InsaneJournal

Who: Iron Bull and Ed.
What: A spar session that turns toward just a chat.
When: Backdated to before the Shattered Sight plot.
Where: The gym where Bull teaches.
Warnings: Mild language.
Status: Complete!



Ed was making a valiant effort not to spiral into another pit of depression lately, but without a proper outlet it was getting a bit difficult. He was glad when the guy with the horns decided to accept his sparring offer. Not only that, he’d get to see some horns. Not every day that happened. He was staying busy. Busy was helping. It was when he stopped that things got bad again. For the sake of the ones he loved, he was trying not to let himself allow things to get bad anymore.

Dressed in his trademark red trench coat and black clothes, he arrived where they discussed initially on the network at the time they’d agreed on. Ed wasn’t sure how this was going to go, he hadn’t been sparring much since Lina had died. He hadn’t done much of anything since then.

Bull had asked the gym owner to give him a couple of hours of alone time at the gym and paid to rent it for the duration. He’d been careful to cover all of the windows. So when Ed showed up, he was ready to go to take off his necklace and show his true self.

But until then, he was just a guy who was huge and broad, a bit on the tall side, but not hugely remarkable.

“You must be Ed!” When he saw the guy, he smiled and waved. Shorter than he’d thought, but hey, maybe he’d hit a growth spurt.

Ed was almost thrown off by how cheerful Bull was. He was so gigantic it almost didn’t seem to match. To the normal human he was probably a regular size, but to Ed the man was basically a giant. He was short for his age, barely looked like he could hold his own shadow much less a fight.

He nodded after a moment of awkward upward gawking and held up a gloved hand in greeting. “Yo.” Ed still covered every bit of his body, though lately he’d considered losing the hot black things in the middle of this ridiculous summer heat wave they seemed to be having.

“That’s me. Uhm. What do I call you again?” His memory was terrible at names, but he had the grace to look a little sheepish about it.

Extending a hand, Bull was still smiling. He reached out a hand for the kid to shake, leaning his whole body forward instead of bending at the waist. It was a more subtle way of extending the handshake; Bull could read right away that this kid was insecure about his height.

“I’m Iron Bull. Go ahead and call me Bull, most do. So, you want to see the horns, huh.” His diction had gotten more pronounced since the dreams, his consonants more clipped.

“And it’s not a nick name?” He wasn’t trying to come off as rude, but he was curious. He returned it but went out of his way for the time being to make sure it wasn’t a right handed shake.

“Who wouldn’t?” If this guy could get away with showing off giant horns, maybe he could be a little less timid with his own bodily changes due to the dreams. Golden eyes gave the man a calculating look. There wasn’t much Bull could show him that would startle him considering his best friend was a demon.

“It’s a nickname here, but in the dreams, it’s my name. Long story. Honestly, I don’t think I’d even answer to my birth name here anymore.” Bull shrugged his broad shoulders, moving to take off his necklace.

For a moment there was shimmering light, and then where once there had been an imposingly tall man, there was a huge hulking figure. Instead of being 6’2”, he looked to be about 6’8, and the tall horns didn’t help either. His skin was ashen grey, and he was shirtless. His skin was covered in scars, and there was an eyepatch over one eye. The eyepatch didn’t cover all of the scars underneath. The remaining eye was steely blue.

Ed fell back, covering his eyes with his arm. “Heh heh...maybe you will have to pull some punches..” He forced himself to say out loud after a moment or two. Ed was strongish, but this guy was practically a frekain giant. He stared upward at him in awe rather than fear. He pushed himself back up to his feet after a moment to get a better look. The blonde was out of words.

“Don’t worry, I’m used to it.” Bull smiled, leaning back against the ring. “I know. I’m handsome as hell, you don’t have to say it.”

That response earned him an exasperated look as he slid a little closer to poke at his arm. Even then he had to stand on his toes to do so. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The dreams changed me too, but not like you” He paused and stepped back to get a better look. “Bet nobody messes with you.”

“Nope. Not in the dreams, so much either. Which can be an advantage, but sometimes it’s not much fun. Especially since people tend to be scared of my people in the dreams. But hey, the muscles got me ladies and gentlemen, so I can’t complain too much.” He used his remaining eye to great effect as he winked at Ed.


"Hm. You'd think people would be more open minded. But. ..I'm not surprised. " Ed began to shed the trench coat and gloves he wore, revealing a very intricate metal prosthetic arm. It nearly looked like veins of metal. It extended from his right shoulder down to his fingertips. "Heh in high school I never would have even tried taking that off. But I thought it was just kids that were dumb. " He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that adults could be just as awful as he assumed when it came to physical differences too.

“Eh, I kinda understand why. We were a war based society, so that plus the huge? Not so much your friendly neighborhood Qunari. But the rep made me seem intriguing, so I got a lot of play just off of curiosity.”

Leaning forward, he examined Ed’s arm. “That’s some fancy tech. From your dreams, or here?”

“I guess so, But we’ve made so many improvements lately...eh, maybe it’ll happen at some point and people will stop being judgy.” When pigs flew that would be likely. Until then it was probable humans would always be judgy

“Dreams..but it felt real enough. Woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was dying.”

