𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬

This series of seven oneshots; Lightning Kisses, Bear Claws, Plans and Formulas, Soulmate Theory, Architectural Wonder, Pegasus Wings and Breaking the Mist are based off artwork made by @savysamiart. I have gotten permission from the artist to be using their artwork to show and make oneshots off of. Please find this artist at @savysamiart on Instagram or @savysami on tumblr and tiktok to show them some love and appreciate all of their art.

this oneshot contains major spoilers for the Trials of Apollo series

          "𝔚ell, if it isn't my favourite camper?" Frank leant against the door frame, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as I grinned at him. "How did you injure yourself this time?"

"Uh...it's actually a funny story?" I ushered him in, making him sit down in front of me as I helped him to pull his shirt off so that I could look at the wounds. "I just keep forgetting that I'm not in..."

He trailed off, a blush forming on his cheeks, as I began to observe the cut on the side of his chest close to the bear tattoos in the middle of chest.

"You know me," He finally finished, as I nodded.

"I do," Frank laughed, sheepishly, as I placed a cup of nectar in front of him and got ready to stitch up the cut. I didn't want to risk him burning up, so I had resorted to the mortal ways and it might also have been an excuse to see him more.

Frank Zhang, the co-praetor of New Rome, and I had become fast friends due to his constant need for medical attention. It seemed, that whilst he had a good enough grasp on his shifting ability, he had a proclivity for injuring himself whilst he did it. That had led to him darkening my door on many occasions because he needed patching up.

It also always seemed to happen on my shift.

"Okay, this is gonna hurt, tough guy," Frank blushed again at the nickname, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Let's get this over with," I grinned at him, before starting to stitch the cut up once more. In all fairness to him, Frank barely flinched, and the only way I could tell that he was in pain was because he kept grabbing onto the side of the bed and tensing up.

"Frank, relax," I stopped stitching, pressing my hand to his shoulder as the teenager turned to look at me. "It won't do you any favours if you're tense."

"It's just weird..." He looked down at the area I was stitching, before turning away once more as I tried to engage him in conversation to keep his mind off of it.

"You've got some new tattoos?" He nodded. Frank had a variety of tattoos, ranging in writing that he had gotten done in memory of his mother, or from a bet with his friends, to large bear paws that stretched across the top half of his chest.

"Oh, yeah," He grinned, before extending his left arm for me to see the new animal that he had added to his sleeve. At his shoulder, a large eagle was preening his wings, watching me with large yellow eyes. 

I tied off another stitch. 

Below the eagle, a bear was roaring, swiping at the koi fish below that.That tattoo always made me giggle, as the koi fish often seemed to tease the bear, swimming in circles around it's paws. Finally, the new tattoo sat below that one, a green snake that slithered up and down Frank's arm, curling in and out of his fingers slowly.

"Is this the new one?" I asked, tying off another stitch as Frank nodded, turning his hand over so that I could see the head of the snake, that was sitting in his palm. "Oh, it's adorable!"

"Yeah," He rubbed the back of his head, as I tied off the final stitch and grabbed Frank's left arm so that I could look at it further. The snake's emerald scales glistened, shimmering as the snake moved slowly, it's amber eyes watching unblinking. "Snakes are your favourite animal, aren't they?"

"Absolutely and this is so cute!" He grinned at my enjoyment, before holding his arm back up so that I could tape gauze over his stitches. "My brother did a good job."

"He did," One of my older brother's, Jasper, ran a tattoo parlour for both camps, which specialized in creating magical tattoos for demigods, that would move or show people the way if they got lost. My powers lay in healing instead of creating art like they did, and I'd gone to my sibling's on multiple occasions to have new tattoos (and also take advantage of the 'family doesn't pay' rule).

"Remember, don't overexert yourself and break your stitches," Frank nodded at my commands, standing from the bed and pulling his shirt back on as I watched him with a raised eyebrow. "That means no shifting into other animals. Hopefully, you don't come and see me because you're injured again."

"I won't, honest," I rolled my eyes, knowing that it was unlikely that would be the case. "See you at dinner."

"Bye, tough guy," He blushed as he picked his bow up, before walking out of the infirmary as one of the other healers, Asa, sidled up to me.

"Oh that new tattoo is adorable, Frank, kiss me please," I slapped him on the head.

"Shut up!"

"You are so obvious," I rolled my eyes, fighting the blush that was on my face as I packed the medical equipment away. "Anyone would think that you had a crush."

"Get lost, Asa!"

∘☽༓☾∘

Frank had stayed true to his word and somehow not managed to break his stitches and I had removed them a few days later. Since then, we'd only really seen one and other at meal time, before he was whisked away for Praetor duty and I was back in the infirmary.

Like tonight, when I was on evening shift. Evening shifts were the worse, because you missed dinner and had to deal with all the late night fools who decided that wandering out of camp and getting attacked by a monster was a good idea.

To top it off, it was pouring outside, thunder and lightning crashing at random intervals, and I wondered what had got the gods so upset. My last patient disappeared out the door, as I began to pack the medical equipment away, making the beds and sweeping the floor as I went.

