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Psss, came a hiss from a ventilation vent of an abandoned laboratory Aventurine and Ratio were told to scavenge. One whiff was enough for Ratio to put a cloth over his nose and mouth.
"Poisonous gas," he informed Aventurine and searched the room for a way out. No immediate ideas. The door they came from closed behind them; the laboratory was underground and had no windows. The only source of light was fluorescent lamps lined up on the bottoms of cases containing leftover specimen, floating in transparent tanks, long corroded.
Aventurine didn't put anything over his face to block the effects.
"Gambler, it's..." Ratio started, but a click of a gun stopped him.
"Doctor, you have the Phase Flame." Aventurine pointed at Ratio's belt, where he held the machine. The reason why Ratio hadn't used it was obvious: it couldn't hold two people.
In a trained movement, Aventurine put the gun to his head. "If you don't disappear within five seconds, I'll..." he couldn't stop himself from coughing, "...I'll make you."
Ratio's heart stopped. They could look for a way out together, not resort to this kind of foolery. The laboratory had a lot of doors; they could also try crawling through a vent or dispersing the gas. He would never forgive himself if he left Aventurine to deal with this alone.
"Five."
Aventurine coughed again.
"Cover your mouth!"
With the gun still to his head, he at least listened to the request.
"Four."
That made Ratio aware of how dire the situation was. If Aventurine had an ace up his sleeve, a trick that would make him survive without a scratch, he wouldn't have put his nose in the elbow.
"Three. Doctor, please," he said, voice softer than usual. This absolute idiot. Counting on his luck, putting the gun to his head — Ratio had told him what he thought about risky behavior seemingly enough times. Clearly, he was wrong about that. Ratio's hands curled into fists.
"Two," Aventurine said. He wasn't trying to hide a tremble in his voice.
Ratio would have to tell him one more time, when they get out, that the life he had wasn't a plaything — but the first step was saving Aventurine from himself. He was capable of making the shot. Ratio didn't dare try to fight for the weapon even when a coughing fit stopped Aventurine from saying another number.
Instead he took out the Phase Flame. Its metallic frame weighed more than the alloy should, assuming any reasonable approximations.
"I'll be back for you. Don't you dare die," he said.
Aventurine nodded. Maybe it was an illusion, or maybe Ratio saw light in his eyes.
He phased out.
***
Aventurine woke up to warmth. It engulfed him like his mother's embrace when he came back from mischief. Like the Sigonian sun setting above the desert, ending its scorching reign in a pleasant wave of refreshing, evening air.
He slowly opened his eyes. Reflective white color of the walls made him close them again. It hurt. His eyes burned.
Then he remembered.
He tried to take a breath, to grab his numbing throat, but his body only convulsed, splashing around some water. His eyes flew open once again. He couldn't turn his head more than a centimeter in each direction, so the eyeballs alone frantically looked for answers.
He was sitting down in a large bathtub.
"You're awake," a voice came from behind him. He couldn't turn around to look at the person, but he recognized the deep tones as Ratio even through his brain's fog. Aventurine stopped squirming.
Ratio took a long breath. "Thank Aeons. Seems like you're immune to two things: rational thinking and poison."
He sounded irritated, if not angry. But also alive. He could call him names all of he wanted if it meant he survived. They both did.
Aventurine tried saying something back, but his tongue wasn't listening and instead of What happened? his mouth only managed to produce a muffled "Uah 'appem?"
Ratio sighed again. He was doing that awfully often. "Apparently, Topaz ignored Diamond's order to wait and rushed into a combat position as soon as we lost contact. I told her the situation and she bombarded the laboratory to get you out."
He didn't even mention all the materials that must've gotten irreparably lost due to the destruction.
Now, the warmth that spread through Aventurine's body wasn't only from the water. He'll have to thank Topaz later. As for Ratio...
"Fem' oo."
"Don't talk if you're not going to say anything productive," Ratio said sharply.
Time and time again, he'd told Aventurine what he thought about his methods. And yet, he won a gamble once again. No wonder the ever-so-logical doctor couldn't stand him.
Ratio came into vision. As expected, his brows were furrowed and his lips formed a tight line. He opened them along with a furious movement of a hand. "I administered an antidote to the poison, but you inhaled a lot." He was holding back, Aventurine could hear it in an unnaturally high pitch he took on certain syllables. He breathed in and closed his eyes before continuing. "It was all over your body as well. As you can see, I put you in a cleansing bath."
