Uhhhhhh....... tw for trauma, nothing specific is mentioned but it's there. Sorry that thus exists I just needed to write something venty

Trauma works in weird ways, Mirio noticed. Before this he knew his friend didn't have a childhood like the rest of them. Mirio noticed the scars that nobody knew the story behind and the anxious glances no one could explain. Mirio noticed the way his friend would trace the lines of the scale on his wrist, eyes filled with so much hatred it made someone as big and strong as him shrink away.

Mirio thought that he had seen the worst of his friend, that he had seen him at his lowest. Surely, no one could fall deeper than that, Mirio though.

Mirio used to think that before moving into the UA dorms, his room right next to a familiar reptile. He had never expexted the screaming at 2 am, or the uncontrolauble crying and need to get away from everything. Mirio had never expexted to be insulted and belittled until the same voice that reprimanded him begged him to stay. To not let him be alone.

Mirio never thought he would see his friend so drained. The life missing from the stark white of his eyes. Mirio had never expected to hold his friend like they were dying together and drying his tears. He had never expected to run his fingers through the hair of the person he though he knew the ins and outs of as his bearth shuddered.

There's a lot more to trauma then he though, Mirio realized when a shy hand grabbed his sleve the next day and asked him to not speak about what he has witnessed the previous night. When the eyes connected to those hands looked anywhere but at him when there was nothing to be ashamed of.

No, trauma was much deeper than that. Mirio saw it in the way his companion refused to put anything around his face. He saw it in the way he always wore shirts with high collars. Mirio saw it in the way his friend would flinch or shy away from certain situations. He saw it in how the simplest of phrases could set him on edge all day.

Mirio thought he knew trauma. He though he knew everything there was to know about the ones he cared for. Mirio is no stranger to being wrong, though. He knows when to accept defeat. He knows when actions speak louder than words, and when gentle touches mean desperate please. What those please are for he'll never be quite sure. All he has to offer is a smile and a promise. A promise that as long as he's around, as long as he can, he will protect his friend.

Because trauma is far more complicated than he thought.