Chapter Text
Warsaw, Poland 1915
Percival Graves was a very intelligent man. He drew logical conclusions based upon the facts presented to him. So, the only logical conclusion to draw when he saw the most handsome young man ever to exist passing him, riding a dragon in the sky above was that he had been drugged. All he could focus on was that muscular, slim frame and the halo made of fire, he looked like a god. Clearly Percival was hallucinating.
It would also explain how he allowed an enemy wizard to hit him with a Stupefy, rendering him completely incapable of defending himself as he fell to the dirt unconscious.
He woke slowly to find a nurse standing over him speaking to someone who looked remarkably similar to the handsome red head from the battlefield. “Captain Graves is still unconscious, Mr Scamander.” Theseus? Was all his brain could manage before darkness came for him once more.
“Where is he?!” This wake-up call was much less calm than the first. At least this time he knew who was speaking, well yelling really. Theseus. He managed to put a smile on his face as he attempted to call out to his friend.
“I-” However, it seemed his throat had become so dry that all he could do was hack up half a lung causing a pulling sensation in his right shoulder. This immediately alerted the blonde nurse closest to him that he was conscious, as well as Theseus who made a beeline right for him. Once he finished coughing the nurse - “My name is Mary, Captain.” - held a cup of water to his lips, helping him gently drink it. Theseus took this as an invitation to speak.
“What the hell happened?!” He exclaimed, running his eyes over Percival, checking for any hidden injuries. “Everyone said that you were duelling one of those German Pricks, then you just stopped and let him hit you!” Wow, thought graves, his face is almost as red as his hair. Speaking of red hair. Nurse Mary finally put the glass down and started to give him a quick check over.
“There, there was a man on a dragon?” Percival managed to get out. “He was magnificent, I must have been hit with a spell or, or been gassed somehow? It’s the only cause I can think of for the hallucinations” Shaking his head at himself, he looked towards his friend with a pained look on his face, “I only wish he had been real, not even a Veela could come close to his beauty, truly Aphrodite would be envious.” Was he getting redder and why was Mary smirking?
“That,” Theseus paused, gritting his teeth together and nodding for a reluctant Mary to leave them. “Was not a hallucination Percival.” This was bad, he never called him Percival. Always Percy, or Val, anything but Percival.
“Well, then you explain what I saw!”
“My brother”
“Your what?”
“My Brother, Newt”
“The dragon?”
“Her name is Victoria”
“Right, Victoria '' It was at that moment he realised that the beauty from his vision was real, which meant he could find him and marry him. His face lit up as though someone had cast lumos on him. At which point Theseus cleared his throat, and Percival remembered that he had been gushing about his majestic crush to said crush’s older brother. His very, very protective older brother. Shit. “Theseus, I just want to let you know that I have only the best intentions-”
“YOU HAVE WHAT?” The ginger yelled at him, “No! He is far too young for any of that, still a child. You will have no intentions at all. You will be saying no more than a thank you to he and his dragon for saving you.” After huffing at him Theseus stormed out of the infirmary tent, towards where his precious younger brother was grooming Victoria like she was a golden retriever instead of a giant Ukrainian Ironbelly.
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“Newt!” He called out, “Percival is awake, he’s very grateful that you saved his life. Apparently he thought he was hallucinating when he first saw you and Vicki” They both began to chuckle, which caused victoria to let out a plume of smoke wanting to join in. Their chuckles quickly turned to choking as they tried to waft away the thick, black smoke.
Once they were able to breathe again, they wiped some soot from their faces and nearly started laughing again. Thankfully they stopped before Vicki realised what was happening and wanted to join in again. Newt quickly patted the side of her left flank and motioned for her to join the others who were sleeping by the Dragon division’s tents. He couldn’t help but smile fondly as he watched her waddle over to her herd and sit on Vanko’s head.
“I’d like to see him now that he’s well.” Newt made an aborted arm motion towards the infirmary, then ducked his head and started walking over. Before he could get more than half a meter away, Theseus grasped his sleeve with a panicked look on his face and shook his head. “Theseus, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” He said too quickly.
“Then why are you stopping me?” Newt questioned, starting to get suspicious.
“He’s asleep!” Theseus blurted out, without pausing to think of a better excuse. Any better excuse. “Yes, he’s asleep, so you can’t go see him yet. Just wait until tomorrow.” The panic was building higher as his voice also climbed.
“You just told me he was awake, Thee.” Newt told him, narrowing his eyes as he took in Theseus’ tense form. “What is going on?” Theseus merely shook his head repeatedly at his younger brother, whose face dropped in realisation “Are you embarrassed of me? You don’t want me to meet your friend?” The head-shaking became more frantic, confusing Newt even more.
“Fine, if you’re not going to tell me the real reason, then I’m going to introduce myself to Captain Graves.” His steeled spine and the determination in his voice prompted Theseus to let go of Newt’s sleeve in shock. His mischievous little brother took that opportunity to apparate over to the infirmary’s entrance, swiftly stepping inside.
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This was a bad idea, was all Newt could think as he approached the bed holding Captain Graves. Surely Thee had a reason not to want them to meet, he hoped the Captain wasn’t cruel as handsome people could sometimes be. And Captain Graves was breath-takingly gorgeous.
Newt was instantly enamoured when he saw the soldier duelling his enemies, streaks of mud on his chiseled jawline, a hard look on his face as his body danced to the rhythm of the duel. Victoria and he managed to kill the rest of the German soldiers. After which he raced to the stunning man he saw on the ground, picking his top half up and resting his head on Newt’s legs as he checked for a pulse and signs of further injuries. Finding a bullet wound in the man’s right shoulder, in an impressive show of strength he picked the man up and placed him on Victoria’s saddle. Then climbed on himself and flew them back to camp. It was only as he was handing the man over to the infirmary that he wished he had seen the man’s eyes just once, but at least he caught his name being tossed around. Captain Graves, Newt would have to see him again so that he could find out if his eyes were just as alluring as the rest of him. At the time he had no idea that the captain was just as intrigued by him, nor that he was one of his brother’s oldest friends.
Newt couldn’t imagine Thee being such good friends with anyone cruel, so that couldn’t be the reason he didn’t want them seeing each other. Oh well, no point in thinking about it too much, after all worrying only means you suffer twice.
Time to meet the Captain.