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It's been more than four minutes and sixteen seconds. Veritas glares towards the closed hotel room door. The room is silent, awaiting the loud presence of his business partner.
Of course Aventurine has broken his record for tardiness, he thinks, just as the slab of wood creaks open and the devil himself bashfully steps in.
"You're la-"
"I'm late, I know. By five minutes and two seconds."
Aventurine shuts the door behind him with his usual unreadable smile.
"But luckily for me, I can afford the Professor’s valuable time. Tell me, how many credits does he charge by the second for his presence?"
Veritas narrows his eyes at the blond, and uncrosses his arms with a resigned huff.
"Must you commodify everything? I didn't think you were one to let the IPC instill such vulgar habits in you. Or is this just the type of person you are?"
Aventurine raises his hands in mock defense.
"I'm just trying to make it up to the great Veritas Ratio, that's all. If he's kind enough to forgive my transgression, then we can start on our agenda today."
Hearing no response from the Doctor, Aventurine saunters over to sit on the couch and carefully shrugs off his fur coat. It's brief, but Veritas' sharp gaze catches the pull of the fabric tugging down on his collar, revealing a glimpse of reddened skin by the groove of his neck.
"So I've taken a walk around Golden Hour, and- "
"Hold your report."
The interruption catches the gambler off-guard, as the Doctor takes a step towards him. Tension stills the air as their eyes lock, dawn reflecting in sunset.
His pupils are dilated, Veritas observes. Slight flush on the cheeks. The ends of his hair are damp and sticking to his skin. That, with the swelling on his shoulder...
"Is there something on my face?" Aventurine interrupts the silence with a wry smile. "Can't remember if I've held the professor's attention so intensely before. You're making me blush here."
He's expecting something akin to his usual irritable retorts, but the taller man ignores his provocations.
"Stay still. Doctor's orders."
Aventurine stiffens as Veritas reaches out his hand and presses two fingers to the front of his neck, below the jaw. A hot flush surges through his body at the light contact, sending his heart pummeling into an erratic rhythm.
Skin radiating heat at an abnormal temperature. Heartbeat elevated but erratic. Pupils dilating upon physical contact.
"I'm disappointed, Doctor. Not gonna ask for patient consent before touching?" Aventurine drawls, weakly. "That's terrible bedside manner, you know. "
His breath catches as Veritas gently tugs his shirt collar to the side, exposing the heated skin to the cooler air of the room before it's covered up again with the Doctor's warm palm.
Swelling about size of palm. Temperature slightly warmer than jugular. Firm consistency. And finally...
Veritas gently squeezes the flushed muscle, eliciting a shudder and low gasp from his patient.
Sensitive upon touch.
Aventurine keeps his smile, but he looks defeated as Veritas withdraws his hand. He lets out a sigh and sinks back into the couch, finally allowing his body to crumple into a relaxed heap. He's missing the Doctor's touch already, the nook of his neck burning with the memory of relief.
"So, Doc? Gonna give me my diagnosis?"
"I daresay you know your own condition better than I for once."
Aventurine lets out a tired laugh as Veritas walks over to sit next to him on the couch. He allows the Doctor to pull him down towards him, until he's lying horizontal with his head comfortably rested on Veritas' lap. A warm hand snakes through the trusses of his hair to slowly stroke at his forehead with a thumb. Another hand returns to the sensitive gland at his neck, imitating the same caress.
"I didn't realise Professor Ratio was also learned in the veterinary field. I've underestimated him."
"I see you don't lack words even when indisposed."
"What gave me away?"
"Your foxy demeanour, to start. And your choice of peacock green attire brings out the red flush on your skin."
"Learned in the arts, too..." Aventurine huffs, his consciousness waning in the comfort of Veritas' touch. "Does anything ever stump you?"
"Why you didn't tell me earlier, for one."
"What's there to tell?" He tilts his head and looks up sleepily at the Doctor, who in return gazes down pensively at the serial number branded into the thin flesh of his neck. "As you said, I'm just a doomed Sigonian thrall. Be here one day, gone the next."
"You don't mean it." Veritas drawls, voice quiet almost to a whisper. "It's unlike you. To be so prudent."
"Does it matter what I mean? When I wear my fate for all to see?"
"It matters to me."
Time halts as silence fills the air between them. All in the world is reduced to the thundering stutter of Aventurine's heart pounding in his head, and the tender look in Veritas' eyes, watching parts of him he's never seen himself. Aventurine buries his face into the Doctor's robe. Nothing else exists in this moment. Yet it's all too much.
"Did you think that I would leave you? If you told me?"
"...Are you?" The blond timidly croaks out. His voice trembles. "Going to leave?"
The hand on his neck moves up to cup his cheek, gently turning his face to look back up at Veritas again, thumb brushing away the tears that overflow.
"I'm still here, aren't I?"
Between the two, time resumes, and the distorted shape of the world begins to restore its original form.
The Sigonian Desert Fox, though biologically adapted for Sigonia's harsh, arid climate, saw a significant decline in their population upon commencement of the IPC-backed project to terraform the planet's surface environment to one more suited for the survival of intelligent lifeforms. Sigonian Desert Foxes form life-long social bonds. Unlike most mammalian species found across the cosmos, the Sigonian Desert Fox presents with their first heat or rut only upon having decided their mating partner. When in a state of heat or rut, this species will withdraw from all social company, save for that of their chosen mating partner. This monogamous and lifetime mating behaviour renders the species vulnerable to any environmental interference that could sever potential or existing mating bonds, thus contributing to the population's decline. The Wildlife Management Department of the Sigonian Sovereignty classifies this species as extinct, but contention exists as to whether human-fox hybrids should be classified among the population numbers for this species.