Aventurine looked around. The room was a standard executive suite style hotel bathroom, with a large bath and a standing shower in a corner. Next to the bath stood a stool; the wall right next to Aventurine hosted a large, dimmed-glass window. He could look outside. For now though, he concentrated on the hot water embracing his bare skin.
Ratio undressed him. This thought made Aventurine more uncomfortable than it should — he wasn't self-conscious of his scars, not anymore, but he detested the thought of somebody handling his unconscious body.
His expression must've changed somehow, because Ratio said "I apologize, but..." and for a second his eyes darted to the side as he cleared his throat. "...it was necessary."
Of course, Aventurine didn't suspect he might want to see him naked. Dr. Ratio wouldn't be attracted to a former slave like him, with his deformed back and barely any skin covering the bones.
"I still haven't gotten to cleaning you, though," Ratio added. He sat on the stool and started reaching over. Aventurine closed his eyes, getting mentally ready for the ordeal.
The touch never came. Ratio grabbed something from the windowsill and backed. When Aventurine opened his eyes, he found a washcloth in Ratio's hand.
Ratio sighed. "As imperative as it is to scrub the poison from your pores, I won't force it." Like I forced you, Aventurine added in his head.
"Can I?" Ratio asked.
Aventurine couldn't move nor defend himself, and what Ratio was trying to achieve was objectively healthy — but he still asked. The idea of being touched while completely uncovered and vulnerable scared Aventurine. But if he was going to let anybody handle his body in this state, it was Ratio.
"Yeh," he said.
Ratio's expression relaxed into a smile and Aventurine could hear the heartbeat in his ears dangerously speed up.
"You pronounced 'y'," Ratio said, excitedly leaning closer. "The antidote is working."
He wasn't happy because Aventurine agreed. Of course. Thankfully, Ratio's cheerful face healed all stings Aventurine's heart received by this revelation. He'll try to pronounce all the 'y's if it makes him smile.
"I'll start from your hand, is that agreeable?" Ratio asked, opening some mysterious bottle of liquid, and poured some over the washcloth.
Aventurine nodded.
Ratio kept his eyes on Aventurine's, confirming that he was alright. Almost as if he was made of glass. Aventurine tried smirking, but wasn't sure if it came out like he'd wanted it to.
Ratio's touch barely registered through Aventurine's numbed senses, but it wasn't unpleasant. Quite the contrary; he could see the delicacy with which the Doctor held his unnaturally pale arm and dutifully scrubbed its skin, area after area. He meticulously applied pressure in circular motion, going lower and lower from the elbow to the wrist.
The cloth reached the fingers and stopped in its tracks.
"It must hurt," he asked and pinched one of the fingers between his. Ratio's brows were joined at the forehead, exposing an underlying emotion that had to be disgust.
It didn't hurt. It had been a long time since Aventurine's fingers were smashed with a stone for his master's amusement — and thanks to his luck, they healed in a way that allowed him to use them without any problems — but when examined too closely without a glove, one could see they were crooked.
"No," Aventurine said. His tongue moved like he wanted it to. He tried saying more: "It doesn't." The words came out slurred, but understandable.
Ratio turned to him with that same look. "Tell me if anything does at any point."
Aventurine attempted a chuckle, but it sounded more as if he spat. Even if it hurt, he'd had worse. "I can bre- brrly feel."
"Your senses should be slowly coming back."
Ratio gently lowered Aventurine's hand back to the water and proceeded to fish the other one. Concentrated on his task, he didn't notice when Aventurine tried moving his feet. He could almost fully bend the fingers, but he didn't let Ratio know. Not yet.
Ratio moved to scrubbing the upper arms, much more determined to rid them of the residue, perhaps because they weren't soaked in the cleansing liquid, like Aventurine's lower body. He cupped some in his hand and poured over the spot he was cleaning. The water maintained a pleasantly warm temperature thanks to the heating.
Comparably, Ratio's skin was cold, but not to the point of being jarring. His fingers left a trail in the water whenever they slid down the exposed arm or chest. The touch wasn't threatening. A bit too condescending, like Aventurine could ever break down from pain, but undoubtedly out of consideration for a patient. After all, Ratio was a doctor. As generally condescending as he was, it pertained to foolishness, not a person's background. Aventurine liked that about him.
