CW: Recovering pet whumpees, brief unintentional medical whump, conditioned responses
Alternate universe where @boxboysandotherwhumpâs Dee and Sam find somewhere new for safety... itâs a (slight delayed) birthday gift for Theo!
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âWe donât have room for them both,â Jake mutters, worrying at a hangnail on his thumb that he hasnât yet gotten up the courage to pull, and has already clipped as close to the cuticle as he safely can. âWhere are we going to put them? The fucking porch?â
âWeâll figure that out,â Nat says, reassuring, arms crossed in front of her. Outside, the night sky is clouded and a formless, featureless blue-gray, lit at its edges by the soft orange glow of the city. The two of them sit in uncomfortable hard-backed plastic chairs in the waiting area of a doctorâs office not far outside of downtown.
Jake leans over and picks up a magazine, flipping through it. His eyes scan through images and words without really seeing or reading them. Celebrity gossip, bullshit about food trends, bullshit about exercise, bullshit about parenting, bullshit about-
His eyes catch on a full-page WRU ad. Itâs a photo shot in a slightly filmy, blurred way, as if to echo old-style vintage TV shows. A teenage girl in a school uniform sits at a table, chin on one hand, looking with slightly rolled eyes to the side. Next to her sits a man in his twenties, a collar visible above the crewneck of his sweater, pointing out something on the paper in front of them with a cheerfully helpful expression.Â
Behind them, a woman clearly meant to be the girlâs mother looks over her shoulder with a warm smile.
Give your children every academic advantage - and a lifelong best friend - with a Box Boy all their own. Find a Platonic Companion to add to your family with WRU.Â
Bile rises in Jakeâs throat. He looks at the mellow, pleasant smile on the manâs face and wonders what torture it took to create it, how long the man spent locked in the cells, how frightened he was before they gave him the tiniest hint of mercy.Â
He knows thereâs a law that they canât use actors to portray the Box Boys in advertising, it has to be the real thing. So what did they do to get this guy camera-ready? What will they do if he ever fails to nail the shot?
He closes the magazine with a slap and tosses it violently back on the side table.
Nat glances over at him, eyebrows raised. âYou okay, Jake?â
âYeah,â he mutters, glowering towards the darkness visible through the slats in the blinds at the front window. He sees headlights cutting through, briefly blinding him, and blinks, rubbing at his eyes.
âShowtime,â Nat murmurs. âRemember, theyâre a bonded pair.â
âYeah, got it.â Jake pushes himself to his feet. Shadowy figures outside exit the car, one person from the driverâs seat and two getting out of the back. Jake squints, only able to see silhouettes thanks to the still-shining headlights. âJesus, how fucking tall is that guy?â
The door opens, Dr. Masood coming in, gesturing the two others behind him.Â
The first one through is short - or maybe he isnât, but he seems short compared to the hulking goddamn giant who walks behind him. The guy has to duck not to knock his head on the doorframe, and even Jake doesnât have to do that.
Jakeâs eyes narrow at the sight of the immense, muscular man, scarred heavily down one side of his face right up to his auburn hair, and down his neck, disappearing into the long-sleeved shirt heâs wearing. There are scars on his hand, too, making Jake think thereâs a lot hidden under that shirt. He looks⌠weirdly familiar. Like Jake has seen him somewhere before.
The man sees him and his eyes narrow right back, putting a hand on the smaller oneâs shoulder. âSam,â He says, in a low voice. âStay close.â
Dr. Masood closes the door quickly and locks it, glancing around. âHello, Natalie. Hello, Jake. Sorry Iâm late - Anderson had to evade a potential WRU tail to drop them off with me. Weâre here safe and sound, though.â He moves over to the door back into the hallway where the exam rooms lie. âIâll need to perform basic physical examinations. Who would like to go first?â
Sam - the smaller one is Sam, Jake tells himself, memorizing the name quickly - presses his back against the big guy. Heâs dressed in a loose t-shirt thatâs more tunic than top, going down nearly to his mid-thighs with leggings underneath, sleeves pushed up to bare his hands as he crosses his arms in front of himself. Heâs gorgeous, shorter maybe than Chris is. His eyes, though, have a flinty spark that Chrisâs eyes donât. âDee and me, we donât separate.â
Dr. Masood considers, and nods, slowly. âFair enough. You may both come back with me, then.â
Jake, who has seen newly-freed Box Boys lose their absolute shit on well-meaning physicians after nearly all medical care has involved torture in their memory, moves as well. âIâll sit in on it.â When he catches the poisonous little glare from Sam, he gives them a patient smile. âNo worries, I donât look, just stay outside the room to make sure youâre safe.â
âOh, sure, you say that, but-â
âItâs standard,â Dr. Masood says in his own warm voice with its lilting, slight accent. âI have worked with Jake for many years, I promise he means what he says.âÂ
Sam and Dee share a look, and then they must decide this is as good as theyâll get, because they nod - with a little huff from Sam - and follow Dr. Masood and Jake back to the door labeled PATIENT ENTRANCE.
âIâll keep watch,â Nat calls.Â
As Jakeâs back turns, she picks up the magazine he discarded and starts flipping through it, curious about what angered Jake so badly.
Dee ducks again to avoid the doorframe, even more this time, and Jake clears his throat mildly. Part of him wants to remark on it, the rest of him knows how annoying it is to have people constantly point out youâre tall. After all, he gets it all the time.
