Chapter Text
Jack had finally calmed down, and managed to precisely explain what was going on. Throughout the whole conversation, the creature kept hissing and growling at his PA. Rhys didn’t notice it. He just kept talking even when the thing tried to grab him.
The kid’s colours remained a soothing blue as he listened to his ramblings. He nodded at the right moment, asked questions when he should.
“It also really seems to hate you, kiddo.”
Rhys arched a brow. “I hope that thing isn’t representing your true feelings.” Was mumbled.
“No!” Jack said just a bit too fast. It did get the other to smile though. He noticed small specks or soft pink surround the kid. He liked those. “You’re uh… you’re all right.” He scratched the clasps of his mask.
The PA rolled his eyes. “Gee thanks.” Pink was gone. He ran a hand through is hair, and stood back up. “So, what do we do now? You gonna be okay with whatever it is that’s on your shoulder?”
Jack glanced at the thing, which silently looked back. “I’ll be fine, cupcake. Maybe just have a bad night sleep.”
Bad night sleep he had.
It almost seemed that now because he knew something was there, it was always there, and the things the creature caused just seemed to pile and, and up… Jack would constantly search his apartment for intruders, even shot a mirror when he saw his reflection. He was dead tired, and it showed at work.
“Listen uh…”
“Frank sir.”
“Yeah whatever. I expected a profit of $5 million at the very least. At the very least!” Was hissed.
Frank fidgeted with his fingers. “We made a $4.9 million profit sir, I’m sure that if we just give it a month then we’ll hit the $5 million.”
“Nope! Too late!” Jack relished in the scream that came from Mr. Frank when he fell down the trap door. One way ticket to space, without oxygen helmet of course. Safety was for suckers!
Rhys watched it all happen, just counting down the days until they could get this issue solved. Two more days now. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh on them?”
“Don’t tell me how to do my job, cupcake.” Jack tapped his fingers closer to the airlock button.
Rhys side stepped away from trapdoor area. “All right then.” He unlocked his ECHO-comm. “Do you want to hear the information I found then? On the E.L.I.?”
“Sure, bring it.” The man leaned back, kicking his feet up on his expensive, very expensive, desk. He ripped open a bag of pretzels, and started eating away.
The PA just rolled his eyes. Just hold out for two more days! “E.L.I. mainly produces robotic organs and limbs. During the war on Earth they also produced weapons, and war vehicles.” He flipped through the pages, swiping left for a few seconds. “Creators of the AMA.ri, but we already knew that.”
Jack fake snored. “Boooring! Gimme something I can actually use, pumpkin!”
Rhys stared the man down. So rude. “What do you want to know…sir.” He hissed the last word through his teeth.
“Gimme info about Cox. Not the dude kind, but the owner kind.”
“…Really?” He took a deep breath. “She’s fifty-five years old. Secretive. Master at building robots, no surprise there.”
“Jesus, basically one foot in the grave there!”
“I’m sorry, how old do you think you are?”
Jack stopped his laughing. “Drop the sass, cupcake. What more you got?”
“Jack.v12 is the AI controlling the entire space station. From the opening doors, to well…” He had no clever comparison to make. “Every… thing? Truth be told, there isn’t too much to find. I can’t hack into anything either.”
“Well that fucking sucks.” The CEO gave a kick at his desk, turning his chair around to watch Frank’s body float in space. He watched his tail flick over the armrest, slight agitation visible in the bristled fur. He looked to the other side, watching the creature muck about as usual. It pulled ugly faces, snickered, laughed. Same old same old. Jack decided to call it Henry. He listened how Rhys returned to his desk in silence, fancy shoes clicking on the clean tiled floor.
Henry had a certain impact on everything, including his relationship with his trusty PA. Because Jack was more agitated than usual, he also snapped more often (obviously). Rhys’ hues, which were always calm, started to tint red and turquoise. Something told him that the latter colour was really bad. He should probably clear the air. “Hey kiddo, you mad at me?” Smooth.
Rhys just kept tapping away on his computer, not responding.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.” Maybe he snapped one too many times. He grumbled at his poor old back when he stood up from his chair. He all but swaggered over towards his PA, tail swaying slowly.
When Rhys just didn’t look up, Jack decided to proceed, and slowly. So slowly. Draped himself over the kid’s keyboard and hands. His shoes squeaked over the tiles as he clumsily climbed on the desk. He ended up with his crotch (because of course) right on the keyboard. He flicked his tail against the other’s face, trying to curl the very tip around the nose.
Rhys growled in the back of his throat, trying to ignore his boss’ tail. “Jack, I’m trying to work.”
“Oh, come on cupcake!” He tickled the kid’s nose. “Got your nose!”
“JACK FOR FUCKS SAKE.” Rhys grabbed the man’s tail, and yanked.
An ungodly howl came from the mighty CEO. He clicked a few swearwords at his PA before ultimately lunging at the throat.
The cheap chair clattered on the floor.
As Jack tried to, somewhat gently, strangle his PA, Rhys just yanked at the tail again. He was pulled right off.
The gangly man managed to climb on the fearsome man’s back, and grabbed the back of his neck.
Jack stopped moving. It was like he was paralysed. His eyes were wide, though twitchy. “…The hell…?” He earnestly tried to move his fingers, but nope. The most he got was a twitch.
“The back of neck is a weak spot in AMA.ri.” Rhys mumbled. “It’ll stop being effective when you relax.”
The idiot kid sounded kinda… cool. What. No. Stop that. The CEO snarled at him. “Get. Off.”
