Mercutio awoke to a pain in his side and Romeo hovering over him, looking like an excited puppy and babbling animatedly to Benvolio. All in all, not that different from how he usually woke up. The strange thing was that he was not slumped in a desk chair or lying in his four-poster bed in the Slytherin dorm, but lying on an uncomfortable nurse bed with a scratchy sheet tangled around his legs. He cleared his throat and sat up, rolling his eyes at Romeo's exclamation of, "He's awake!"

"No shit, sherlock." he grumbled, but smiled anyway because they had obviously been there the entire night, even though they hadn't had to. He looked at Ben, who was smiling at both of them, but Mercutio was selfish and liked to think it was meant for him.

"Hey there, beautiful." he had no brain-to-mouth filter, but luckily Ben didn't mind his constant flirting. He took it all with a grain of salt, which Mercutio just regarded as Ben's own type of oblivious. Occasionally, the Ravenclaw would retaliate, but it always sounded like a joke. That stung a bit, but Mercutio tried not to think about it.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Ben asked, glancing to Mercutio's side. Oh, right. Mercutio's hand drifted down his torso and rested over the wound just under his heart. It still stung a bit, but nothing like it had yesterday. Tybalt had really done him in. Speaking of…

"What were you thinking, you idiot?" he turned to Romeo, swatting the younger boy on the back of the head. The boy jumped and looked at him with indignance.

"Ow! What do you mean, what was I thinking? Tybalt was attacking you! I was trying to save you!" Romeo spluttered. Mercutio fought not to roll his eyes, and surprisingly succeeded.

"He wasn't attacking me, it was a duel. We were just messing around, really. I wasn't in any danger until you jumped in the way and he had to worry about not hitting you." he explained slowly. Romeo made a sound of understanding and then had the good sense to look sheepish, making a small sound of, "oops."

"Yeah, 'oops.' Where'd he run off to, anyway? He was there and then he wasn't." he directed this question at Ben, who shrugged. "Must have run off then. Coward. He's probably asleep in his bed right now, dreaming of the weeks of detention McGonagall's going to give him." Romeo made a small noise and they both turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Well, I went to tell Valentine that you were down here, because he is your brother and all. And I told him what happened, or, what I thought happened." Another bashful look. "And he said he was going to 'beat the shit' out of Tybalt. I thought he was kidding!" He quickly defended against Mercutio and Benvolio's alarmed looks. "But apparently he wasn't, and, well…"

He gestured to a bed a few feet away, where, sure enough, Tybalt was lying unconscious. Mercutio felt a spike of guilt. It really hadn't been Tybalt's fault, and he certainly hadn't deserved to be on the receiving end of Val's wrath. McGonagall had probably punished him pretty badly without adding a black eye on top of it.

When they were kids, he and Tybalt had only ever interacted at formal gatherings and when the Capulet had played with he and Ben before all hell broke loose in Verona. After the feud started, they still saw each other in the streets but never talked, and Tybalt never offered more than a curt nod. At Hogwarts, though, they all adopted an easier attitude without their parents around to pit them against each other. They weren't friends, per say, but the Capulet-Montague alliances became irrelevant and they were allowed to talk freely. The duel had just been a bit of fun, because Tybalt was fun to mess with and he always rose to the challenge. The thought that he was being punished for something that was commonplace for them was odd to Mercutio.

He couldn't help Tybalt though, once Professor McGonagall had made up her mind there was no changing it. However, he could at least apologize for his brother's dickish behavior. He resolved to do exactly that when the other boy woke up. For now, he turned to Benvolio. The boy had obviously gotten little to no sleep, which wasn't that unbelievable, considering how uncomfortable the chair he was sitting in looked.

"Shouldn't you be in classes right now?" he asked, directing the question at both of his friends. Romeo shrugged, he wasn't as diligent a student as Ben, but he could afford to miss a few classes. Ben made a noncommittal noise that was unquestionably a "yes." Mercutio shook his head. "Skipping class, what hooligans. I'm so proud of you."

"Whatever, just hurry up and get better. I'm not failing my O. because you refused to heal." Ben joked, punching Mercutio lightly on the shoulder.

"I don't think that's actually something I can control. But I'll try, just for you, Benny dearest." he replied, and Ben laughed. The Ravenclaw moved his hand, and Mercutio pretended to not be disappointed. Benvolio didn't avoid contact, exactly, but it was rare that he initiated it. Unlike Romeo and Mercutio, who were constantly jumping on him and roughhousing with each other. Speaking of which, Romeo chose this moment to hop onto Mercutio's bed, bouncing up and down.