He canât shake how weirdly familiar this guy looks, even though heâs sure heâs never seen him before.Â
âWeâll just take this exam room,â Dr. Masood says mildly, opening a door and flipping on the lights. âSam, if youâll step inside. Dee, is it?â
The giant nods.Â
âDee, if youâll stay out here with Jake. Weâre going to do a basic physical and I would prefer to give the patient some privacy.â
âOh, we donât get privacy,â Sam says, casually, his arms swinging a little at his sides as he moves into the room. Heâs already pulling his shirt off, not even waiting to be told. Jake catches sight of scars, long, thin, and surgical, along his ribcage and chest.Â
âNonetheless, I would like you to get a sense for it,â Dr. Masood says kindly. âTo your underwear, please, and here is a gown to wear-â
âDonât want to bother with the gown, and underwear just slows me down. Look at whatever you want.â Sam shrugs, and Jake quickly turns away, looking across the hallway at a framed painting of a flowerpot. He knows the challenge when he hears it - are you trustworthy, will you look, will you touch, will you hurt us, will you will you will you.
Dee looks over at him, leaning against the wall, and Jake realizes the big man is more or less echoing his movements. When he crosses his arms, so does Dee. âSam is my bonded,â He says, in a low voice, barely audible.
Maybe heâs shy.Â
âSo they said in the phone call,â Jake replies, pitching his voice low and kind to suit the big manâs demeanor. âI know you donât know our safehouse, but I should tell you, we donât separate bondeds, if you were worried about that. You stay together.â
Dee swallows, hard, and looks at him more closely now. Heâs still got a collar buckled around his throat, tight enough that heâs got a bit of red rubbed raw along the edges. âGood. Um. Good. They, the last place, they said no room for a bonded pair, that weâre⌠dangerous.â
âWell, for starters, they shouldnât say shit like that to you.â Jake snorts, irritated, raking a hand back through his hair. âEven if they separate bonds for sleep, they shouldnât tell you itâs because of you being dangerous. Thatâs not really why.â
Inside the exam room, they overhear Sam say, âNo, itâs fine, I donât even have a gag reflex,â and Jake is reminded with a bittersweet pang of Kauri.
Who is, as usual, God knows where doing God knows what with some asshole who doesnât deserve him.
âWell, why then?â Dee asks, curiosity overcoming his reticence to speak. âWhy do they separate us? I-... I need my bonded. Sam takes care of me.â
Jake had expected it to be the other way around. His surprise must show on his face, because Dee actually smiles - very slightly - and then looks away. Heâs hiding the scarred side of his face, Jake realizes, his clouded eye.Â
âUsually the big guys are there to take care of the smaller ones,â He offers, and finds himself relaxing more and more in Deeâs company. âI donât think Iâve seen it the other way around before.â
âOh.â Dee goes quiet, for a second, and he starts fiddling with his fingernails, looking down at them. Within, they hear Sam critiquing at length the quality of Dr. Masoodâs instruments. Finally, Dee asks, hesitantly, âWhy do they separate us? You didnât answer.â
âOh, itâs. So, um, WRU is the one who puts bonded pairs together. So the idea is⌠to fully recover, they have to learn how to be apart. Some safehouses do it, like, what they call the âtough loveâ way. Separated right off the bat.â Jake shrugs. âNat doesnât believe in that shit, though, because⌠we have kind of a different philosophy.â
Dee just looks at him, eyebrows raised slightly in curiosity that he doesnât put words to.Â
âIf youâre bonded,â Jake says, glancing down the hall towards the door to the waiting room where Nat watches for the possibility of a raid right here and now, âyouâre bonded. Itâs a real feeling, right?â
Dee doesnât respond at first, then realizes Jake must be waiting for him to at least react. He clears his throat and says, âUh, yeah. Yeah, it is.â He smiles, just a little, his head still tipped so Jake doesnât see the scarred side.
âRight. Just because they created it artificially doesnât mean it isnât a real attachment, a real bond, even real love, depending on the people involved. Separating can be⌠some people handle it, some donât. But the slow approach works better, Nat says, and sheâd know, sheâs been at this for like twenty years. So, you stay with us, you stay together. The work on learning how to live on your own happens together. We can kind of adjust towards independence as we go, right?â
âUm. Right. But⌠what if we donât want to be independent?â
âWell, thatâs up to you. We want you to live happy lives, free of WRU, as the real people you really are.â
âHuh.â Dee looks away, wincing as if his head is beginning to hurt, reaching up to rub at his temple.Â
Jake looks over at him, and once again, he canât quite⌠shake the sense that Dee looks like someone heâs definitely seen before. Maybe at a group meeting, or in a video or something? MaybeâŚ
âHey.â He clears his throat. âUh, can I ask, do you-... remember anything from before you became-â
âAt least warm the fucking speculum up first, asshole!â Sam shouts from inside, and Dee whips around with sudden speed at the sound of his voice raised high from surprise and discomfort. Jake watches him nearly smack his head on the door before he ducks at the last second, glowering at the doctor, who is already backing away.
âMy apologies, I wasnât aware that it hadnât been left to warm as I requested, the machine was off-â
âYeah, well it was still cold. Itâs okay, Dee, Iâm okay, but listen if I wanted to freeze from the inside out I would buy some ice cubes!â
âAgain, my apologies-â
The moment is gone. Jake frowns, staying right where he is, looking at the flower in the frame across the hall and wondering what lives these two had lived before they came here.Â
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@finder-of-rings @astrobly @burtlederp - who have asked to be tagged in all things
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