"I'll be with you in a moment," I called, hearing the doors open. It was only at a small call of my name did I turn around to look at Frank. He was soaked from head to toe, his brown eyes wide and his hair plastered to his head. "Frank. Is everything okay?"

He didn't say anything, dropping his bow to the floor as his eyes filled with tears. I ran forward, catching him in a hug as my knees hit the floor from the dead weight in my arms. His strong arms wrapped around me tightly, burying his head in my neck as he sobbed.

I ran one hand through his hair, as the other stayed around his shoulders, trying to work out what was going on.

"Frank, hey, is everything alright?" He continued to cry, clutching onto me tightly as I grew more and more worried. "Are you hurt? Bleeding? Broken any bones?"

"N...No..." He stuttered out, taking deep, heaving breaths as I clutched onto him tighter. "J...Jason...Jason Grace..."

He trailed off, as I continued to run my hand through his hair. I knew of Jason Grace, the former Praetor, and one of the Seven tasked with saving the world. He and I hadn't been friends, more acquaintances from the time I had patched him up in the infirmary, but he seemed nice enough.

"What happened with Jason?"

"He's dead," My heart froze in my chest, as I looked down at Frank's dark hair, and shaking shoulders. "Th...They shot him...shot him out of the...the sky!"

"I've got you," I murmured, clutching Frank a little tighter as I tried to process the news.

I was feeling numb beyond belief that someone had managed to shoot the son of Jupiter from his domain, but I couldn't even imagine how Frank was feeling. They'd gone on a life or death quest together, trusted one another with their lives, had each other's backs and now Jason was gone.

"They shot him! They...They shot him!" Frank cried, his hands gripping my shirt as I cried with him, rubbing the snake on his arm to try and comfort both him and myself. "I...I..."

"We can deal with this is the morning, Frank," I took a deep breath, wiping my tears away, as I held onto him. "We just need to process."

He nodded, pulling away from my neck so that he could drink the water that I had offered him. His eyes were red and puffy, tear streaks on his cheeks, that I tried my best to wipe away gently.

Physical wounds, I could deal with, but emotional ones, I wasn't adept to help with and that killed me inside, especially when I couldn't help one of the people that I cared about the most in the world.

Frank took another deep breath, knocking me out of my thoughts, as he leant forward and pressed his forehead against mine, still sighing, as I reached up to rest a hand against his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Frank," He nodded, his bottom lip trembling, as I wiped the stray tear off of his cheek. "I know how close you two were."

"I don't know what to do."

"We'll get through this. I'll help," He nodded, opening his eyes slowly. Some would say that Frank Zhang's eyes were dark brown, and that was all, but I could see the flecks of light brown and the gold that ringed his iris, and the pain that they held as well. So much pain, and grief, and sadness.

Frank sighed, before catching sight of the clock on the wall and scrambling away from me, standing up in a hurry.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know what the time was and I just stormed in and you could have been doing something," He wiped his eyes quickly, grabbing his bow from the floor as he turned to walk out once more.

I quickly caught the back of his jacket, stopping him from moving, as I turned him around to face me.

"I'm always free to talk to you," He stared at me with those intense eyes that I adored so much. "I'm serious, Frank. I'll always be around to talk to you, you know that."

∘☽༓☾∘

After that night, Frank rarely came to the infirmary as much, too busy preparing for Jason's funeral and then undertaking the mammoth task of completing Jason's wishes and building a shrine for all of the gods.

Whenever I saw him, he looked tired and worn down, his eyes drooping and his form hunched, as he listened in to what the others had to say around him. Reyna had left to join the Hunters of Artemis, leaving Frank as the sole praetor with a war around the corner.

Then, the battle had come, and I was swept off of my feet with casualties and lists of the dead that I had to go through, so I could send letters home to their families. It wasn't a pleasant business, but war rarely was.

"We need more nectar!" Asa called, as I brushed past him in the hot room, which was crowded with injured men and women, as well as the medics rushing in between them.

"We're running out, use mortal methods!" I growled in response, before the tent flap was opened once more. "Put them in the corner!"

"On it," The slid the poor girl off of the stretcher, as I quickly made a note of all of her injuries, checking her legion tattoo and years as I worked out who she was. "I need ambrosia and suturing material!"

"Here," Someone shoved some into my hand, and I began to work on the girl, sewing up the large gash on her leg, before the flap opened once more.

"The Praetor's injured! We need a medic!" My heart stopped, as I paled and turned to look at the entrance. Frank was being carried in by two others, his clothes still smouldering.

"Go," Asa appeared next to me, wiping blood off of his face. "I've got her."

"Thanks," Running off, I hurried over to the teenager. "Oh, Frank, what have you done?"

He opened one eye blearily, sending me a small grin, as I began to pull his armour and cloak off of him, throwing it to the floor by his bed as I assessed his injuries.

"I need burn medicine, now!" A younger Apollo child, placed burn medicine beside me, as I began to treat the wounds on Frank's chest. His skin was burnt, blisters already starting to form as I winced. This was going to hurt.

