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It was the kind of evening where the world felt like it was holding its breath. The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving a muted twilight glow in its wake, and the air had turned cool and still. Medkit, carrying Subspace on his back as usual, trudged down the street, his steps heavy with the weight of his husband’s dead weight. Subspace, who had forced him into this position, was snoring soundly, his limbs hanging limp and floppy.
Medkit couldn’t decide whether he was grateful for the brief silence or whether the sound of Subspace’s snoring was just another part of the symphony of chaos that defined his life. Either way, he wasn’t going to get any peace. Not with his luck.
He rounded a corner and noticed something odd in the distance—something small, sitting in the shadows of an alleyway. His trained eyes quickly assessed the situation: a spawn, cradling a glowing coil in its tiny hands, looking far too comfortable for a creature so young. Medkit’s stomach churned slightly at the sight of the little menace.
"Not again," he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
He approached cautiously, his hand still resting near his medkit, ready for whatever chaos might spring from the little spawn. It was silent at first, the only sound the soft rattle of the coil as it shifted in the baby’s tiny hands. And then the spawn looked up at him.
Coil's big, googly eyes locked onto Medkit’s, wide and innocent, the kind of expression that made it look like the spawn was asking him—no, begging him—for something. Medkit’s heart skipped a beat. The little thing looked almost… adorable—in a way that made Medkit’s brain scream “don’t fall for it” at full volume.
Medkit sighed, the familiar weight of responsibility and dread settling into his chest. The spawn wasn’t crying or causing a scene, but it was still a spawn. Still an unpredictable, little menace waiting to be a thorn in his side.
“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head, even as the baby stared up at him with those big, innocent eyes. “Not happening.”
Coil blinked, unblinking eyes still locked on him, unphased by his refusal. Medkit glanced over his shoulder at Subspace, who was still snoring, blissfully unaware of the absurdity unfolding right in front of them.
“No,” Medkit repeated, his voice a little firmer now. “You’re not coming with me. You’re not my problem.”
The spawn tilted its head, looking even more innocent, as if Medkit had just misunderstood the assignment entirely. It raised its tiny hand and waved it in the air, as though asking for attention.
“I said no,” Medkit snapped, his voice a little more irritated. “I don’t want a spawn. Especially you.”
Suddenly, the air around them seemed to shift. The calm, playful expression on Coil’s face was gone, replaced by something far more… dangerous.
The spawn’s eyes narrowed, its lips pulling back into a grin that, at first, seemed a little too wide for comfort. Medkit’s breath caught in his throat, his fingers tightening around his medkit gear as the tiny creature before him suddenly exuded an energy so dark, so full of malice, it sent a shiver crawling up his spine.
The baby’s face twisted into something grotesque. Its eyes, once wide and round, now gleamed with an almost maniacal hunger, like a predator that had been playing at innocence, only to reveal the sharp, terrifying edge underneath. Coil’s smile, once sweet and childlike, stretched far too wide, sharp teeth glinting in the dim light.
Medkit took an instinctual step back, his pulse quickening as the tiny spawn’s expression grew more sinister with each passing second. That grin was pure madness—no baby should look like that.
Coil continued to stare at him, the grin stretched wide and unnatural, as though savoring the fear that pulsed through Medkit’s veins. But then, just as suddenly, the grin faded, and the spawn plopped down onto the floor with a delighted giggle. It rolled over, twisting and wriggling, completely carefree, as if nothing had happened. The contrast between that twisted grin and the innocent joy it exuded made Medkit’s stomach churn.
The spawn’s giggle was far too high-pitched, too eerie, and it only made the scene even more unsettling. Coil rolled over a few times, the coil in its tiny hands rattling against the ground with each movement. The little creature looked up at Medkit, eyes wide with an innocence that didn't match the darkness he had just displayed.
Medkit’s heart rate didn’t slow. His gaze flicked between Coil and Subspace, who was still snoring away on his back, utterly unaware of the chaos surrounding them.
“What. The. Fuck.” Medkit muttered under his breath, hands trembling slightly as he resisted the urge to scoop up the spawn and run as far away as possible. His mind was racing, and all he could think about was how this thing was a baby, how the hell it had already mastered the art of madness.
Coil’s giggling continued as it rolled back and forth, its small, childlike face still twisted with that underlying gleam of something far darker. Medkit wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t sure if he should be trying to scold it, run from it, or just wait for Subspace to wake up and deal with it.
Suddenly, Medkit heard a groan—a muffled sound, like a grunt mixed with the noise of someone finally waking up. Subspace stirred on Medkit’s back, his weight shifting slightly, and the once-rigid tension in Medkit's shoulders loosened just a bit. He didn’t want to wake Subspace too soon, but at this point, he wasn’t sure he could handle the spawn on his own any longer.
Subspace’s voice was muffled but unmistakable as he began to come to, a lazy grunt escaping his lips. “What’s the damn ruckus?” he muttered, his voice thick with sleep and irritation. He blinked, lifting his head up slowly, and for a moment, his bleary eyes looked straight at Medkit, uncomprehending.
“Subspace...” Medkit started, barely able to contain the stress that was building up. But before he could finish his sentence, Coil, who had been rolling around on the floor just moments before, suddenly stopped.
The spawn, once grinning like a little demon, blinked up at Medkit with wide, innocent eyes. The gleam of madness faded, replaced by the soft, untainted look of a normal baby. It gave Medkit a curious stare, its round cheeks puffing out in a little baby giggle. It was a complete 180 from the terrifying creature it had been just moments ago.
Medkit blinked, his breath catching in his throat. The spawn was—well, normal now. A harmless, adorable little thing with a coil clutched in its tiny hands. The terror, the dark gleam in its eyes, it was all gone. It was like watching a switch flip.
Subspace finally sat up, groaning and rubbing his eyes. He blinked at the sight of the spawn, then glanced back at Medkit, his expression unreadable at first.
“...What?” Subspace muttered, still half-dazed. He squinted at the spawn, who was now making soft cooing noises, completely oblivious to the chaos it had just put Medkit through. “It was... laughing like a demon a second ago,” Medkit snapped, shaking his head in disbelief. “Now it’s just... what? This?”
"Lil' vermin looks fine to me...come here, you." Subspace’s voice was thick with sleep, but he reached down with one hand and scooped the spawn up effortlessly, lifting it from the floor.
Coil let out a delighted giggle, its tiny hands grabbing onto Subspace’s arm, leaning against him as if this was the most normal thing in the world. The spawn's wide, innocent eyes looked up at Subspace with trust, its tiny body wriggling happily in his grasp. The transformation from terrifying little monster to pure, adorable baby was jarring, but it didn’t stop the small thing from radiating an odd kind of contentment.
Subspace, despite the unsettling nature of the spawn’s sudden shift, couldn’t help but smirk at how easily he’d captured it. His other hand absentmindedly patted Coil’s head, the spawn's giggles turning into soft squeaks of joy at the attention.