Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Chapter 18: A week part 3

Day 6: Calm.

Enzan had to admit, there was always something to see in this hospital, they certainly spared no expense to make this place presentable. “Who dose all of this stuff.” Enzan mumbled to himself, pausing in his thoughts for a moment to shift around in his chair. His room was on the 13th floor, he however, was sitting in a waiting room on the 9th floor, divided between staring out the window and looking out into the hallway. This view was different here, spanning an entirely different part of the hospital and the surrounding landscape, the passing cars and blur of people were hypnotic during the day, but the view was admirable at night.

Wait...what was he thinking about again? 'Damn...' There it was again, he never could remember things, his memory always failed him, especially with small things. Like his keys, he still hadn't found them, nor could he remember where they were. 'Damnit, I left them around here some where...'

Anyway, this hospital truly was a place to see, nearly every hall open to the public was lined with works of art, all types, paintings, photographs, murals. Not to mention the sculptures and designs, some of the more physical and elaborate works of arts. Everything was warm and inviting, oak furnishing, tan, natural, warm colors and eye pleasing lights, stylish designs. Such elaborations were...admirable when Enzan thought about it, with it's great views and overall interior this place was like an art gallery for the sick and injured.

'People...' Enzan wasn't generally the socializing type, he didn't often like to deal with people, it just left him annoyed and frustrated in most cases. But this place, as great as it's was, wouldn't be half as great without the multitude of people, the life, the energy. 'I wish I could build a place like this.' He thought shiftlessly, lifting his injured leg onto a coffee table, his hand scratching shiftlessly at his left arm. He didn't like people, though, he did like their presence.

He wasn't around a number of people like this very often, he never had time, he was always off on his own ambitions and endeavors. He liked this, at lest for the moment, just being around people...

Which is why he liked Lan so much, in an annoyed, half intolerant kind of way. Lan was the embodiment of an entire population of people he'd missed out on... He had to admit he certainly liked watching Lan, and all of his denseness. 'Is he gonna look through the whole hospital before he realizes I'm in here?' Enzan snorted to himself, which was why his attention was divided halfway into the hospital.

Finally he caught Lan's eye and the boy noticed he was there, just as soon Lan made his way into the now completely depleted waiting room, all of the people had somehow drifted out over the half hour period he'd been sitting here. “Enzan! I've been looking all over for you.” Lan said, he rubbed the back of his head anxiously and smiled warmly. Enzan admired Lan's smile, he didn't think he'd ever be able to smile in that way, so easily, it was just not something he was inclined to. “Do you know how big this place is? I didn't think I'd ever find you.”

Enzan folded his arms and snorted, out loud this time. “I don't know how you find your way here every day, it's a miracle you don't get lost on the street.”

Lan's expression drifted into aggravated one, though Enzan always noticed his face looked a bit confused whenever in this state, like there was just something he couldn't find or understand that threw him off balance, or he was completely caught off guard by it. “Me, your worse then I am.” Lan retorted. “I'm surprised you remember where you live.” Lan was keenly aware that Enzan wasn't one for details, the small things...which seemed to be a lot of things, always eluded him. He always took up a bit too much, call it arrogance and over estimating himself.

“Heh.” Enzan smirked, he knew he was being, for lack of a better word, a jerk, but he couldn't help it, it just seemed to a natural part of him. He didn't have restraint with certain things, such as stating what was clear to him, yes, he was blunt in this way. And plus, it was always amusing to watch Lan's reactions.

Lan still couldn't figure out what Enzan was doing here, with his room on the 13th floor and this being the 9th floor waiting room. Blues was right, Enzan did wonder around a lot when he was bored, it was almost like a childish restlessness that made him incapable of sitting in one spot if he wasn't doing something even loosely engrossing. Well, Enzan was still young, and he wasn't completely infallible. “I spent like an hour looking for you, I tried to find that place in the basement, I figured you'd be there ...” Lan's voice trailed off and he looked away, his face cringing in annoyment and aggravation. He wouldn't say it, he felt that admitting this would be conceding defeat, and proving Enzan right, all the thing the other boy had over him, he didn't want to give him another..

Enzan's smirk grew wider, he leaned forward and looked at Lan more closely, he could see it on his face, that look told him all he needed to know. “Heh, you got lost didn't you?” He said, in a smug, condescending voice that never failed to infuriate Lan.

Lan growled with anger, folding his arms stubbornly and glaring harshly out the window. “So what if I did, it's not my fault, it's a maze down there.”

“You, Lan, have no sense of direction.” Enzan clinched the armrests and began pushing upward with all of his strength, he strained to climb to his feet, grunting softly as he did. “One of many things your lacking.”

Lan peeked one eye in Enzan's direction, noticing the trouble he was having, and few other things he would have never noticed had Blues not had pointed out when he came looking for Enzan. Enzan was right about him, Lan realized now just how unobservant he was, he should have seen that small twitching in Enzan's legs, the failing grip in his left arm, among other things that displayed Enzan's condition. 'Is he actually getting worse?'