But even this Ratio hesitated before the left side of Aventurine's neck.
Truth be told, Aventurine wanted to tear his own heart out of the chest whenever somebody touched him there; but at the same time people averted their eyes when met with the slave brand, as if even glancing at it meant acknowledging their own prejudice. His past was Aventurine's biggest strength, and the stamp served as its symbol. He showed it off.
From time to time he woke up in the middle of the night, scratching it to the point of breaking the scarred skin yet again. If he wanted, he could get rid of it, but it wasn't only a reminder for other people — it was a reminder to himself. His life had a value. A very exact value.
Aventurine tilted his head to the right, baring the mark. Prompting Ratio to get mauled by it.
He looked out of the window. Knowing Ratio, he could feel pity instead of perplexity. Aventurine didn't need to know.
What touched the vulnerable skin wasn't the soft structure of the washcloth. Two fingers traced the letters, one by one, with touch so delicate Aventurine wouldn't be able to feel it was it not for his mind going into instinctual fight or flight.
Ratio didn't feel pity nor perplexity, but rather a hidden, third option, only available to those with perpetual thirst for knowledge. His fingers stopped to examine each little scratch and scar, then skin around them. He must've noticed those weren't an aftermath of a laser marking.
Aventurine did what he tended to do when his vulnerability risked getting exposed — played his game. His head tilted even further and his face molded into a smug smile.
"You like it?" he asked, eyes fixed outside of the window.
Ratio's fingers stopped on the 'A'.
"It must hurt." It didn't sound like a question. He knew.
There was only one approach left when an opponent exposed a weakness. To go all in on it, and count that they folded.
"Sometimes," Aventurine nonchalantly admitted the truth. The reputation of being untrustworthy helped in moments like those.
If Ratio reacted in any way, Aventurine couldn't tell. He concentrated on the view.
The outside of the dimmed window consisted of rows of rooftops, some accompanied by semicircular balconies and ivy climbing along. Behind them, twin stars whose name Aventurine forgot rose up above the horizon to greet the clouds. Good hours must've passed before he woke up. The streets, though invisible from the angle, were bustling, indicated by various sounds muffled but not blocked by hotel walls.
Ratio's fingers resumed moving, this time placing themselves vertically on the side of Aventurine's neck. Ratio took interest in listening to the rhythmic thumps running through the artery, a perverted fixation befitting a doctor. The blood rushed in hasty hops, as if trying to escape from the source of its excitation.
They sat without moving until a certain cloud Aventurine was observing almost fully dispersed. He closed his eyes. The blood was still running in his veins.
Ratio slid the fingers up. They reached the point at which the jaw connected to the neck. The rest of his hand opened, half-cupping Aventurine's face. If he wanted, he could caress his cheek with the smallest movement of the thumb.
Aventurine turned away from the window. He tilted his head back to its previous position, leaning in towards the touch. The hand with its untaintedly straight fingers fit the entire jawline, letting it sit in its grasp. His fingers were cold, but emitted a different kind of warmth.
Their eyes met once again. Aventurine hoped that he'd understand the unspoken question, but he seemed frozen, too deep in thought to pay attention. Aventurine desired this attention on himself.
"Just what could keep a brilliant doctor's mind so busy?" he asked.
The answer was fast and decisive: "You."
Good thing his fingers were no longer sitting on the artery. Aventurine had to deflect, lest he started overthinking the implications that Ratio could or couldn't have meant.
"Anything you'd like to know? You know me — an open book, at your disposal!"
Ratio's frown came back, though his eyes smiled. At this point he should be worried that he might get wrinkles. "I preferred when you couldn't talk. Alas."
He finally moved the thumb, caressing the cheek in small circles.
Aventurine closed his eyes. He wasn't an animal to be pet, nor was he domesticated, despite his former master's efforts, but he would let himself be chained in the confines of this gentle touch.
The doctor was curious how far he could go. He probably pushed Aventurine's boundaries in an incessant search of knowledge, not out of affection, but Aventurine let the fake sliver of hope cage him. If in it hid even a 0.001, no, a ten to the power of minus million percent of a chance, he had to take it.
He turned his head catching Ratio's thumb between his lips and bit on it. Gently, teasingly. Not like an animal would, when it didn't want to be petted anymore. Like a human who wanted more.
Ratio's breath hitched. He opened and immediately closed his mouth, gluing the eyes to Aventurine's lips instead of talking. A wise choice.
