FrieAme AU where Friede's a paediatrician and Amethio's a terminally ill inpatient. Friede's in charge of Amethio's care and keeps telling himself not to get attached but oops Friede gets attached. So does Amethio.

Contains main character death, obviously!

Thanks to my good friend for always contributing great ideas! <3

I've been thinking of ways to make Ame suffer Even More and what if at one point he has a stroke and it makes it really hard for him to talk...
[Me] It's right when he's finally bonding with Gibe and stuff too so it makes Ame feel really stupid that he's struggling to communicate all of a sudden and he's scared that Gibe will be mad at him or not want to interact with him anymore...
[Me] Gibe visiting Ame for the first time after the stroke happens and Ame tries to hide under his bedsheets but he's too weak to pull them up far enough over his head so he just turns away from Gibe and buries his face in his pillow...
"[Me] Gibe: Amethio.
Ame: ...
Gibe: What are you doing?
Ame: (Oh. He's mad.)
Gibe: Why are you hiding?
Ame: (I don't want to see you, okay?! Why are you here?!)
Gibe: ...I see. I suppose your doctor did explain you were having difficulty speaking. I shouldn't be asking you questions, in that case."
"[Me] Ame: (Oh... Yeah. He'll think I'm stupid... He won't believe that I can't talk... He'll think I'm trying to get out of speaking with him...)

Gibe seems to shut up, which makes Ame uneasy, somehow"
"[Me] Gibe: ...Would you like me to leave?

Ame flinches. Ideally, yes, he would. He wants Gibe to go away. But he also can't bring himself to nod."
[Me] Ame hears Gibe stand up and approach. He braces himself, convinced that Gibe's going to either hit him or grab him by the shoulder and yell at him
"[Me] Instead, Ame feels a tug on the sheets.

Gibe: ...You wanted these over your head, correct? I can't say that's entirely safe, but...
Ame: (...Why are you...?)"
"[Me] Gibe: However, it is probably a sensible idea for them to be covering your shoulders.

Gibe then awkwardly pulls the sheets up so that they are, as he described, covering Ame's shoulders"
[Redacted] Gibe actually trying to be nice... aww...
"[Me] Ame opens his mouth to thank Gibe but only an odd series of noises come out. He feels like crying.

Gibe: You should rest.

Ame forces himself to roll over, except he can't do so easily, and just ends up lying on his back. With difficulty (both physically and mentally) he looks up at his father.

He wants to thank him properly. And... apologise"
"[Me] Ame tries to say something again, but Gibe simply shakes his head.

Gibe: Rest. I do not require an apology. Don't be ridiculous.
Ame: ...Mmm
Gibe: Amethio. There is no reason for you to continue to be defiant even now. I am sure your doctor would not want you pushing yourself for not reason."
"[Me] Ame: (B-But it's not ""for no reason""... It's... It's for you...)
Gibe: Honestly, I don't know why he thought I should visit you today. You're clearly not up for interacting with anyone... [Sigh]
Gibe: I shall be back next week. Behave yourself.

Ame makes another odd sound. Gibe, who's now at the door, hesitates for a moment."
"[Me] Gibe: No. ""Behave yourself"" is...
Gibe: That's not really appropriate, is it?
Gibe: I... Hm.
Ame: ...? (Father?)
Gibe: I retract that statement. Behave how you want."
"[Me] Ame: (What does he mean? Is this a trick question?)
Gibe: I suppose... ""Take care of yourself"" is more apt, perhaps..."
[Me] Ame tries to roll over onto his side so that he can properly face Gibe and call out to him, but Gibe's gone from the room before Ame has the chance
"[Me] In the hallway, Gibe comes across Frie

Frie: Oh? You done already? Is he okay?
Gibe: No. Why on Earth did you think he'd want to see me today?
Frie: ...He had a medical emergency, of course we'd advise you to visit
Gibe: If his life's not in any danger, you could, at the very least, wait until the patient is alert enough to allow guests"
"[Me] Gibe: And besides, if he's unable to communicate easily...
Frie: What? Do you not want to see him if he can't talk to you?
Gibe: What gave you that ridiculous idea?
Gibe: Amethio is the type of person who forces himself to go beyond his limits to appease people. Even in that small window of time, he was trying to talk to me directly"
"[Me] Gibe: I would rather that he rest. If he's still in a similar state next week, I will refrain from visiting him. For his own sake.
Gibe: Besides, he... He's uncomfortable with me being there. I know he is. I can tell.
Frie: That's not entirely true! He's expressed the desire to get to know you better, and--"
"[Me] Gibe: The moment I was alone with him, he turned away and hid his face. He tried unsuccessfully to retreat under his bedding so that he could avoid me.
Gibe: Those are his true feelings. The last thing he needs right now is to be stressed by my presence."
"[Me] Frie: I...
Gibe: I have business to attend to, so I shall be on my way.
Gibe: I understand this means absolutely nothing coming from me, but... considering you were always demanding I do the same, perhaps it would benefit you to consider Amethio's feelings sometimes"
"[Me] With that, Gibe leaves, and Frie is both mad at Gibe and annoyed at himself.

Gibe's right. Ame wasn't up for seeing anyone today. Frie knew that. And yet he told Gibe to come around anyway..."
"[Me] Frie goes to apologise to Ame, but Ame's asleep.

Frie immediately notices that he's been tucked into bed. Only the bottom sheets are pulled up over Ame's shoulders, the top one has fallen down somewhat

Frie: (Heh. Did your father do this? That's kinda sweet)"
[Me] [Redacted] Gibe tries to be nice and caring and he has zero clue what to do and gets flustered and usually does something wrong or, like, not entirely properly but hey! Baby steps!
[Redacted] He is trying and I am sure Ame appreciates it
[Me] He does! He's sad he can't fully communicate that to Gibe...
[Redacted] He'll try to write it perhaps
[Me] Ame writing Gibe a small thank you note but he's starting to forget how to spell even basic words now... He gives it to Gibe anyway and just hopes Gibe can understand it...
[Redacted] He is so cute. Always doing his best and too kind for his own good
"[Me] Also the letter Ame wrote to Gibe (the really long one where he talks about how much he resents Gibe etc) was written before this and before Gibe realised how much of a shithead he's been, but Ame's kinda forgotten about it already...

I like to think that when Gibe reads that letter after Ame's death, it hits him just how hard Ame was trying to be kind"
[Redacted] Ame is too good a son!
[Me] Gibe wondering why Ame ever even gave him a chance... Why did he try and get closer to a person who treated him so terribly?
[Me] Gibe going from "I don't deserve a son like you" in a derogatory way to "I don't deserve a son like you" in a humble way
[Redacted] It's because Ame loved him deep down ;_;
[Me] And Ame would legit feel guilty for getting sick and being such a burden for Gibe & Spi... No matter how much others try to tell him he doesn't need to be, Ame can't help but hate himself for it
[Redacted] Poor boy... he would apologize to them for it imo
"[Me] Definitely. He'd apologise to Spi a lot, and he'd want to apologise to Gibe but he'd be scared to... I think he would've in his letter, at least somewhere amongst the anger and resentment...

He may hate Gibe, but even still, he never wanted to cause this many issues for the family... He wanted to succeed, after all..."
[Redacted] He wanted them to be proud of him!
[Me] He did! Really, that's all he wanted. He wanted to live up to the family name. But he was never given the chance...
[Redacted] In another life, maybe...
"[Me] Yes...

Ame writing something like that in his letter. ""If reincarnation exists, and if I'm still your son in my next life, I will make you proud of me."""
[Redacted] He is the cutest. Maybe Gibe actually feels something reading this because Ame wants to be his son again in a way...
"[Me] Oh...

Ame saying something like ""Oh but I guess you never wanted to have children, right? If you still like men in your next life, then, hopefully you're not forced into starting a family again.

I don't want to destroy your happiness two lifetimes in a row."""
[Redacted] He is too considerate.
[Me] I think Ame would have some sympathy for Gibe once he fully understands things. Not a lot, but he at least can understand that Gibe was forced to be a father and it's not like he willingly married a woman he loved, started a family, and then treated them like shit
[Me] He still doesn't forgive Gibe at all but Gibe's neglect makes sense to Ame by the end
[Redacted] Too considerate and understanding! This boy is an angel
[Me] Ame's reasoning is "Well if I was in his situation I'd be very unhappy too"
[Me] But then is immediately all "I'd never treat my own children like that though, he has no excuse for that > : ("
[Redacted] So cute... Ame too cute...
[Me] I feel like Spi is less understanding and when Gibe tells them (imo he tells Spi and Ame the story together), Spi's just "Okay but like you still could've just. Not."
"[Me] Gibe: How?
Spi: My first thought was that you could've pretended to be impotent. Given that you're not attracted to women, I doubt that would've been too difficult to pull of.
Spi: But if that didn't work, then, like... communicate with her? You could've told her you didn't want to do it? And maybe she would've agreed to play along"
"[Me] Gibe: If they thought it was a medical issue with my wife, they simply would've found me another woman
Spi: Yeah. But like. Impotency.
Gibe: ....."
[Me] Ame sitting there being to scared to ask what impotency means--
[Me] too
"[Me] Gibe: [Sigh] Why is that the first thing you think of, Spinel?
Spi: Idk it just seems the most efficient way of getting out of having kids [Shrug]
Gibe: You are aware it's not that easy to fake, correct?
Spi: In what way?
Gibe: Your body reacts on its own, even if you don't necessarily enjoy the sensations"
"[Me] Gibe: You do not need to be sexually attracted to your partner for your body to... [ahem] respond to them, as it were
Spi: ......Ah. Right."
[Me] Ame wants to fucking die hearing his father and his brother talk about sex
"[Me] Gibe: Unless your body behaves differently, which I suppose is possible...
Spi: Er, no. I uh... I know what you're referring to, and uh... yeah. Mine does that too. So..."
[Me] Ame: (Can we talk about literally anything else?!)
"[Me] Ame: I still can't excuse how my father behaved but his emotions make sense now
Spi: Nah he's completely full of shit, actually"
[Redacted] The stark differences between the reactions w
[Redacted] Also Spi please..
[Me] Ame asking Frie later "This is stupid but what does "impotent" mean?" and Frie wonders what the fuck they were discussing while he wasn't in the room...
[Me] But yes, I think they'd have very different reactions to Gibe telling them about himself...
[Redacted] Spi wasn't hurt by Gibe as much as Ame but he is the one who is less understanding
"[Me] Spi just thinks Gibe's a coward, really. He also knows why Gibe wouldn't have stood against his own father, but at the same time, it just makes Spi angry

Because Gibe's cowardice is ultimately what ended up hurting Mother more than anything else, and Spi cannot feel any kind of sympathy towards Gibe for that reason alone"