Though taking much longer then he had anticipated, Enzan made it to his feet, it was much easier walking then actually trying to stand. Limbing visibly, Enzan grabbed Lan's hand and started leading him out of the waiting room.

“Hey...where's all that equipment and stuff you were hooked to?” Lan asked, trailing curiously behind Enzan, taking notice that he was fully dressed, no longer in patient attire.

Enzan found hospital gowns dignifying, another thing he hated about being stuck in this place. “Tch, it was only a monitor and an IV.” Enzan said discardingly.

“Don't you need that stuff?”

“I can live without it for a few hours.”

Enzan leaned against the wall between the elevators, he didn't feel weak like he did other times, but he felt oddly tired. He shook his head and ignored it, he'd be fine as long as he kept moving he told himself. Clinching his eyes shut and taking in deep breaths. 'This is ridiculous, I've never....?' Enzan paused in his thoughts, his eyes slowly re-opened and his vision was greeted with the sight of Lan leaning awkwardly close, and observing him curiously. “Lan, what the hell are you doing?” Enzan asked, his voice tented with annoyment. The familiar bell sounded and Enzan pushed Lan back, walking through the opening doors and stepping into the elevator. There he casually assumed the same position, his hands clinching the railings tightly for support.

Lan leaned against the wall beside him and watched as the doors rolled shut after them. “Blues was right, you not ok. You shouldn't be up.” Lan said chastisingly. Though had he remembered his own condition at the moment he wouldn't have been so quick to state it.

“Tch, Blues is overreacting.” Though, Enzan admitted, he did give him good reason. Enzan reached forward and pressed 'B1' before sinking back against the wall. “And your not doing too well yourself Lan.” He said, pointing at the bandages around Lan's head, he gave the center of Lan's forehead a sharp poke..

And Lan winced, stepping back.“I'm not nearly as bad as you.” Lan said, half defensively, half worried. “I know I'm well enough to at lest be out of my room, you shouldn't even be awake right now. What are you, planing another escape?”

Enzan smiled to himself. “Hn, something like that.”

“If Blues is worried about you, it's gotta be serious.” Lan said, his voice more solemn this time.

“Blues is just acting like that because he misses Zero.” Enzan waved with disregard..

An interest was peeked in Lan when he heard that, “You really think so?”

“It's obvious, he's acting all weird trying to hide it.” Enzan opened his eyes and peeked over at Lan with a fleeting glance. “Where is Zero anyway?” Alright, he missed him a little too, he was just about the only thing that made sitting in his room for weeks on end tolerable, he was like...well...he was kinda like Lan. So what, he'd just gotten use to him, that's all.

“With Megaman and my dad.” Lan replied. Megaman again, at this very moment, was being examinated in some way Lan figured he'd probably never be able to understand. Honestly he didn't know what would come of all of this, if anything at all. A part of him thought that trying to fix Megaman was futile, he was lucky to still be alive in that body now, but another part of him refused to believe it was all futile, something had to come out of all of that work. “Man, he really misses Blues too. I don't get it.”

“Yeah, if they both miss each other, why the hell are they still doing it?”Enzan honestly couldn't see the point, Blues wasn't the type to actually miss anyone, especially someone like Zero. So since the very unlikely chance was a reality, why didn't he just go find Zero? ...No...Enzan could understand Blues' behavior, thinking of it now, if he was in the same position, Enzan knew he'd probably...no, definitely act the same way. Blues had been constantly fighting, ignoring, pushing for Blues to leave him alone, and now that by some miracle it had actually happen. He couldn't just dispute what he'd said now, even if he wanted to, such words would compromise his pride, saying such a thing would be admitting defeat, admitting fault, committing some inviable wrong against himself And he couldn't do that, not now, not to Zero. “...” Enzan sighed to himself, well, it was only 2 more days, they could stay away from each other for 2 more days. It was actually a little amusing, watching Blues act this way.

“I dunno.” Lan felt the elevator slow to a stop and watched the doors roll open to the sterile, white tiled floors and hard, white concrete walls, florescent lights hung buzzing from the ceiling. Enzan grabbed his hand again and began leading him through the rounded tunnels that resembled hallways, the path forked between the left and right, Enzan took the left.

Enzan looked around and could tell that this place had been rebuilt at once time in it's existence, possibly to add structural support to an old set of passages under the much newer hospital.' This place is old...' He thought to himself, reaching his hand out and running his fingers across the wall as a child would do. It was cold, distinct down here, the lighting was plain at best, and everything was unremarkable compared to the design put in upstairs. But none the less, he liked it anyway, it was a change from the gallery like settings of the upper floors, knowing that a place like this existed in a place like that, made him appreciate it all even more.

