vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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CALHOUN HOUR - BINGO II

Early in the morning of Day 84, an announcement booms from the warehouse speakers:

"All test subjects report to the first floor lobby immediately for your next experiment."

Zero's unmistakable garbled voice goes silent afterwards. Once everyone gathers downstairs, they'll be treated to an unexpected sight: Zero standing in front of them in the flesh. Standing tall (at 5'4"...), they're donned in the same piece of clothing everyone remembers them in: a black raincoat (large and long enough that it covers their entire body, leaving no distinguishable features), a full facial gas mask, and matching black gloves. It seems as if Zero really dislikes showing skin...

"Today, you will be participating in a game of, what you may call, 'Bingo'. I believe most of you have participated in this before. The rules and explanations are on the back of the cards." An arm is raised to motion towards the paper cards scattered on the nearby table, then it falls again.

"Due to some... unfortunate events, I will monitor you in person. However, do not underestimate what will happen to you should you decide to cheat, escape, attack, or do anything that will break my rules. Your bracelets are still very functional and my cameras will continue to record every move you take, so I suggest that you refrain from doing anything foolish."

"Now begin."

BASIC INFO ✖ LET'S PLAY BINGO ✖ TURN-IN ✖ POST-EVENT

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Heiji nodded. "I could see that. If you were aiming for a four-leaf clover, you woulda had to concentrate. It's not easy to find one, and you probably woulda been looking in a place where you felt safe. Your guard would've been down."

Hmm, why would someone want to toss Snake in a trunk? "Well, when someone says 'kidnapping' you think ransoms. But your family wasn't super-rich, right? And it's hard to think someone would've had a grudge against you personally. Unless maybe it had something to do with that court case. ...Or it might've had nothin' to do with it at all. You might've just fit some creep's profile."

I don't think we were super rich...so it could have been random.

*Then again, maybe it wasn't about being rich in material goods.* Heiji. Do you remember Calhoun telling me that my arm came at the price of a family's destruction? If there was a court case, there'd need to be a settlement.

*Snake tapped the bridge of his nose, as though he could drum out his thoughts easier.* What if someone tried to kidnap me to get the settlement money?

"It's possible," said Heiji. "But if it were the folks who had to pay up after your accident, it would've been a pretty dumb move. 'Specially not in this case, 'cause the courts already had an eye on you. Do you remember if your arm was the kind you had before your parents got you the newer one?"

And certainly no police force worth their badges would have let Snake slip through their fingers, either.

Well...I know that on average, a prosthetic needs to be replaced every five years or so, give or take. So I would assume this was an earlier model.

It's strange that I'm talking about you with all the angles of what happened because from what I remember, none of that occurred to me. *He frowned and tilted his head back.* Even in that memory where everyone suggested it was a settlement argument in court, I didn't know where I was, only that people were talking about the accident and wanted my opinion.

I wonder...I wonder if my parents did that deliberately.

"Well, when you're a little kid, not all your goldfish are in the tank. Know what I mean?" Kids made weird associations and missed others, after all.

"It does make sense that your folks wouldn't explain everything to ya, though. Especially after what happened. I bet they wanted you to do the best you could, with rehab and everything else. Plus it wasn't your fault what happened, and you know how kids feel guilty about stuff. I bet they were tryin' to protect you."

I hope you're implying I have a veritable coral reef in my head now. *He snorted.*

That all makes sense. *He sighed, resting back on the bed.* They must have decided I'd lived through too much trauma as it is and wanted to shield me from anything else. Most likely they wanted me to concentrate on rehab and nothing else.

Heiji laughed. "Goldfish are freshwater fish! So maybe more like a river?"

He rolled over, propping himself lightly up over Snake's chest so he could look down and talk to him. "You'd better watch out. If you keep gettin' kidnapped and summoned to court and trapped in warehouses and so on, you're never gonna have a quiet academic life."

And Snake thought Heiji's life was eventful...