“People are shitty to you because of your arm?” Bull’s brows narrowed. “I’m sure that would happen if I didn’t have my glamor, but that’s because horns are harder to explain. It doesn’t surprise me, but it pisses me off.”

“My arm, my eyes..the list goes on.” His eyes were an unnatural color of gold, it freaked out his peers. He couldn’t call them ‘school friends’ without feeling physically ill as a reaction. They hadn’t been friends at all. “Once my arm came along I got called a demon pretty often. I don’t go there anymore, I’m mostly home schooled now. Better for them really, it was that or I punch one and they don’t live. Heh.” The arm had some advantages, super strength being one, but it meant Ed had to control his anger a lot. He wasn’t typically violent without cause, but he was also a teenager. Holding back was hard as it was. Add in super strength and it was a recipe for disaster. “I had a glamor for a while, but I got sick of it.”

“Your eyes are pretty,” Bull shrugged. “If I could have an axe that color, I’d do it.” Bull stretched, his massive shoulders straightening. “I get sick of my glamour too, but luckily my boyfriend is fine with me taking it off at home.”

"I've gotten freak, demon, fuck boy at the worst of it. Heh. You think so? " Ed. Didn't even know what a fuck boy was, only that he hated being called it. It sounded hurtful. His self esteem was trashed thanks to high school. "My other friend is a demon. She gave me a glamor after finding out about it. Most of my real friends are okay with me. None of them go to that school. " He nodded, listening to the tall man for a moment before leaning cautiously on the ring itself. "I never told my aunt what they said. But I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm happier not being there" Ed shrugged it off, but it was true. His entire attitude had changed when they let him go on modified schooling.

“I do.” Bull sat down, moving thoughtfully and purposely. “But school’s better now, right? Honestly, sometimes getting homeschooled is better than having to go to high school.” Bull wrinkled his nose. “That was a nice part of my dreams, no high school.”

“It still sucks, but yeah. Home school is better. Plus I get to see my brother now, so that makes it way better.” He didn’t know why he was telling this new guy everything, but sometimes someone with an unbiased ear was best to talk to after all. “Same here, my brother and I didn’t go. But the flip side, I joined the military. Heh.” He didn’t know if it was better or just damn near the same really.

“You’re older, huh.” Bull smiled and leaned back. He was good somehow at birth order among non-Qunari, always had been. “Military here or in dreams?”

“By a year. Al’s fourteen.” He nodded as he let his feet dangle off the floor a bit, sometimes being short had advantages not that he’d ever admit them. “There. I lost my brother’s body in attempt to bring our mother back, the military was the way to get more access to classified information.” He was able to explain it without choking up these days, but it was still a hard story to explain in general. “It was my fault though, I joined so he didn’t have to.”

“You’re only fifteen? Damn, you’re mature for your age.” Bull sat down next to Ed, listening to his story. “He’s lucky he’s got you. That shit keeps you going, you know? Having a family.” Bull knew because he’d given up until he’d formed the Chargers.

Ed shrugged “Spent most of my life taking care of Al, so I guess it happens? Mom was always too ill to really take care of us much.” Plus Ed was a scientific genius, but he generally didn’t brag about that too much. Nobody liked a bragger. He nodded to that. “I’d do anything for him.”

Bull nodded. “I was already a spy in my dreams when I was your age.” So he kind of understood the mature before one’s time thing. “Who takes care of you guys here? Not that you strictly need it, but the law will think you do.”


Ed had initially come there expecting to spar, and now he was pouring his heart out to a stranger “A spy?” He ran a gloved hand through some of his blonde hair to push it away from his face. “I know, we lived at my mom’s place after she died until I got caught alone and couldn’t answer the cops questions without lying. I guess he saw through it though, ‘cause I ended up here and Al ended up with my worthless father.” He folded his arms uncomfortably at that. “....You probably didn’t want my life story though heh.”

“Yeah. I was sort of like a cop, but in disguise as a regular person.” Bull turned to Ed. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear, kid. Where do you and Al live now?” He’d adopt them in a heartbeat, even if it meant that Danny might be kind of uncomfortable. Because it was the right thing to do.

"Cool. " Ed really hadn’t given much thought to jobs or anything like that. He didn’t have any idea what he wanted to be. With my Aunt, we're okay now. She's pretty good to both of us..." Ed knew he was a pain.in the ass sometimes but she hadn’t given up yet which was more than he could say about most people.

“Good,” Bull replied. He nodded his head at what Ed had to say, reaching out to pat the kid on the shoulder. “You’re strong. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, unless they’re an authority figure. In which case, let them tell you, but know they’re full of shit.”

Ed gave a bit of a grin at that, he was sure there was more of a story there but he was also getting a little antsy. “Is it ridiculous even though you’re kind of a giant I still wanna spar?” He had so much pent up energy lately it was impossible for him to stand still long.

Chuckling, Bull shook his head. “No. Let’s see what you’ve got.” He gently clapped Ed on the back before standing up and moving to the mats. He kind of liked Ed.