“So what I got lost.” Lan said, silently counting off how many doors he'd passed by, how many times this hall branched off into another one. “This place isn't like a maze, it is a maze. It's not my fault I found the parking garage instead.”

Enzan smiled with smug amusement “You ended up in the parking garage? You just have no sense of direction.” Enzan, even with his lack of memory, did have a fairly developed sense of direction, he rarely ever got lost, and was good at finding his way. It was why he felt fairly confident in himself when he was down here, it was time consuming, and he retained the interest of a child trying to draw his way out of a maze on paper. He kind of...enjoyed looking around down here...well, he had anyway. With his strength seeming to decline he couldn't do it as much as he pleased, he was isolated more and more to his room.

Enzan finally came to the door Lan couldn't seem to find, slipping into the pitch black storage room that he doubted anyone would ever feel the need to look into. At that moment he was glad it was as dark as it was, his hands seemed to lose strength and a strange tingling seemed to come over him when he clinched Lan's hand. All feeling left his legs and he faltered, “!!” Enzan stumbled forward a few steps, but as soon as Lan felt the tug he pulled Enzan back, saving him from falling flat on his face.

“Enzan? What was that?” Lan fumbled blindly along the wall until he found the light switch and the room was flooded with illumination. “Are you alright?”

Enzan took in deep, heavy breathes, feeling fatigue crash on him like a wave that soaked his whole body, but he quickly shook his head, as if Lan could see the gesture. “It was nothing, I just tripped over something.” He lied, quickly letting go of Lan's hand and subtlety staggering forward towards the familiar hole in the ground marking a hatch. His legs seemed like they were falling asleep as he walked, going so numb he could barely feel them.

The moment he got inside of the secluded room he stumbled to the bed and fell in face first on to the softness.

Lan move slowly, admiring the features of the room over again as if rediscovering it all. His eyes settled on the shelf on the other end of the enclosed room, looking over the selection of books and journals that resided there. “You ever read any of those?” Lan asked curiously.

Enzan lifted his head weakly, feeling the life and sensation slowly return to his legs as he caught his breath and took his weight from them, though he wasn't sure what brought on the sudden fatigue. “A little bit of one...once.” He said dismissively.

“I wonder who the person who built all of this was? “ Lan said out loud in a mumbling voice, his eyes reassessing the room for some clue. 'I bet someone found this place before us.' He thought to himself. ' Somebody had too'...”Maybe they knew it was here when they were building the hospital.”

“Maybe, Maybe not.”Enzan shrugged, wondering what brought along this sudden line of questioning from Lan. “This hospital is the oldest one in the city, it's been around about 150 years.”

“How'd you know that.”

“I've seen the ads.”

Lan finally seemed to give up on the curiosity and sat down on the bed beside Enzan, slowly easing himself on to his back and staring up listlessly at the ceiling, his arms resting comfortably behind his head. “Enzan...are you alright?” He finally asked, noticing that Enzan hadn't moved from that position in a while, it was quite odd, mainly because half of his body was hanging off the side of the bed.

Enzan lifted his head again, his expression dozy and annoyed as though he was well on his way to a peaceful sleep, and Lan had woken him up. “I'm fine.” He said, not giving the question a strand of thought as he always did. He finally pulled himself completely onto the bed and spilled out loosely beside Lan, closing his eyes. He could have fallen asleep right here and not minded one bit...Then he opened them again, narrowed in anger. “Dammit, I just moved from one bed to another.” It was times like this he was reminded how sick he was of being in this hospital. He was angry and annoyed because for some reason it seemed this was all he had the strength remaining to do. There was this ominous trapped feeling, as if he'd never get out of here.

Lan just laughed out loud, though Enzan wasn't nearly as amused. “Don't feel to bad, you might get some permanent company in here pretty soon.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well...” Lan smiled nervously, almost as if he was embarrassed about it all. It could be said with a certainty that he wasn't happy about it. “Remember when I told you my dad was making me go in for physical?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Well the first time when they were taking blood from me I almost passed out.” Lan started, he felt like he could kick himself when he said this next part. “Then just when I was about to leave, 2 steps from the door--”

“You passed out.” Enzan said simply, if Lan didn't know him well enough he would have sounded a little callus,. Though he held a good level of concern for Lan's heath, he didn't really hear anything new. And this didn't entice something in him enough to feel anything notable.

“I couldn't breathe.” Lan said simply, as if it was his fault, some clumsy mistake on his behalf. “When I came back today they found some blood in my lungs.”

“Huh?”

“I haven't even got to worst part yet, they said there was something eating away at them. And they also said they think I have some type of blood poisoning cause this hole in my head wont heal.”

“Then...why...why are you here?” Enzan asked, completely perplexed, as if this was something he couldn't phantom.

“What do you mean?”

“Lan your such an idiot. I mean why are you here? Why are you with me? Why aren't you-”

“In my room?” Lan interrupted, smiling with amusement.”I could say the same thing to you. Blues told me you freaked-”

“You better not say what I think your about to say.” Enzan growled in aggravation. “I didn't freak out, it was a...” Enzan folded his arms and looked away, it was a anxiety attack, or at lest that's what they told him. They also told him that they found an unknown substance, some kind of film that had built over muscles and a kidneys that was slowly corroding away his muscles. Burning through fat first, before it actually reached the firmer, more dense sections beneath him. He'd lost 2 pounds since yesterday. “Never mind, it was nothing.” It didn't dawn on him until this moment what that unknown substance could be, only that it wasn't something naturally produced in the body, then he knew what it was for sure now. “The tanks!” He said with a sudden realization.

“What?”

“Remember back on the island when those tanks exploded? And when I told you what was in side was highly flammable?” It made sense now, of course it got into his blood, when he covered Lan there had to be million things that cut him. It was all over the place, Lan could have easily inhaled it and didn't know it. Enzan didn't have that problem since he wasn't breathing at the time, so it wasn't eating away his lungs, just every place else. “I think you inhaled some of the liquid inside.”

“Heh heh, I guess it was worth sneaking out then.” Lan laughed. “My dad can't be mad now.”

“Hn...” Enzan closed his eyes and sighed to himself, so they both where here now, in the same position. Enzan felt like he'd failed, he had gotten some sense of accomplishment in knowing Lan hadn't ended up like he did, it had made this all worth it. At first out of some arrogant sense of pride and superiority in saving someone like Lan, but after a while he realized he just wanted to protect him, it was simple, for the first time in his life all of his thinking had actual made something simple. Though, as always, his mind drifted to feelings of being trapped.

Lan glanced over at Enzan and watched him thoughtfully it seemed the other boy was nothing more then tired...but..., 'Geez Enzan, what's wrong with you?' He felt a deep sinking in the pit of his stomach, he was worried, so strongly that it swelled in his chest in a burning heat. He didn't know why he was so worried, worried about Enzan, worried about Megaman, worried about Zero...well, actually he could list every reason why he was worried about all of them, it just seemed like too much for this to all end well. “Enzan...” Maybe he was just worrying too much about this, maybe Megaman was right.

Maybe- '!!' “!” Lan flinched when his focused was forced into reality and he found his lips pressed against Enzan, hard eyes staring piercingly into his.

Enzan smirked, watching Lan's every reaction and taking an amused enjoyment in the startled look on his face. “Lan thinking, now I've seen it all.”

Lan looked at him chastisingly. “Enzan.”

“What's wrong Lan?” It wasn't like Lan to just zone out, Enzan, who generally didn't care, was at lest a little curious now. Maybe it was just because Lan had just been admitted into the hospital, the sight wasn't *that* unfamiliar to him.

“Nothing.” Lan shook his head, he shouldn't have been worried about this, he never worried like this before, why was he all of a sudden now? The was no reason to be, at lest that's what he told himself, he still couldn't rid himself of the distant sense of dread he couldn't explain or properly convey.

“Heh, really?” Enzan however had little problem reading Lan, though Lan wasn't the best at hiding things. Enzan rolled over and in one surprisingly swift somewhat commanding motion, he climbed on top of Lan and looked down at him with that same piercing expression. “Lan.”

Lan shook his head nervously, “No, not at all.” He said, convincing himself that he shouldn't be worrying about this. Lan lifted his hands defeatedly. “Seriously.”

Enzan didn't buy it, he thought Lan was lying, and Lan was a terrible lier. But he seemed oddly set on this, so Enzan accepted it. He always liked when Lan was set on something, that set, determined, demeanor, full of unrelenting, stubborn hope.... It wasn't as strong as it usually was. “Whatever Lan.” Enzan passively closed his eyes, leaned down, and kissed him.

Lan sunk into the kiss and for that moment everything felt fine, everything felt alright, far away. His tongue moved timidly, passively while Enzan seemed to enjoy the shyness and his tongue played teasingly along with Lan's. Enzan was always so sure of himself, and some how Lan never was when he kissed Enzan, as if he didn't know what to do next. Enzan slowly drifted away, easing his way down to Lan's neck. To his dismay he felt his strength slipping away from him and Enzan quickly lowered himself down on to his knees, sitting atop Lan's stomach before he came crashing down.

“Un...” Lan moaned weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. He always felt a little weak around Enzan, weaker then he usually was, Enzan's strait forward, distinct confidence never failed to catch him off guard. Enzan pressed his hands against Lan's shoulders and held him down, or himself up, it wasn't clear. It felt some how right to Lan, laying here, surrounded by the heated embrace of Enzan's body on top of him, it made him feel like a questioning child with out knowledge, just a desire to learn, to have something someone older them him, no matter how subtlety, like Enzan could give to him. “En...Enzan.”