The snake on Frank's arm continued to move up and down his arm, slower than before, and I took some comfort that it was still moving. It meant that Frank wasn't dead.

"I can do this. I can do this," A finger curled around mine, and I turned to look at Frank's head, stopping my chanting. He was whispering something, and I leant closer to hear him.

"You'll heal me..." He cut himself off as he began to cough, and I winced, worry marring my features. "...you always heal me."

∘☽༓☾∘

I sat by Frank's bedside, tapping my foot incessantly, as I watched over him. I was on evening duty again, and had already completed my rounds to check over the others that were injured. Now, I kept watch over Frank.

He hadn't woken up since the battle, and I was starting to get worried.

What happened if I had done something wrong? Maybe I wasn't quick enough with the burn medicine, or maybe I should have attempted something else first, fed him more ambrosia or nectar. I licked my lips, before grabbing his chart and reading through it, as I continued to drum my fingers against the board.

I hated all of this sitting around, the not knowing whether or not something was going to go right or wrong and we'd lost too many over the past few days already. We...I couldn't lose Frank.

"You're worrying," I looked up at the rasp of Frank's voice, as my eyes met his dark ones. All of a sudden, it felt like I could breathe again, all the tension leaving my shoulders as I realized he was alright. He was awake. "Wait, I didn't mean to make you cry."

I shook my head, before throwing my arms around him and clutching onto him as tightly as I could.

"You idiot. You absolute idiot!" He chuckled in pain, wrapping his arms around me. "I thought you were dead."

"Couldn't leave you..." He broke off into a coughing fit, as I grabbed him a glass of water and helped him to drink it all. "Oh, that's better."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, reminding myself that I was a doctor first and that I needed to check him over. He obliged, watching me as I checked his vitals, heart rate, blood pressure and the burn wounds that marred most of his body.

"Have you slept yet?" I shook my head at Frank's words, intent on making sure that he was okay. "You need to be taking care of yourself!"

"Says the one who pretty much blew himself up," He smiled at my retort, before reaching for me, the snake on his hand twisting around his palm as I took his hand and brought it to my lips so that I could kiss it. "I was so worried, Frank. You looked dead."

"I'm not. I'm here. I'm alive," He brought my hand to his chest so that I could feel his heart beating beneath the skin. I sighed, before he reached his hand up and placed it behind my head, circling his fingers through my hair. "I had faith that my favourite healer was going to fix me back up."

"Just, don't pull a stunt like that again," I asked, as he nodded. "Get some rest, please."

"For you, anything,"

I nodded, before pausing and leaning down to press a chaste kiss to his lips, revelling in the feeling of his lips beneath mine and the warmth that they provided. He was alive. He was here. He was with me.

"Sleep," His eyes fluttered open at my words, a grin on his lips as he squeezed my hand.

"I think I might need some more convincing,"

∘☽༓☾∘

epilogue

"There you are!" I grinned as I felt Frank's arms wrap around my waist, pulling me close to him. "I've been looking for you."

"I've been avoiding you," He shot me an offended look, before poking the side of my waist as I laughed. "Stop it! Don't tickle me!"

"No promises," I laughed, as we continued to walk through New Rome. Romans nodded at Frank as we passed, saying their hellos to me as well, and I leaned further into Frank's side.

It had been a weird experience, when I had first said yes to dating Frank, becoming the Praetor's girlfriend. There was a whole other weird and wonderful world that I had to learn about. My nights were no longer spent in the infirmary, as much, because Frank would drag me out to eat dinners with the rest of the cohort, or over to the East Coast to see our Greek counterparts.

I was used to it now, and I actually found that I did enjoy socialising and spending time with Frank. It was also a bonus that I was eating a lot of good food.

"Have you listened to anything I've just said?" I looked up at Frank, before shaking my head, as he rolled his eyes. "You are terrible sometimes."

"You love it," He wrinkled his nose, before leaning down to press a kiss to my lips, squeezing me to him tightly. "What were you saying?"

"We've got dinner with the other centurions tonight," I nodded, as we continued towards the Barracks and Praetor's quarters. "Which means..."

"That I'll need to fend off advances as you try not to turn into a bear and savage them," He nodded, grinning as I pressed my left hand to his and let the snake tattoo slither off of his arm and onto mine.

Whilst on occasions, the snake tattoo stayed with Frank, it normally stayed on my arm now. It was, in Frank's words, his way of knowing that I was safe but really it was my way of knowing that he was alive and well, and not doing anything stupid like setting himself on fire again. 

"Maybe I could just poison them," He hummed, as I shook my head and laughed at the gentle giant next to me. He wouldn't hurt a fly, despite what his tattoos and the tales about him suggested.

"You know you wouldn't," Frank wrinkled his nose, before holding the door open for me. "But I appreciate the thought."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

I kind of got carried away with this one but Frank and a healer SO is honestly one of my favorite plot ideas - plus I can just imagine everyone being intimidated, slightly, by him because he's a shape shifter and tall but then he's an actual sweetheart.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx