it will be interesting to find out which option you like best (2 picture are how I usually draw, and 1 is an attempt at a different style)

he expects tears, condolences, pity, as though he were a child.

but he doesnt get pity.

they ask him to stay for dinner, and they cook his favourite dish. they dont act like hes a dead man walking, they dont act like the doctors did.

when the treatments start, hes exhausted. he drags himself to work because his career is his passion, but his hair is unbrushed, hes weeks behind on laundry, and his apartment looks like a tornado ran through it. he eats a lackluster breakfast at his desk, and he doesnt eat dinner at all (weekends are even worse). he takes public transportation to work and appointments because he cant drive in the state hes in.

kinger and queenie decide that this just wont do.

they leave for work earlier in the morning to pick up scratch — in the morning, queenie joins him in the backseat, and in the evening, kinger does. they stay at his place for a while after dropping him off, cleaning up the place and preparing meals for him. when scratch comes to work with his hair in a rats nest, kinger will brush it for him and ask after his health as he eats breakfast at his desk.

the rest of the office pitches in where they can — wormo cleans up his desk (and makes sure to adhere to his extremely specific organization style), spike brings him coffee, rattie shares food she brought from home, bizco stays late so scratch doesnt have to, and everyone takes on a little more work so scratch can breathe a little easier.

scratch was never close with anyone before c&a. he doesnt quite understand how so many people can care so much about him, but hes not about to take it for granted. even when the office tells him not to spend the money, he orders treats and presents for them as shows of gratitude.

when his behaviour starts to shift as the tumours effects on his brain become more pronounced, kinger is the only one who doesnt have a harder time understanding him. kingers always had a screw loose, its a common joke in the office, but that loose screw allows him to connect in a unique way with someone whos actively falling apart. where others find it difficult to make sense of a single word that comes out of scratchs mouth, kinger nods enthusiastically and adds onto the idea in a way that proves he understands what hes trying to get across. he can even translate scratchs ideas into something the rest of the team can wrap their heads around. they have nights where they share a tray of snacks and scratch will rattle off everything on his mind that hes afraid no one will get, and kinger gets it.

queenie is lacking that slight tear in ones sanity that allows kinger to understand scratch the way he does, but scratch still connects with her better than the rest. a lifetime with kinger allows her to comprehend scratch a little better than the others, and even when she doesnt understand, she takes interest, asks questions, listens. when he struggles to wrap his head around things that used to be easy, she walks him through every step and repeats and redoes things until he understands. he thought he would feel stupid, having his hand held through such simple tasks, but queenie doesnt make him feel stupid.

the team is his family, but kinger and queenie are a step above. hes never felt so attached to someone in his life.

when everyone is trapped in the circus, the first thing they do is figure out who everyone is. they cant remember any names, cant see any faces, and even voices are unfamiliar, but they have memories to cross-reference.

when scratch sees two chess pieces approach the circle holding hands, he has an idea of who they are.

and when kinger mentions the chessboard on his desk, he knows hes right.

hes only ever truly at ease by kingers side, and he becomes very protective of him when under stress. kinger is aware of this, and he finds it very sweet! scratch however feels like the neediest most annoying bitch in the universe. someone help him

living in such a liminal, consequence-free world can make people reckless. one time, kinger loses a bet, and scratch gets to carve something of his choosing onto his back.

“You PROMISE you won’t draw something stupid?”

“Come on, Check, don’t you trust me?”

he rolls his eyes. scratch started calling him “checkmate” after a now-infamous streak of bad luck, but eventually shortened it to “check”. the fact hes using that name now makes kinger trust him less, but hes no coward. besides, he wears a robe all the time, and adventures with outfit changes are few and far between, it wont make much of a difference.

“Fine… but if I find out it’s bad, I’m getting Caine to dye you bright green!!”

“Tsk tsk, you have no faith in me~”

he knows its words based on where he feels the carving, but he cant piece the patterns into letters in his head. he asks queenie to read it to him once, but she says its in german. kinger almost laughs — of course scratch would write it in his first language, one no one else on the team speaks.

scratch takes the secret to his grave.

years later, after kinger changes into his beach attire, the group immediately take notice of the carvings.

“Oh, Kinger!! I didn’t know you had tattoos!!”

“I do??”

he looks down — a butterfly and a heart.

“Have those always been there…?”

surely he wouldn’t forget how his own body looks…

at least the others seem impressed by them.

“Did you get Caine to do that?”

before he can answer pomni’s question —

“He’s got one on his back too!”

— jax’s voice behind him makes him jump.

he spins around trying to see, and jax grabs his shoulder to hold him still.

“See?”

“Oh, he does!”

“What’s that say? Is that German?”

“Let me see… yeah, it’s German.”

zooble clears their throat.

“Ich halte dich lieb. It means “You are dear to me”. That’s cute.”

several “aww”s from the others, and kinger stops to think.

german… he knew someone from germany once, didnt he?

he knew someone from…

…

he looks down at his hand. at the silhouette of a butterfly, carved so carefully.