Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

      The sky was a bright blue and the air as a fridged cold with snow flakes drifting in it. No one dared to drive on the roads or even leave their house. Except for one man. Leslie Withers. The small albino boy was treading through the foot high snow with nothing but his asylum clothes and what looked like white flats on his feet. He covered his eyes as he walked, the snow reflecting the sun into his eyes. Leslie was shaking, barley able to move from being in these conditions for so long.

      Ruvik stood in his lab fiddling with a thermostat. He was turning it up as he felt a shock of sharp cold down his spine. Confused on where this may have come from, Ruvik grabbed a thick jacket for himself and teleported to the main room of his house. The chill was constant when he got to the room. His body temperature quickly adjusted the the temperature of the chill. -20° Fahrenheit. Ruvik shook and was barley able to move feeling his temperature slowly getting lower.

      Ruvik closed his eyes trying to concentrate on what he could do to help himself. A glimpse of light went through his mind and a scared voice echoed through him; "Cold... Cold... It hurts... hurts..." The voice sounded quiet, scared, and young. It sounded so familiar to him. A voice that has echoed in his head for such a long time. "Leslie.. What are you-" He ran to his front window and threw open the blinds. There standing was a small white haired man, shaking and mumbling, clutching his arms trying to stay warm.

      Another shock of cold shot through Ruvik as he saw the white haired man outside. He ran outside and took off his coat. Leslie started freaking out seeing Ruvik "No.. no no!.." He tried to run as Ruvik got closer. He ended up falling a few feet from were he started. Ruvik sighed as he watched Leslie. He didn't blame Leslie for being scared of him but he started getting annoyed that he was running from an obvious help. Ruvik pulled Leslie up standing by his arm. He wrapped his coat around the man and teleported the two of them into Ruvik's house.

      Leslie started shaking harder when they entered Ruvik's house. He tried stepping away from the bigger male but was unable to due to the man holding onto his arm. "Leslie listen. I'm not going to hurt you. Just stay still." Ruvik demanded in a stern tone, annoyed with the smaller man. He made Leslie sit down as he started to check over the boy's body. "You were outside.. In Twenty below weather.. What the hell were you thinking?" Ruvik was almost at at the point of yelling, just now warming up again.

      "I wanted to.. Leave... Leave.. yes.. I wanted to leave... The hospital... The h-hospital..." Leslie mumbled softly before repeated it louder for Ruvik to hear. Ruvik groaned quietly looking at the boy. "Look, your showing signs of frost bite on your legs and ankles. It isn't fully there but if you were out there much longer you'd have to go to a physical medical center." He said as he walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the room. "I'm going to put some warmers on your legs. Just to keep what cold is in here from affecting you further." He walked back over to Leslie with hand warmers. He bent down wrapping a few around the albino boy's legs.

      "Damn, what is your problem, Your always in some trouble! Leslie think for once! For me, please..." The larger man's voice had deep anger in it as he was kneeling in front of Leslie. The albino boy started shaking after being yelled at. "Problem.. Problem... problem... Trouble?" His voice was shaking as he looked up at Ruvik. Ruvik sighed and stood up rubbing his head and traced his scars gently. "Just stay still.. Those damn mental hospital smocks are dreadfully thin. There is no heat adsorbing into them."  He spoke through his teeth as he was looking through a small storage closet to the right of the living room. He hated showing he cared at all for the albino boy.

      Leslie rocked back and forth slowly as he watched Ruvik pull out a white sweater and gray sweat pants that looked to small for himself. He tilted his head as he watched the tall male. "Change into these. That uniform is so filthy and it's soaked thanks to you messing in the snow." Ruvik tossed the clothes tword Leslie and turned away. "I'm not going to watch you. But I'm not risking you trying to leave."

