Nicholas

[ordinarybirds]

The little feathers were delicate, but repetitive. Good work for thinking.

Nicholas was now ninety-five percent sure who his shadow was, and he was pleased, if a little confused. Had something happened to Peggy and Chris?

And how had he found the place, anyway?

13-C had never been human, and had probably never had to sneak, or hide, or use a map, and his presence was as obvious as it was mysterious. Unless they’d changed the experimental protocol drastically after he left.

He stretched his leg with a grunt, joints squeaking in protest. Had they solved that problem for 13-C? B had had joint lubrication issues, and C was designed with hidden joints under an unbroken cover of synthetic skin.

Most of his personal work was based on B, but aside from the occasional pinch of clothing his joints were easy enough to hide. A was proof of concept. B was a show of scale. But Nicholas had had big plans for C. Of course, all his plans had changed.
( . )

[originally posted 15 October 2015]

Matt

[ordinarybirds]

“You’re letting people into the apartment.”

Matt sat on the edge of the bed and ran the fingers of his right hand carefully down Linus’ back. “We have to fill that room, babe. It’ll be fine. And on the very-slight-slim-almost-nonexistent chance that it’s not fine, I’ll be there. And I’ll take care of it.”

“What if you can’t, though? What if something happens to you?”

“Nothing is going to happen to me.”

“Matt, please–”

“Listen, we talked about this.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against the back of Linus’ neck. “I love sharing this room with you, I love being with you, I l–”

“Don’t say it.” Linus voice was tight, and he pushed himself halfway up, groping for Matt’s left hand. The strong one. The one he said made him feel safer. “Don’t jinx us. You tell me you love me when you come back safe. Please?”
( . )

[Originally posted 19 October 2015]

Linus

[ordinarybirds]

Oh no.

He could hear them stirring out there, talking, touching things, laughing. They had lived in his apartment for three days, and he had not seen them yet.

He certainly heard them, though.

One of them was loud, and had gotten steadily louder. He was often accompanied by a bass rumble of laughter from the other. He could hear Matt laughing sometimes, too.

Linus put his head under the pillows. Logic said they weren’t talking about him. The two strangers didn’t know him at all, may not even know he existed, and Matt loved him, held him so sweetly and kissed him like he was precious and had never, ever laughed at him like that.

But he stayed in bed, just in case he was misunderstanding Logic again.

Logic was a tricky bitch; there were some things he understood on a gut level, that didn’t make any sense to anyone else. His logic was dramatic, and irritating, and paranoid. His logic said they probably aren’t talking about the freak holed up in his bedroom, but let’s stay here where it’s safe, just in case they are.
( . )

[Originally posted 21 October 2015]