His finger tasted like the bitter antidote, but when it freed itself from the teeth to trace a line along the lower lip, Aventurine let out a disappointed groan, as if it was the sweetest thing he's ever had.
And then Ratio's eyes left the lips and travelled lower.
As if waking up from a haze, he snapped his hand away from Aventurine to hide his face in it.
"I'll... bring you something to drink," he said and before Aventurine could answer, left the room.
The warmth spread from where the fingers touched him to both cheeks. He could stop the blush from spreading, the years of hiding his emotions taught him how to resist bodily functions to a certain degree, but in an empty room he allowed himself to indulge in the curious uncertainty. Could Ratio have felt the spark between them, or was it all in Aventurine's head?
The clouds outside moved lazily through the sky, unperturbed by the dwellings. The twin stars covered them in a fulgent aura. Only from the front did they house shadows, where neither of the twins too busy with each other could see. If they dispersed, joining the cloud from before, the dazzle would cover them, but for now they shielded Aventurine's eyes from it.
To look into the light, he'd have to wait for the cloud to disappear or take action and move to a different spot.
The doors to the bathroom opened. The rhythmic, light but bold steps spelled out who's back. Aventurine didn't turn his head.
"Here," Ratio said and placed a drink on the windowsill. "Can you grab it?"
Aventurine tried moving his fingers. They curled into a fist, albeit a weak one. That was as much as he could push it, though. He raised his arm, but it barely reached the level of the water.
"Don't think so."
Ratio raised the glass and held the straw in place right in front of Aventurine's lips.
The drink was sweet, just like Aventurine liked it. He nibbled the staw between his teeth and sent Ratio a cheeky smirk.
"SoulGlad? Am I lucky, or did you pick it for me?"
Ratio put the glass back on the windowsill and harrumphed, like he sometimes did when he benevolently acknowledged a flirtatious remark, instead of flat out ignoring it.
"It would be financially irresponsible to leave an order up to chance."
"Really? I've done it plenty of times and guess who's more well-off between us two!"
"You've also pointed a gun at your head plenty of times and are still, although regrettably, alive. Doesn't make it smart to do so."
"I have to disagree, Doctor. It saved us back there."
Ratio's expression was unreadable. He picked up the stool from Aventurine's side and moved it behind his back.
"It did," he said, sitting down. "It doesn't change the fact that I..." he stopped, and the thought trailed off along with the sound of a bottle being uncapped. "Your crazy plans might work, but you set yourself up for failure. The world doesn't play by your rules once and..." this time he dramatized it with an intentionally pregnant pause, "...snap! You're gone."
Aventurine laughed. "I promise I'll take it with grace."
Ratio sighed yet again. If every sigh converged into a heliobus, like some cultures believed, then Ratio's must've been strong enough to become an Emanator of Destruction. "Can you sit up a bit? I need access to your back."
Aventurine considered his options.
The skin on his back was rash and bruised, splattered with marks of old lacerations. In the middle ran a bulging web of discolored scars, a vibrant reminder of his past. Nowadays, they helped him get away from whoring himself to people too charmed by an Avgin face. It was but another ace up his sleeve.
And a double edged weapon if he wanted to pursue.
"No can do. I'm still too numb."
"That's unfortunate." Ratio moved behind him, presumably standing up. Steps. The next sentence came from further away: "By how fast you regained your enunciation, I was hoping you'd be able to move the rest of the body by now."
Aventurine looked outside. The cloud that he followed earlier was nowhere to be seen, the twin stars now covered by another. It must've dispersed, as they all did, but in the end waiting for the light to come through was futile. He could only see it if he changed his position.
Since when was he afraid of double edges?
"Ah. Seems like your prayer just now revitalised me. A miracle worker, Doctor. Look."
He shifted in the tub, leaning away from the edge, uncovering the back.
Ratio took probably the deepest sigh yet. "Your games are truly beyond any comprehension."
He finished whatever he was doing back there and sat on the stool behind Aventurine. "You'll feel cold," he warned before touching his skin with the washcloth.
He started with the nape, free of scars and slowly worked his way down. When touched, the scarred tissue reacted differently than the rest of the skin — despite being generally numb, it evoked a feeling of trying to break the surface tension of water, a stressful pressure. If it snapped, so would Aventurine's sanity, but it never did. Not at Ratio's hands.