Enzan held himself upright on his knees, leaning partially on Lan in an awkward way as he reached down between them and began unbuttoning his pants with hasty, half skilled movements. He pressed his hands against Lan's pelvis and relished in the feel of the warm, taunt flesh, 'He feels so...' He felt a strong swell of growing heat below his stomach at the contact of Lan's heated skin against his palms were pressed against, his fingers rubbing softly across the pail expanses with an examining quality to his movements. An uncharacteristic gentleness was taken in every movement, almost as if he was straddling something fragile or feared he'd hurt Lan. But he was taking his own pleasure from this.

He was enjoying this, he wanted to move slowly and feel over every inch of Lan's body in this manner, but it seemed his body wasn't as strong as his mind was willing. Again he felt his legs starting to numb slightly, much to his aggravation. 'Damnit....' This couldn't...not now, he wanted this too badly. Enzan grunted to himself and before he realized it he was biting down on Lan's shoulder, out of either the frustration or the strain it was imposing on him that made him tense.

Lan hissed in pain. “E-Enzan...”

Enzan lifted his head, his eyes blinking in mild confusion, his face holding a rare questioning, he hadn't even realized he was doing it. “Sorry.” He apologized softly, lapping his tongue over the now imprinted area with soothing, uncharacteristically gentle licks. As Lan was just about to fully appreciate the lenient action, something equatable to the soft caresses of Enzan's hands when they were at his waist. A familiar pain shot through Enzan's leg, washing hard over him and then fading away again, propelling the boy with a sense of sudden haste.

Before Enzan realized it he found himself sprawled completely over Lan, his chin resting on Lan's shoulders and his head buried in the other boy's neck, panting with increasing harshness from the swelling heat in his groin and increasing need. Lan moaned softly underneath him, wrapping his arms around Enzan's back and bucking upwards, grinding his restricted erection against Enzan's with a timid need. Lan clinched his eyes shut, a hot flush filling his cheeks. “Un...”

Enzan pushed his hands behind Lan's back and slipped his fingers into the waist band of the boy's shorts and tugged them down to his knees. With little warning he slipped a finger into Lan's entrance, drawing a surprised yelp and making the bright flush on Lan's face grow hotter. Enzan smirked to himself, wishing that he could have seen the expression on Lan's face at that moment, but lacking the energy and will to move his head from where it lay and open his eyes, not yet anyway.

Enzan lifted his other hand from behind Lan's back and slipped it between their bodies, clinching the other boy's hard erection with a tight grip. Working in succession he penetrated Lan with another finger making slow, hard thrust, his finger tips rubbing messagingly against the sensitive inner walls. Even with his sense of urgency from failing strength, Enzan still moved slowly, his fingers caressing the crevice underneath the head of Lan's cock while his thumb rubbed over the slit, becoming quickly wet with sticky precum.

“Unn...Enzan.” He cried out, “Harder...” He thrust upward into Enzan's hand, feeling the tip of his cock precede the boundaries, slipping under Enzan's shirt and touching barely against Enzan's abdomen.

Enzan smiled to himself, listening to Lan's voice, feeling the swift rise and fall of his chest and his pulse beating through his neck. He wanted nothing more then to stay here, like this until his heart was content, until he needed no more. Gods he needed this, he needed to hold someone like this, and he never realized it until the first time he wrapped his arms around Lan. He--

“En-Enzan!” Lan let out a whimpering moan, thrusting upwards into Enzan's hand one final time before his entire body spasmed and he came, releasing the thick, creamy cum in a warm coat over Enzan's hand.

“...” Enzan slowly lifted his hips as Lan lay panting with mouth open wide, taking deep breaths. 'Lan...' He smirked to himself in admiration at the sight, gently lifting his head and pressing his lips against Lan's as he pumped his hard, awaiting cock, with a few quick strokes, coating it with Lan's seed until it was sleek . 'You look amazing like that...' With his eyes still fixed on Lan he pulled back from the kiss, admiring as Lan once again fought to catch his breath, licking away the seed that remained on his hand.

Enzan wrapped his arms around Lan's legs and as soon as he found his way he began pushing into Lan's entrance, drawing another weak mummer from Lan. “Unnnaa...” The tense ring muscles tightened snuggly around the sickened cock, Enzan paused, his full length sinking slowly, teasingly into Lan's body.

“...” The numbing feeling plaguing Enzan's legs became an uncomfortable tingling. 'No...' He...he couldn't stop now, he needed this... Enzan clinched his jaw shut and pulled back, taking a quick breath he drove back into Lan, hard. The wave of pleasure that washed up across his entire form far out weight the pain that was returning to his leg and the arm he used to support himself. “L-Lan...” Enzan clinched his eyes shut and bit down on Lan's shoulder again without having known he was doing it, bucking into the tight hole with a frantic pace until he was over come with a rapturous pleasure. He cried out loudly, much louder then he'd intended or realized, and he came, filling Lan with deep spurts until the warm cum began to run down his softening cock and drip on to the bed.