When I get out of here, I'm going to glory in academia and not get into any trouble for the rest of my life. I'll leave that to you to have all the excitement, Heiji.

*Curling on Heiji's bed felt nice. Even just talking like this.*

"So you don't like excitement, huh?" Heiji said, lowering his face just a little bit closer to Snake's. He slid the tip of his thumb down under Snake's shirt collar, tracing lightly along his collarbone.

"But then how am I gonna take you on motorcycle rides?"

Well...*Mindful of the touch on his skin, Snake tilted his head to one side.* I think that's an acceptable level of excitement.

Heiji leaned over and pulled Snake's collar aside so he could kiss the side of his neck.

"Um, before when you nibbled at my ear in the shower... it kinda took me by surprise, but I liked it."

Mmmm. *He'd take Heiji's kisses any time of day or night, really.*

You like it when I nibble on your ears or when I do it when you're not expecting it?

"Probably the first one." After all, it wasn't so much the element of surprise as it was the intimacy of the act.

"...I thought it'd hurt when you started sticking your fingers in. But it didn't." Although Heiji still wasn't 100% convinced that there were people who purposefully sought out that sort of thing.

Edited 2015-04-12 23:19 (UTC)

I'm glad it wasn't painful for you. It bodes well for future acts. Speaking of, we should probably try that one other time for safety. After that... *Snake reached up to touch his boyfriend's face and lowered his voice to something private between them.* You tell me when you're ready. Okay?

Heiji's eyes widened almost imperceptibly in response; he remained like that for a moment or two before flushing. Then he shied away a little, rolling over and off of Snake. To... snag a pillow?

Once he'd grabbed one, Heiji pressed his back against Snake's side -- not his front. The pillow felt quite cool against his cheek. "Okay..."

*It was the kind of reaction that would hardly be expected of Heiji as he wasn't afraid of shy of anything. Except maybe this. So Snake leaned back against Heiji's bed and nuzzled his cheek against his hair.*

Let's just lay like this for a while.

Snake was being awfully sweet today. Heiji was only too happy to snuggle back against him and try to get his mind off his rather ridiculous problem. Honestly, would Snake just have... random physical reactions to perfectly innocent interactions? He ought to contain himself a little.

"I'm glad ya made it out of there okay," he said quietly.

Me too. I'll have to find out what happened once I get more memories.

*Then he grew quiet, as there wasn't really anything more to say. He breathed in the scent of Heiji's hair. He lay like that, not really caring about time, his thoughts drifting. Without meaning to, he fell asleep.*

Heiji didn't know why it should be, but somehow it was always so comfortable curling up with Snake like this. Under normal circumstances, he would have fallen asleep, too, but he had a bit more to think about. He could recognize now the difference between Snake's breathing when he was awake and when he was asleep, so when his boyfriend drifted off, he waited for a bit, then turned himself around.

He reached up with one hand, brushing the hair gently out of Snake's eyes. Touching Snake's face, just as Snake had done for him earlier. He was somehow terribly cute while asleep. Heiji smiled happily at him, feeling a little foolish.

"Remember the memory I told ya about earlier? The one with that woman? I felt real bad for her at the time, 'cause it seemed like she really loved that fiance of hers. Only she hated him at the same time. I didn't really know what it was like for her, though." Heiji trailed off for a bit, then continued: "I still don't know what it's like to hate someone... but I really love you."

He listened for the sound of Snake breathing again, just to make sure he hadn't woken Snake up in the process of talking to him.

*No chance of that. His breathing remained calm and even, although he might have unconsciously leaned toward Heiji's touch.*

Very carefully, Heiji pressed a small object into Snake's right hand. It was a charm -- quite a bit like his own, though this one had been carefully cut from the cloth of his yukata. Tucked inside was a small, folded piece of paper.

Satisfied, he leaned over and kissed Snake. Then he slipped quietly out of the room. After all, the whole point was Snake finding it when he woke up.

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CALHOUN HOUR - BINGO II

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