“You’ll just strangle me!”
“You deserve it!”
“You’re fat arse broke keys on my computer!”
“You pulled my tail!”
“You started it!”
“No, you did!”
The two just yelled at each other angrily until their voices started to crack. Then it just became angry panting.
“Get… offa me…kiddo…” Without even noticing, he thumped his tail against Rhys’ back.
The PA slowly pulled his hand away from Jack’s neck, wondering if he should say something. He decided not to, and just righted his chair back up. He took his broken keyboard, “I’m going to get a replacement for this.” and hurried away.
For the second time in a short while, Jack lay on the floor. Though he was on his stomach this time.
Henry also lay on the floor, right in front of his face. The creature ruined everything he had. Any trust he had in others. No matter how erratic he acted, in the moment it always made sense! Because the monster whispered that to him, or that was what he guessed. He could never decipher what Henry was saying, but he did notice the pattern. He didn’t want to admit it. He really didn’t. But…
“I’m scared…”
---
Rhys stared down at the screen of his ECHO-comm, watching how his boss still lay sadly on the floor, his long tail slowly wedging its way between his legs. He heard him. Loud and clear.
He gripped the messed up keyboard just a tad tighter, and put the comm away purely so he could cart a hand through his hair. “Great.” Now he felt bad. Of course he knew that Jack’s behaviour could partly be blamed on his new being, but that didn’t excuse it all. Rhys allowed the balls of thought to roll in his head, and wow that sounded more sexual than he anticipated, and typed up a plan for himself in an attempt to reduce his boss’ stress level. Maybe Henry would loosen up if the host was calmer.
He sighed at the intense hardships of his jobs, because the basic idea was that Jack needed a good sleeping schedule, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and good stress management. 3/4 things were near impossible with the-man-that-would-not-cooperate.
The keyboard was eventually tossed in the nearest bin, and the PA headed to get a new one, and possibly a book on meditation. Not even specifically for Jack, but he just felt a lot of frustration coming.
---
Jack woke up in his bed, but didn’t remember falling asleep. When his vision stopped being blurry, he found Henry sleeping just in front him, the hole where its nose was supposed to be eerily close. Romantic. The CEO turned around, finding himself staring at the back of an auburn head.
He slowly moved up a bit, just to peek at Rhys’ face. Asleep. So, he wouldn’t know if he did something on purpose. He shuffled closer, and sought the kid out for warmth (because that was all it was!). He expertly slung an arm over the string bean, and closed his eyes again. Just before shutting them, he noticed a few sparks of pink. He chalked it up to the kid having a good dream.
He still heard Henry behind him, wheezing, but otherwise being silent. Out of all the things the monster did, simply breathing was the worst. It was always wheezy, as if out of breath or constricted, but the only time Jack heard it breathe was when he felt calm. Which in turn irritated him, and then Henry would start to laugh again. What an arsehole.
After a few moment of peaceful rest, he felt something creeping up his hand. Immediately he snapped his eyes open, and grabbed whatever had the audacity to touch.
Rhys flinched.
Both were silent.
Holding hands.
Jack’s tail quivered, and curled at the tip. He felt his ears flick, which is the first sign of life they have showed since appearing. “Rhys…?”
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“Well, I’m awake.”
“Yeah…”
Another silence.
“Jack…?”
“Yeah?”
“I wasn’t sleeping.”
Third silence. Still holding hands.
Rhys petted one of his beautifully socked feet with the other, unsure of what to do. Should he let go? What did Jack want? What did this mean?!
The CEO watched the hues of pink swirl around. Another colour he couldn’t quite pin the name on. He just knew that it generated a nice feeling. Sharp inhale. Jack bolted up to the mirror.
He stared, maybe glared, at himself, and caught the hints of pink in his sea of colour. He looked at Rhys’ reflection, poor kid looked so confused.
Henry was silent. Didn’t even breathe. Just stared at the hues surrounding it, followed the sparks with hollow eyes. He hissed at some of the pinks.
Jack slapped at it. It looked genuinely hurt, but then it started laughing again.
“Henry bothering you?”
“When does it not?”
The PA shrugged, rolling on his back to stretch out. “Just one more night, and then we can hopefully get this fixed.”
“I’ll blow up the whole damn station if they don’t.”
“Violence isn’t always the solution.”
“Gimme an example, cupcake.” Jack plopped down on the edge of the bed. “When has my violence not solved anything?”
“…” Well. It all depended what you called a solution. Jack called murder a solution.
“I’m waiting.”
“And I'm thinking about it.”
“Think faster.”
“Your sad attempt in strangling me today was not the answer.” The kid got a smug smile on his face. He dared to say this solely because his boss was calm at the moment.
“You used violence.”
“Yes, true. Good point. But we were talking about your violence. HAH I WIN!” Rhys fist pumped. Heck yes.
Jack looked unimpressed at being played.
His PA was absolutely proud of himself. Looked kinda uh… huh… His hues were filled with cerulean, purple, orange, and pink.
Furry ears flicked again as he started to feel a bit warm inside. He liked how Rhys laughed. Shit. No. That was a lie. The man flicked the kid’s forehead. “Don’t be so cocky!”
The PA rubbed the sore spot with a sour look on his face. “Do that one more time, and I’ll mess up your outfit for the E.L.I.”
“Oh, I’m so scared. Whatever will I, Handsome Jack, do without your incredible…” He made a disgusted face at his socks, and put a hand on his heart. “fashion sense…”
Rhys hit him off the bed with a pillow.
Good on you, Rhys.
Good on you.