Lan's clinched around Enzan conclusively, burying his head in his neck and letting out a muffled cry of pleasure and pain as he was brought to his limit for a second time. Spilling more of his seed messily across both of them....

Lan peeked both of his eyes open this time, the light was bright and new, forcing him to squint and look away. He felt ...for lack of a better term, spent, every muscle in his body lose and more relaxed then they would ever be any other time. “Enzan?” He lifted his head and looked over the limp body draped over him in a warm, firm, though lifeless mass, lifeless for Enzan anyway. “He...passed out?” He was worried at first, but on closer examination he had the barest hint of a smirk remaining a ghost on his face from a past expression.

He'd let him rest.

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Day 7: Checked patterns

Tadashi scratched gingerly at the stubble growing slowly across his chin, squinting in umbrageous tribute at the sunlight shining brightly through the open blinds draping over the window. With a groan he looked away, the blinds tenting his body with a checkered patten of light and shadow, leaving the rest of the room in darkness. 'What...time is it?' Tadashi turned his head towards the night stand where the alarm clock lay, though all he saw was a blur of green light sticking out of the darkness.

To his amazement and disappointment, he'd forgotten that he couldn't see much of anything without his glasses.

“For goodness sake.” Tadashi fumbled beside the alarm clock until he found his glasses, opening his mouth wide and yawning deeply. This was odd, he had to admit, it was strange, it could only be the mornings. It was because he was sleepy , the failure of memory, that had to be it, it was because he was dozy enough not to risk closing his eyes for fear he'd fall asleep again.

The alarm clock blinked 12:00 on a steady pulse. “Great....” Which mean, it had some how become unplugged for a moment, or the power had gone out sometime last night.

Tadashi, dressed in little more then a pair of boxers and a white dress shirt from the night before, made his way down stairs in a haze. He was so tired he nearly missed a step, though luckily for him he had a firm grasp on the railing. He managed to make it safely to the kitchen with out incident, where the light was more intense then ever.

“Wow, you look...” Zero tilted his head to the side and looked over the man questioningly, he was able to see every feature of his face in the bright illumination that flowed through the kitchen windows. He'd never seen a morning so bright...”Terrible.”

He made it to the kitchen with Zero of course.

“Heh, you have a natural endowment for speaking without subtlety or evasion.” Tadashi slipped his fingers under his glasses and rubbed his eyes , he felt like his eyes were veiled over with cement and his arms and legs were tethered with dead weight. He had to resist the urge to fall backwards into a chair and sink into a slump...what time had he gone to bed last night? Between working with Megaman and Lan being admitted into the hospital, he didn't think he actually got more then an hour or two of sleep.

“Just being honest.” Zero said simply.

“Right.” Tadashi opened the refrigerator and peeked his head in aimlessly, by the time he realized how long he'd been standing there staring with the door open, he had forgotten why he'd even looked inside the first place. With a downing expression, he closed the door, feeling the chill of cold air remaining on his half bare body. “What time is it?”

“7:45” Zero told him. “Wow, I can't believe you get up so early.” It was so strange, Lan could sleep for hours after this, Enzan never even woke up this early. He didn't know what time Blues generally came on line, but it wasn't anywhere around here, it seemed him and Tadashi were the only ones that regularly saw this hour. “I guess I'm not the only one.”

Even after so much sleep deprivation he still managed to wake up nearly on time. “It's habitual I guess.” Tadashi smiled sleepily. “You and me both I see.”

Zero smiled, he loved when Tadashi smiled, he always reminded him of Lan, especially in the mornings, mornings like this especially. “It's really bright out...”

Tadashi, subconsciously glancing towards Zero first, raised half balanced onto his toes, it was enough for him to peer over the top of the refrigerator and look around with blurry vision. Regretfully he lowered himself down in failure, though not before he heard Zero snicker. He frowned“I'm not short.” Tadashi said defensively.

“I didn't say that.” Zero lifted his hands innocently, grinning wildly. He loved seeing Tadashi do such actions, it made him seem smaller then he actually was, that too reminded him of Lan. As much of what he did reminded him of Lan, there were many more things about Tadashi he simply admired because they his own, like when he smiled, it made him feel like no matter what was happening to him, everything was fine...

The sunlight dimmed and the kitchen became darker, shadows creeping into the corners. A cloud drifted in front of the sun.

'I wonder...what is happening...to me...' He thought to himself, but even that thought, that worry was far away somewhere too distant to be a concern.

The cloud passed and the light returned to the room, just as brightly as ever. Tadashi made his way over to the sink curiously and and pried open the window, being tall enough to stick his head out as a wondering child and observe the day outside. He felt the heat of the sun's bright rays, even more luminous from outside, and the pulsing, rhythmic breeze of cool wind that blew across his face, and through the window to his entire body. He smiled, that felt good, but it wasn't enough to wake him as much as he'd hoped it would. “Yeah...it is pretty bright out.” He was still dead tired...

