Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Stephen doesn’t like the space station.

Every time he arrives here, he is always bombarded and swarmed by the researchers. Doesn’t matter if it’s four of them or twenty, they always end up trying to talk to him. He knows it’s because he's a Genius but still he wants space. He doesn’t like talking to people, much less people who are so much older than him that practically tower over him despite how tall he makes himself. It’s always a fruitless effort, he knows; that method only really works with the bears that he and his stepfather sometimes run into during their camping trips.

It is why he is not surprised that there is already a crowd of people outside of the doors in this one section– personally, he thinks all of the space station sectors look almost the exact same. All grey walls and exactly the same doors for every single room– as soon as the ship that he is in docks. It’s Screwllum’s ship today. Normally, he takes the trip to the space station on either one of the public ships from his planet with his stepfather or he takes a ship with Ruan Mei because she was free enough to pick him up on her way here.

He hasn’t seen the inside of one of Screwllum’s ships till now. Screwllum has many of them, he knows; he’s heard the man talk about them several times like they’re merely collectibles despite how large and complex they are, despite how expensive they are. It makes sense. He’s a king, after all, and he’s certain that at least some of them were built by his own hands. Still, the amount that he has seems excessive. He supposes that he would collect his favorite games like Screwllum does ships if he had enough money though..

Regardless, he wasn’t really expecting anything when he boarded the ship. He was surprised to say the least when he saw how homey it is. It feels more like a moving house rather than a ship when you’re on the inside. The lighting is warm and the seats are cushioned with a textured fabric that his mother always used to sew with when he was younger, when he could crawl into her lap and fit there like a missing puzzle piece. His fingers trace over the small pin on his jacket, placed delicately over his heart.

“Stephen?” The sound of Screwllum’s voice makes him snap out of his thoughts, blinking at the sight of Screwllum several paces away from him. He doesn’t know when the man had started to walk ahead of him– or really when they had even left the ship; doesn’t know when he started to fall behind. No matter the reason, he can feel his face grow warm with embarrassment as he speeds up once more, trying to catch up with the man. Once he arrives back at his side, he keeps silent. He doesn’t want to deal with the possibility of the man teasing him for getting distracted.

His gaze finds its way back to the doors that they are about to go through. They’re made of glass and it is all too easy to see the researchers that stand on the other side of it, Asta standing at the front of them like the leader character in one of the many games that he plays. His stomach churns. While Asta is more considerate than the researchers are of his space, she is chatty.

“Don’t worry, we won’t stay here for long. Just long enough to say our greetings and we’ll make our way to Herta’s office.” Screwllum reassures him gently, his hand finding his back. Screwllum’s touch is weird. He’s made of hard and cold metal and it’s clear that his movements are carefully calculated. It takes most of the comfort away. Regardless, he doesn’t tell the man to stop touching him, even as fingers start up a gentle tapping against his back. If his mind ends up changing, he knows that the man will listen to him and stop. For now however, he finds himself okay with the touch.

They continue walking. Stephen wants to drag his feet to stall for more time before he has to get crowded around by researchers that he doesn’t even know the names of. He doesn’t. No, the hand on his back is forcing him to keep up with the steady pace that Screwllum has. He doubts the man realizes it, doubts the man even notices that he’s walking just a few too many paces fast for his short legs but he understands why, understands that the older man doesn’t have any children around him to learn the right pace to walk at.

They arrive at the glass doors. Upon sensing their movements, they begin to slide open. Nervousness shoots up his neck and he glances up at Screwllum nearly frantically. The man doesn’t seem to notice. He returns his gaze to the doors. He swears that several people are only looking at him. He doesn’t like it, doesn’t like the way that they stare because to adults, children are just cute little things to stare at without any feelings to be capable of being uncomfortable with such a view.

He inches closer to Screwllum. The man doesn’t say anything about it. He’s thankful. He doesn’t want to draw anymore attention to himself and if he gets asked a question then he’ll have to answer and the researchers will see his mouth moving and then ask what they were talking about and he’ll be seen as rude because he won’t answer because it’s embarrassing and the actual answer is probably even more rude. Oh, I don’t like you guys. Yeah, that won’t go over well, he knows that much.

