ck you, Xehanort).

2) For a long time, since way back when KHII was new news, I had this headcanon where all of the apprentices had particular fields of science that they specialised in like normal scientists do. In it, Braig is a physicist, Dilan does psychology and medicine (hence, better at sewing than the others), Even is a biologist, Aeleus is a chemist and a geologist, and Ienzo excelled at pure mathematics but otherwise hadn't found a specialist field yet.

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