Zero's grin turned into a content smile, “Yeah.” he said. Studying how much more content the man looked now. “I wonder how that feels.” He thought aloud, if Tadashi liked such a thing as the feel of sunlight and wind on a warm day, it must have been something that felt good. He wondered...

Tadashi looked back and laughed softly. “Curious?”

“Not really.” He said, though he was, his mind was elsewhere, focused on Tadashi impishly. “Just wondering when your gonna admit you forgot where you put the coffee. “

Tadashi laughed out loud this time, a single hand cuffing his chin and his fingers rubbing across the faint stubble, one of many habitual traits that came when he was thinking. “Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah.” Zero nodded, he was getting to know the man pretty well... “Look on the counter.”

“?” The counter? Tadashi's face contorted queerly, the counter? He looked around with quick, intuitive glances. He didn't think he'd miss it in a place as obvious as that, he couldn't have, he would have found --. “Oh...So there it is.” His face flushed with embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head, he was too busy looking as deeply as he could that he'd missed what was sitting right in front of him. “Couldn't see the forest for the trees I guess.”

“Heh heh.” Zero had gathered enough to know that this wasn't generally a normal habit for the man...but it did happen quite often, Tadashi occasionally missed the obvious for looking to deeply. Maybe it was just the mornings.

Tadashi anxiously went about the task of preparing it, his movements slow though holding it's usual distinct, mechanical purpose, even when half asleep. “You've been around here a lot more lately.” Tadashi said, watching the pot like a child roaming the aisles of a toy store and wanted everything he saw.

Zero didn't think much of the statement, but before he could contract of a simple response, questioning thoughts began to creep into his mind. 'Maybe I've been annoying him?' He thought to himself. 'Maybe I've just been bothering him.' A million other strands of doubt flooded into him all at once and Zero shrank and looked away subtlety. “Yeah well...” Usually he didn't listen to the voice in his head, but this time it seemed to be agreeing with his own thoughts and making a lot of sense, he couldn't tell what he'd said to himself and what had come to him from some inexplicable place. Maybe he'd finally had enough? Maybe he'd just stop liking him, maybe something in the man would realize...

“Is something wrong?” Tadashi asked, peering down curiously at Zero. By now he held a steaming cup of coffee in his hand with third missing from the mug he always used.

Zero blinked, his face completely blank for a second that felt like forever. He'd just...drifted off, for how long he didn't know, and worst of it he didn't remember a thing. Why...why... did that....Zero smiled as he always smiled, shaking his head. “Nah, just thinking...” He felt his hand trembling at his side, and soon after his legs shook with a fearful, anxious tension, a fear more of being found out then of anything else. A part of him realized the absurdity of this feeling, feeling so nervous and afraid of Tadashi suspecting any of the strange things happening to him, yet wanting to be found out. There was a clear devision with in him, clearer then he'd ever felt it before. He felt like that very devision was peaking. 'This is stupid.' He thought, swallowing hard. 'Tadashi...I should...' He wanted to talk to Tadashi, in a different way then he had wanted to talk to Megaman. That time he'd wanted to tell Megaman, even while a conscious part of him protested strongly, simply because he'd thought Megaman would hate him and...

This time the conscious part of him...his entire self whole heartedly wanted to tell Tadashi, it was a decision, not a driving, instinctive urge, an impulsive one at that. Though it worried him that he couldn't control that impulsive urge, one of many things, parts of his being that he couldn't account for when he should have been able to...

“Are you sure?” Tadashi asked, generally he would have taken the answer for what it was and left it at that, but a concerned curiosity nagged at him, like something in what he heard kept this from being finished in a way. Zero had sounded half distracted, there no way he could accept that for an answer, especially when his mood had deteriorated so suddenly. “You seem off.”

Zero looked up at him for a long moment, staring at the man with a saddened longing, looking visibly as if there was something he wanted to express but saw something that made him fearful to do so. Tadashi blinked and adjusted his glasses with a questioning in his eyes, It wasn't him he was afraid of was it? What was it that made Zero afraid to speak to him about this? Was he afraid of some kind of reaction? Or was he afraid of saying what he was going to say? Maybe he just wasn't comfortable saying it? Tadashi sighed, slowly easing himself into a chair and taking a sip of coffee. He was more confused then ever, was something wrong? Or was Zero just afraid to say it. “Zero?”

“Well... I guess I just wanted to say that some weird things have been happening to me...” Zero finally said, once he began speaking it was easier to keep going, it was comparable to releasing a dam and letting a pint back river flow freely again. “Like just now...I dunno, one minute I was looking at you, and the next it was just static, like I fell asleep or something.”

“Really?” Tadashi leaned forward, more interested, he hadn't expected for Zero to tell him something like this.