“Reminder: I’m right here.” Screwllum murmurs so gently that if he weren’t standing right next to him then he wouldn’t be able to hear him. It does little to actually calm his nerves but he is thankful for it. He tried at least. Most people can’t be bothered to do that, his aunt just tells him that he needs to get over himself while his stepfather tells him that they need to work on getting him less shy. Well, okay, his stepfather cares, he knows that but he doesn’t understand that he can’t just get better from this nervousness that invades him when he thinks about talking to people.

The doors open fully. He presses himself firmly against Screwllum’s side, hiding halfway behind him as the man tries to tug him closer. He does like this about Screwllum. He always ends up making sure that he’s safe, always ends up making him feel that he’s safe. In the hold and gaze of Screwllum I, Genius #76, and ruler of Planet Screwllum no one dares to touch him. He likes being safe. He likes feeling safe. Sometimes, without his mother in his house anymore, he doesn’t feel safe even in the four walls of his room.

He welcomes this feeling of safety whenever it arises.

“Mister Screwllum!” Asta’s voice is the first one to greet them. Good. As much as he dislikes her tendency to talk and talk and talk, she at the very least knows how to respect the boundaries that people more than likely have. He glances up at her, watching as she catches his stare and offers him a small little wave of her fingers towards him. He nods as politely as he can. He doesn’t want to speak if he doesn’t have to, he’s certain he’s already managed to do something wrong here anyways.

“Greetings, Asta.” Stephen is confused as to why Asta is Asta to Screwllum and not Miss Asta like he always addresses everyone with formal titles. He holds his tongue to keep from asking a question that will probably spark rumors amongst the gossiping researchers. That would be bad. And probably make Screwllum mad at him. He doesn’t want him to be mad at him. No, that would be the worst possible outcome. Even if Screwllum is more patient and kind than most, he’s certain that even he has his own limits.

“I appreciate all of your appearances, however; me and Stephen must get to Herta’s office. The most recent update to the Simulated Universe cannot wait, I’m afraid.” Screwllum says simply, politely and Stephen envies his ability to know just what to say. The perks of being inorganic, he thinks as he looks up at the man from where he stands pressed against him.

“Oh, that’s fine! I’m sorry for keeping you.” Asta smiles sincerely, a small little thing and Stephen thinks that she grows just a bit pink like her hair. The thought gets lost as he surveys the crowd of researchers, most of them looking disappointed by the man’s words. Though, he notes, a few of them look rather indifferent. It’s not surprising, some of the researchers would be much more excited to see Ruan Mei instead due to her field in biology.

As they begin to walk through the crowd, Stephen’s hand finds the folds of Screwllum’s jacket. His grip is tight as his fingers curl around the not so soft fabric, something much too nervous settling in his chest as they walk. Some of the researchers still swarm them, eager to try and get a word in while a good chunk stay behind or move to get back to their workstations. He finds that he doesn’t like the former, that they are all much too loud for him.

It’s only a few seconds into walking that he feels off. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck is standing up and he feels watched in a way that is much different than how he typically feels when the researchers swarm him. He finds himself glancing back at the lingering crowd, his breath picking up slightly as he surveys the area. There’s nothing out of the ordinary, the researchers are almost all looking at him and Screwllum. Still, his heart hammers within the confines of his chest.

He tries to shake it off. He’s just being too anxious, like he always is in this place.

Still, the feeling lingers.

It takes far too long to get away from the last few researchers.

For some reason, they were all far more persistent than they normally are. He chalks it up to the Amphoreus incident. That place both stirred up everyone’s nervousness and curiosity, especially in how the Geniuses had a large part to play. He notes that they seemed more interested in Screwllum instead of him. He is thankful that his part of the battle was kept on the down low. He doesn’t want to draw any more attention to himself than he already has.

“Observation: your heart rate has risen up to 107 BPM. Are you doing alright?” Screwllum suddenly speaks into the low ambience of the space station, cutting through the hums and beeps. Stephen startles out of his thoughts and blinks up at the man who is now staring down at him. He thinks that maybe he’d been spacing out. Embarrassing. They already don’t take him seriously as is.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got nervous.” Stephen mutters in response. It’s not a total lie, he was nervous back there from all of the researchers that were crowding around them to the point that his hands are still clammy in the worst way possible. Though he is aware of the fact that such a thing is not the reason behind his quick heart. The feeling of being stared at hasn’t truly left him just yet. He doesn’t like it.