"Heal faster, this is boring. How long are you gonna be here, anyway?" he asked, and Mercutio shrugged. The pain in his side had subsided, but he wasn't sure when Madame Pomfrey would allow him to leave. The witch was currently hurrying towards them, and he knew that Ben and Romeo had to go.

"You guys better-"

"He'll never get any better if you crowd around him all the time! Get to your classes, both of you. You're lucky enough I let you stay here last night instead of sending you to your dorms!" she spoke with a stern tone, but her eyes were affectionate and she didn't rush them as they gathered their things to leave.

"See you later, Cutio." Romeo said, glancing back at him as he rushed out the door. The Hufflepuff had always been a bit afraid of authority. Ben took his time, gathering his books into his bag and touching Mercutio gently on the shoulder as he passed.

"See you. You better not leave me alone with that one for too long, there's only so much Romeo one person can take." he joked, smiling-always smiling-before following his cousin out the door. Mercutio followed him with his eyes until he was out of sight before turning to Madame Pomfrey.

"So how much longer am I going to be here, doc?" he asked, and she looked over from where she was making the bed to his right. Her gaze was amused in a way that adults look when they're trying to look reproachful.

"A day, at most. The cut was shallow, and the spell wasn't meant to cause much harm in the first place." This annoyed and relieved Mercutio in equal measure. Tybalt had been holding back on him. Then again, he hadn't really been trying to hurt the other boy either. Speaking of, the Gryffindor was now awake and pressing a pack of ice to his face.

"Can I go talk to him?" Mercutio asked Pomfrey, who nodded and made a "feel free" gesture. He rose careful, mindful of his wound, and walked over to Tybalt.

"Hey." he said, and the boy looked up, looking slightly startled. Once he saw it was Mercutio, he relaxed, but his eyes were still wary. Around one of them, the skin was an alarming red-purple that made Mercutio wince. "I'm sorry about Val, Romeo was a bit...well he was Romeo, and told Val that you attacked me or something. I already told him off for it, but I'm sorry Val punched you." Tybalt shook his head, and his gaze grew less suspicious.

"No, I deserved it. I was actually going to apologize to you. I didn't mean to hit you, but still. I'm sorry that I did. Are you okay?" he asked, glancing to Mercutio's side. He looked guilty, which surprised Mercutio. The Slytherin hadn't expected Tybalt to feel that bad about it. After all, he hadn't been hurt that badly, and it technically wasn't even Tybalt's fault. But he still looked like he felt horrible, and Mercutio would never admit it, but he gained a little bit of respect for the Capulet.

"It hurt like hell, but yeah, I'll be fine. Apology accepted, even though it wasn't really your fault." he smiled at Tybalt, and the boy looked away. His cheeks were red, but it must have been the cold from the ice he still held. "Snape's probably going to give me hell though. What'd McGonagall lay on you?"

"Thirty points deducted and two weeks detention." Tybalt said, looking like he dreaded the punishment. Mercutio couldn't blame him. Two weeks hanging out with McGonagall sounded tough. He only hoped Snape would let him off with less, he didn't know if he could handle detention with the potions professor for that long. He said as much, and Tybalt laughed. It was really more of a snort, but still it took Mercutio aback. He had only heard the gruff Capulet make such a noise a handful of times, one being during last night's duel. It had given him pause then, too, but he hadn't had time to think about it. Now that he did, he found he liked the sound. However, when it came to what to do with that information, he was at a loss.

"I don't know how you deal with him. He's so...cold. And a little creepy, honestly. Most Slytherins are. I don't know how you got in." Tybalt said, then paused at Mercutio's expression. "Wait, that came out wrong. I meant...you're so...not like that. Like, you're all fun and energetic, and they're all gloomy. Not that you don't belong in Slytherin, and not that I have anything against it, I j-just…" he stopped. "Sorry. I...I don't know what I'm trying to say, honestly."

"It's fine, Tybalt. Don't worry about it." Mercutio waved his hand in dismissal.

"Ty."

What?"

"It's Ty. Only my uncle and people who know him call me Tybalt. It's some weird Old-English thing. It just doesn't feel like it suits me. So, it's Ty." he said, looking Mercutio in the eye this time. The Slytherin had a feeling he had made this case before.

"Okay. Ty, then." Mercutio nodded. There was an awkward pause where neither of them knew what to say, so he stepped away. "I'll see you later, Ty. Oh, and, no hard feelings. About this, I mean." he gestured to his wound. Ty nodded and looked away, going back to pressing the packed ice against his eye. Mercutio returned to his own bed and grabbed a book from his bag, settling down to read and pretending not to glance at the Capulet boy from time to time. And if they caught each other looking a few times, well, no-one mentioned it.