Nervously, half rambling with anxiousness, Zero went down the list of things, glitches or something to that effect he'd been experiencing with increasing frequency. Even though it was awkward and uncomfortable, he was willing to divulge every instance, every detail about the time he could spare, and go even farther in-depth about every single twinge sensation during each episode. All for Tadashi's sake, he just hoped the man was satisfied with it.

Tadashi's second cup of coffee sat empty be side him, one arm sitting on the table with his head resting on it while the other sat in his lap. His eyes were fixed inconsistently on Zero, at times averted upwards toward the ceiling in deep contemplation, other times out the window when he was half listening and already anxiously trying to device an explanation for something he'd heard.

Zero felt a little more comfortable then he thought he would have, but there was still a burning feeling of bareness, of defenselessness, as if he was standing under a spotlight before the world. Tadashi felt to him even more then ever as if he was some omnipresent force that was deciding his fate, maybe it was because he admired him so much. “...”

“Interesting...”

Zero lowered his head, he felt a disappointed that it was all Tadashi had to say about it. He was relieved that it wasn't something negative, but either way he wanted something more from the man. He wasn't sure what it was, but he wanted to hear *something* from Tadashi. “Hn...”

Tadashi smiled, wishing he could reach out at the moment, slip his hand under Zero's helmet and ruffle his hair like he'd done to Lan so many times. The look on his face reminded him of a chastised puppy. “You seem to be handling it well.”

“Yeah, I guess...” Zero shrugged, he didn't know what he wanted to hear, but that smile was a good start, it made him feel that for the first time in his life he'd done something right, even if he hadn't really done anything at all.

Tadashi kept smiling with a slight contempt, but he sighed to himself, he felt that he was never very good at cheering people up, he always felt like he was doing it wrong. “Well, since you've been so open with me, I guess that it's only fair I tell you something about my self.” He said, his eyes were averted absentmindedly to the ceiling and his words were careful, as if he thought out everyone before he spoke.

Zero looked up at him. “Huh? Really? Like what?” That...he didn't realize it but he felt better, that was what he wanted to hear, or at lest something to that effect. Hearing him say that made revealing all of that seem worthwhile, and he'd go through all the feelings of awkwardness he'd felt before again just to get back to this point.

Tadashi nodded. “Anything you wanna know.”

“Anything?”

“Un-huh.”

“Well...” Zero slipped his finger under his helmet and scratched his head with a sheepish grin growing across his face, but then it faded. He had been excited when Tadashi posed him with this, but now that he thought about it, he didn't really know what he would ask. Some intimidate, deep secret? ...No...maybe...something he himself could relate to. “What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?”

“The worst thing huh?” Tadashi looked at him as though he was a little surprised at the question, then his eyes rolled to the window with an unfocused thoughtfulness in his expression. He'd never thought that Zero would ask him something so...well, serious, he had thought something more trivial would come about. He saw a deeper hunger in Zero's eyes, a curiosity for something equally as deep, a connection, some kind of connection he needed to know was there. It was interesting. Normally he would have just said something that was bad but held little bearing to him, but Tadashi couldn't lie to him at the moment, he found himself unwilling.“Well... When I was younger-”

“Define younger.”

“What, you think I'm old?”

“I don't know what to think.”

Tadashi's expression dampened slightly, first short, now old? “9.” Tadashi clarified, then cleared his throat and continued. “Well...I got hit by a car.” Tadashi said, his thoughtful demeanor fading for a more uncertain one.

“A car?” At this point, Zero didn't know what to make of it.

Tadashi felt like Zero was expecting something more. “Well, the odd thing about it was that it was my father.” Tadashi explained, speaking in a slow, reserved voice.

“Really?” Zero leaned forward with a resentful interest, if this was the worst thing that happened in Tadashi's life then he didn't want to make him remember anymore. If the man stopped, if he paused for a moment, he'd find away out of this, but...in some morbid curiosity, some sense to feel a little closer, he wanted him to persist.

“I nearly died, and I spent 6 weeks in the ICU, and it was 6 months before I could go home. Then a year after that in physical therapy.” Tadashi spoke with a repressed tone, hinting at an apprehension or resentment, all traces of it's normal inquisitive nature was gone, it was muddled with a stagnant mixture of old emotions.

“It was that bad?” Zero asked.

“I missed an entire year of school.”

“But didn't you skipped like two grades?”

“Yeah...” Tadashi nodded. “My father...well...”

Zero heard the pause, a reluctant drop usually in Tadashi's normal direct, fluent voice. He saw the look in his eyes, this searching look, something that looked for the meaning he sought in every problem he faced. “N...Nevermind.” He felt bad when he saw that look on his face, something so subtitle, but he'd learned Tadashi's normal demeanor, he could see such a change. But yet...he felt glad that he'd ask, he'd opened himself up to Tadashi, and Tadashi had done the same thing, he didn't feel nearly as embarrassed, as empty, as shameful as he had before. Zero smiled to himself. 'Tadashi...'

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