“Well, we are almost at Herta’s office. Logic: that should help calm you down.” Screwllum hums as they continue walking, as he presses himself even closer to the man than before. Thankfully, the man has no protests. He finds that he doesn’t want to stray too far from the Intellitron with how he still feels watched. He swallows around the sudden lump in his throat, around the nervousness that resides within him. It does little to choke it all down.

He reasons that he’s being paranoid. Clearly, being in a setting that has always made him even more anxious than he usually is after so long of being in a house filled with tension has made him more high strung than he normally is. His stepfather has been adamant on not letting him come into contact with any of his fellow Geniuses after they brought him into the battle of Irontomb and he’s been mad at him for doing so. Silence rings out throughout their house recently so arguments don’t instead.

Stephen finds that Screwllum has started to walk a little slower. A very large part of him that is telling him to get out of this place is wanting him to tell the man to walk faster while another more reasonable part of him reasons that the man is merely accounting for how he has pressed himself against him. There’s no need for either of them to walk faster. The only danger on the space station is on the lower sectors because of Ruan Mei’s experiments and they have never crawled out of those sectors. He’s fine. He’s just.. paranoid. Yeah, paranoid.

It only takes them a few minutes to make their way to Herta’s office, their pace that has slowed down adding a bit more time to the walk than usual and as soon as the doors close behind them, Stephen lets out a breath of relief. While outside is also safe, logically, he finds that Herta’s office feels much more safe. No one would dare break into a Genius and an Emanator’s personal space, especially not after her recent feats.

“Oh! You two are here. You’re 2 minutes and 54.4 seconds late.” Herta greets them and he ducks his head behind Screwllum’s back, even as the man walks closer to the middle of the room and towards Herta. Stephen pauses, looking around the room quietly. The sight of that Genius’s face in the portraits Herta keeps in her office makes his face scrunch in distaste. He doesn’t like him. He made him actually work. Although, he realizes that he can’t see the other Genius that was supposed to be here.

“Is Ruan Mei late?” Stephen asks, cursing himself silently for how meek his voice comes out. He’s known his fellow Geniuses for a while now, he should be able to speak to them with the same level of confidence that he speaks to his stepfather with. Still, he isn’t and all he can do is try not to make it visible on his face how he cringes at the sound of his own shyness, of his own voice. He thinks that he fails. Thankfully, most of his face is hidden in Screwllum’s back.

“Oh, she’s down in the labs. She said that she wanted to check on her creations before we get started. It’s perfect honestly, we still need to sort out what we need to do today. The battle of Irontomb really put us behind schedule.” The distaste in Herta’s voice is clear. Screwllum begins to walk forward and Stephen allows his grip on his jacket to slacken just slightly as he follows behind him, still slowing him down by being pressed against him.

“Stephen, don’t think I’m just going to ignore you if you just hide behind Screwllum. C’mon, it’s time to work.” Herta sighs out and he jolts slightly, something bitter and displeased curling up in his stomach at her words. He doesn’t want to work. He wants to hide in the corner and play a game on his phone while they all chatter without him. He bites his cheek.

“I’m assuming you have some idea on where to start then?” Screwllum inquires before he can even think of a response and he finds himself immensely grateful to him. He hates when the attention is on him and solely him. He especially hates when the attention is on him slacking off. It’s not that he means to but most of the time, these meetings are about the boring parts of the Simulated Universe, not the fun parts that are like a game that he has coded himself.

“I was thinking that we could adjust some of the probability rates on the occurrences. 4 of them have yet to show up despite how long the Trailblazer plays it for.” Herta sighs out and Stephen almost stumbles as Screwllum takes another step towards her. He wasn’t paying much attention to how the body beneath his grasp was moving.

“Ah, yes. I have been meaning to point that out to you but with everything that has been happening as of recently, it got buried beneath more information that was deemed ‘more important’.” Screwllum says and Stephen knows that he shouldn’t comment on it, knows that it would be more than a little bit rude to do so but–

“So you forgot?” The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them.

He looks up at Screwllum with wide eyes, pressed against his back enough that he doesn’t have a clear view of his face. Despite the fact that the Intellitron lacks most facial features that could give his emotions and reactions to things away, his optics flicker and brighten according to how he feels. He hopes that they haven’t dimmed. They really only do that when he’s upset.

