Chapter Text
It wasn’t unusual for evenings like this to sneak up on them- evenings where both of them wanted to talk, but neither had anything to say. Usually, it was Adam who made the first attempt.
“So. Read any good books lately?”
It was usually at this point that Rocky would have something long and bizarre to say about a topic Adam had never known fascinated him. Today, though, he just looked down awkwardly. "I'm not sure how."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know how, okay? I'm basically a sex doll that's gained sentience! Nobody taught me past phonics! Who would do that?"
Adam smiled and reached into his bag. "I would."
*
Victor knew his prey well. He had no right not to, after all- he did create it. And he knew, though he did not know the reason, that the monster that he had unwittingly set loose on the world four years ago was in this building. He glanced at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand- he was at the right apartment. He pressed an ear to the door.
“Start here.” The voice on the other side definitely sounded like his creature, but he couldn’t be sure just yet. He leaned in more intently.
“Of man’s first… dis-o-be-” There was another person in the apartment. Poor sap. He likely had no idea of the danger he was in.
“Disobedience,” prompted the monster.
“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden- forbidden?”
“Forbidden.”
“-forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the-” Victor had heard enough. In one swift movement that he would deeply regret later, he kneed open the door.
The monster seemed to be startled, but not entirely surprised, to see him. “Victor.”
“Ah-” Victor was suddenly acutely aware that he had forgotten to name his creation. “You.”
He took a moment to take in the scene. The monster, the horrible dark mirror of himself that he had set loose upon an unsuspecting world, was standing between him and a shorter, significantly more confused man. The creature- creature seemed in that moment to be a more appropriate word, for the expression he was making seemed anything but monstrous- took a single long step towards Victor, then hesitated. His expression read fear and anger and betrayal, but mostly regret. “Victor, I don’t understand why you’ve followed me this far. Isn’t your family worried about you?”
“You wouldn’t know anything about that, you terrible thing. And you obviously don’t care, not after what you did to William.”
“Look, Victor.” The creature stepped closer again, and Victor stumbled back. “I’m sorry about killing your nephew, but I promise, I promise that I didn’t mean to hurt him. I didn’t- I didn’t understand how fragile people are in those days.”
“Killed him?”
“Yes.” The creature looked at him, confusion creeping into his expression. “I did kill him, didn’t I?”
“No,” Victor admitted, “but we all assumed you meant to- well, the others assumed another relative of mine meant to, and now we don’t see each other at Christmas anymore. So really, you did take someone away from me, and you’re still a sin against nature, my sin against nature, and I have to make amends.”
“Is it really my fault that you failed to speak up, and that your family is broken as a result? I understand why you would want to blame me, and I get it- I am partially to blame. But you need to take responsibility for the parts that are your fault, and accept the parts that you can’t retroactively fix.”
There was a long, uncomfortable silence, lasting almost a full minute, which was eventually broken by the second man.
“Well, I’m going to make myself a coffee. Does anyone want anything?”
*
A college dropout and two inhuman creatures sat around the kitchen table in a broken-down apartment somewhere on the west coast. They were having coffee. For any other group, this might be the strangest thing they had experienced in a long time, but for these three it was more or less just a Tuesday.
"So, you must be Adam’s father." There was an unfamiliar sort of charm to the way Rocky spoke to the man. "It’s nice to meet you after all this time."
The man’s expression softened slightly as he curled his hands around a mug of black coffee. “Franken- Doctor Frankenstein. You’ve been very kind.”
Adam glanced in the man’s general direction. “You’re not a doctor, Victor. You never even finished college.”
“You have no way of knowing that!”
“So, what? In four years you’ve managed to finish a doctoral program while also stalking me?”
Rocky looked somewhat frantically between the two. "Let's-" He sighed and raised his mug. "To absent friends."
Adam copied the motion, staring Victor down. "And present enemies."
Victor took a moment to find his mug- he was still glancing around the apartment like he expected to be ambushed. "Cheers."