He hesitated before the epicenter of the ripples, in the very middle of Aventurine's back. Something was wrong. His breath shook when he inhaled.
He brought the fingers of the unoccupied hand to touch the rough skin. They were trembling.
So was his voice when he muttered, "it must hurt." His fingers trailed a lash line.
Aventurine turned away from the clouds outside, to look straight forward, at the white wall of the opposite side of the spacious bathroom. He couldn't see Ratio's expression, and neither could Ratio see his. There was no need to smirk.
The scars didn't hurt him anymore, only the memories they represented gnawed at his soul like desert hyenas sucking marrow out of his clan's corpses.
"Yeah," he admitted. "But not when you touch it."
The fingers once again slid across and left, as gently as they appeared.
He shouldn't have said that. A person as decrepit as him didn't deserve the touch to not hurt. His mind rushed to find an excuse, a joke, a way out of the situation and his face, though hidden, donned the smirk to preserve the character of Aventurine.
Ratio's shaky breath gave way to a single sniffle. A shy, barely audible sound.
Aventurine stopped the drivel that formed at the back of his mouth from flooding the room. He dared to try to look around, to confirm the unthinkable, but Ratio's forehead placed at the nape of his neck dissuaded him.
It was warm. So was Ratio's breath on his bare skin. So were tears falling from his eyes, trickling down the scars.
Was it pity, was it perplexity, was it the third, secret option... did it matter? He wasted his emotions on him — those same that could be used for the benefit of the world, to invent another medicinal miracle or prevent a calamity. On him.
Aventurine laughed and let his cheeks burn along. "You're cute."
"Shut up," Ratio snapped back, but it didn't hold much power. He raised his head from Aventurine's back. "You must be a masochist, to keep running into trouble head first."
"I'm not... or actually, maybe? You'll have to try me."
"A shame, I'm not into inflicting pain."
He didn't ignore the remark. Not only that, he went with it — a chance like that might never return.
"What are you into?" Aventurine asked, with a tilt of his head to look behind.
Ratio stood up from the stool and walked into the vision. His cheeks were slightly puffed, and down them ran two red streaks.
"Safety, stability," he said. He kneeled at Aventurine's side, looking him square in the eyes. "Intelligence." He seemed to want to add something else, but instead his lips twitched and he put a hand over his face. "...good conversation," he muttered, as if admitting to a most outlandish fetish. Aventurine would surely qualify as one.
His heart skipped a beat as if preparing for the symphony it unleashed a second later. It echoed in his ears.
"I feel like I might have a chance!" he teased.
The doctor uncovered the face, now struck by desperation, as if he truly believed his words weren't clear enough. "I- I meant..." he scrambled to explain.
Aventurine shut him up by catching his sash and pulling him to lean in for a kiss.
The sky cleared. A beam of light entered the bathroom, inviting soft shadows inside.
Ratio’s lips were as cold as the rest of him, and yet it scorched all the skin it touched. Aventurine let himself burn. If it meant Ratio’s affection, he’d throw himself in poisonous gas… no. He wouldn’t anymore. He had too much to lose.
"I see you can move just fine," Ratio said when they drew apart for a moment. It was meant to sound affronted, but he barely kept his excitement behind a facade of a doctorly spruceness. Aventurine chuckled.
"I don't know how this happened. Must've been your tears."
They did heal at least a part.
***
"Topaz!" Aventurine called when he noticed her in a corridor of the Strategic Investment Department. "Friend dearest, can you not walk faster when you see me!?"
With a sigh, she slowed down and allowed him to catch up. "I'm too busy for your games right now. What do you want?"
"Ah, it's nothing serious. In fact, let me know if you need any help with your tasks."
She stopped and turned to him with her eyes wide open. Numby, who curiously warped in, mewed in disbelief. "Did that gas damage the part of your brain crucial for acting like an asshole?"
"Haha! You could say that. I just wanted to offer you my thanks."
She scanned his face and relaxed into a softer smile of her own. "No problem. Instead of me, you should talk to Dr. Ratio."
"I did," he said, and leaned in to whisper in her ear: "Looong and well."
"Ew, don't do that!" She jumped away and covered her ear, laughing. Her eyes sparked in mischief that he valued in her above all the other Stonehearts. "I see. I'm heading to lunch, how about you come along and tell me in detail?"
Aventurine matched her with a smirk. "My pleasure."