      Leslie started to undress himself looking over at Ruvik slightly. "I... Thank you... Ruben." He spoke quietly not wanting to make the large man angry at him. Ruvik tenced a bit being called Ruben after so long. "Yes.. You're welcome.." Ruvik looked back at Leslie who was now taking his shirt off. He looked so pale and thin without his shirt on. Ruvik watch for a second taking in his body before the boy looked back at him. He looked away quickly and started rubbing over and tracing a scar on his cheek. The small male had a soft pink color apear on his cheek as he started changing his pants laying his uniform clothes on the ground.

      "Listen, Leslie. Come to the kitchen with me, quickly please." Ruvik crossed his arms a little looking at the smaller male. He walked into the kitchen and started the electric stove. Leslie walked in after Ruvik with his head down. "Sit at the table please. You need to stay there." Ruvik set his hand on Leslie's back gently pushing him forward. The small albino jolted down covering his head a slightly. Ruvik flenched his hand back looking at the boy. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he went to make some tea on the stove.

      Leslie sat down silently. He constantly scratched and digged as his hands. "Leslie, can you please just calm down? Your going to break skin.." Ruvik asked irritated by him itching. The smaller male didn't respond as if he didn't hear him. Ruvik repeated himself louder looking at Leslie. The boy nodded as he slowly put his hands on his lap and rubbed the rough texture of the sweatpants. The larger male grabbed two water glasses and placed a few ice cubes in his. He set an empty glass in front of Leslie and the ice filled glass in front of himself. He brought the teapot from the stove to the kitchen table carefully and poured himself and Leslie a glass.

      "You might want to get comfortable here. Cause you are not going back to the hospital. I know how it is in there. They constantly test on you, use you and so much more that I'm sure you don't want me to bring up. They use you like a rat, am I wrong? You have to be mad to go back." Ruvik spoke in a monotone voice as he took a sip of his tea. He watched the smaller male in front of him. Leslie was silent looking at Ruvik in slight discomfort, not trusting his tone. "Comfortable.. I... I will stay with you.." He spoke quietly grabbing his tea and taking a sip.

Chapter Text

Ruvik stood up slowly setting is glass down on the table. Leslie put his head down a bit seeing the larger man walk around the table closing the distance between the two. The scarred man went behind Leslie and started trying to fix the boy's hair. Leslie let out a small whine not really trusting Ruvik. The larger man just huffed in annoyance. He ran his hand through Leslie's hair trying to fix it. The white hair that the man had was tangled an knotted. Ruvik kept running his hands through like a brush causing Leslie to wince.

"Shut up... Please." Ruvik was trying to be calm with Leslie not really having a slow temper. Not being able to fix the other man's hair he just tried to braid it. He thought this would make Leslie look a little appealing, presentable. Leslie was rocking back and forth gently making it hard for the other to braid. Ruvik put a rough grip on Leslie's shoulder keeping him still as he worked. "Ow... Ow..." Leslie mumbled quietly as Ruvik finished the braid letting go of the white haired man.

Leslie looking confused reached his hand up feeling over the braids. Ruvik looked a little proud looking at the other man. "There... Now you're not looking like you belong in the trash... What do you think about it?" He had the white haired man stand up holding his arm tightly walking him to a mirror. Leslie looked at him self with no emotions showing. "... Like it?" He spoke in a questioning tone. Ruvik was put off for a second before understanding him. "Okay, that's good. At least I know you're not going to complain about it." Ruvik nodded letting go of Leslie's arm.

"I'm going to show you where you will be sleeping from now on. Come with me." The scarred man led the smaller man to the second story of his home. He walked in front of the other and looked around for a spare room before glancing at Leslie. He then made a b-line for a room further down the hall. "In here.." Ruvik said as he opened the door to a master bedroom. Presumably it was his room due to the bed covers being disturbed and the room being rather clean.

This scarred man stepped out of the way of Leslie. Watching the younger male walk in to the room and look around made him... Calm? Ruvik walked beside Leslie, causing him to flinch. The larger man flinched his hand up as if he wanted to hit the younger man getting tired of him showing he was scared. He slowly clasped his hands together with a small sigh. "Okay, Leslie. Get used to this room. I'm going to get you something. Don't even try leaving.." Ruvik said an he turned around and headed out of the room. Leslie nodded silently