“He did forget, Stephen. No need to look so embarrassed about it, Screwy. It happens to the best of us.” Herta snorts, something teasing in her voice. He glances over at her from the side of the man’s back, surprise quickly filling his chest at her words. Embarrassed. Stephen didn’t know that it was even possible for Screwllum of all people to become embarrassed. There’s not much for him to be embarrassed about after all. Except forgetting something apparently..

“We should get started.” Screwllum states, his voice almost crackling and Stephen finds his eyes instantly flicking up towards him. The man takes a step forward and he finally, finally deems it okay to let go of the man’s jacket completely. His fingers twitch as he brings them back down to his sides, as he resists the urge to run behind one of the many portraits that Herta has decorating her office.

“Oh, my mechanical duke, changing the subject so suddenly? It’s really not helping your case. Luckily, I’m inclined to agree with you. Come on, Stephen, we’re going to go to our meeting room. I need to get out of this office, I’ve been doing nothing but waiting for you two for far too long. It’s been a waste of my Genius, truly.” Herta scoffs before she steps down from the small platform that the Simulated Universe rests on and he trails behind her as soon as she begins walking past him towards the door. Behind him, he can hear Screwllum’s heavy footsteps follow in his wake.

Despite the accompaniment of his fellow Geniuses, he swears that he can still feel that feeling of being watched as soon as the doors to Herta’s office open.

“We still have more work to do, Screwy!”

This is Stephen’s least favorite part of the Simulated Universe meetings. Despite how much he loves Herta, she can’t seem to understand the meaning of a break, no matter how smart she is. It makes him scowl, makes something terribly impatient fill his chest and he does his best to not let it show. Though, he can see Ruan Mei glance at him out of the corner of his eyes and he swears she looks amused. Of course she does. He’s never taken seriously here. Not when everyone here isn’t just normal adult older than him but Amber Eras older than him.

“I understand that, Herta. However, logic: taking a break lets the mind rest and recuperate. Oftentimes a break can cause even better ideas to form.” Screwllum responds and Stephen doesn’t know why he does. They go through this whole song and dance almost every time they do this biweekly Simulated Universe meeting, the reasons from both of them being the same and the outcome very rarely changing. He wishes they would skip the arguing and just head towards one of them relenting.

“Yes, oftentimes. Not all the time and we can still continue. No one even looks tired!” Herta says and Stephen bites his tongue to keep from letting the words I’m tired of listening to this argument slip from it. He merely slouches even further down than before, letting his eyes follow the path of code that he has written so far today. He resists the urge to let a sigh slip past his lips, knowing that one of them will use it as ammunition for their side of the argument they have started.

“I’d argue that Stephen looks tired. His posture indicates–” Oh, come on. He slouched to look smaller so they wouldn’t try to bring him into this. He bites his tongue harder.

“His posture indicates nothing. He just doesn’t want to sit up straight.” Herta scoffs and Stephen wonders if he could manage to slouch even more, wonders if perhaps he could manage to get even smaller than before so that they’ll stop acknowledging him. Or at the very least, so that they’ll stop acknowledging his bad habits. If he has bad posture that his stepfather gets on him for all the time then so what? He is willing to deal with the long term consequences.

“Stephen, sit up straight. Logic: slouching when you’re this young can cause early spine problems.” Screwllum scolds him and he can’t help the way that his gaze flicks over to Ruan Mei for help. He realizes quickly however that she is trying not to be included in this conversation, that she’s looking off to the side at the door to the meeting room. A whine builds in the back of his throat and threatens to bubble up and over.

Stephen does his best to tune the rest of their argument out. Instead, he focuses on reading through all of the code that he wrote through the length of this meeting before this familiar argument started back up once more. From what he can see, there aren’t any mistakes. Good. No mistakes means less work for him to have to slack off on and therefore means that there are less chances of them scolding him for not doing any of his work.

“Fine, fine!” Herta suddenly exclaims and Stephen recognizes the fact that such words signal the end of the argument. He glances up from his screen and up to the two that had stood up from their chairs to better argue with each other. He’s relieved that this argument is finally coming to an end. It has been going on for even longer than it usually does and he was beginning to wonder if it would ever actually end up stopping. He is glad that it has.

“We can take a break. Only for 15 minutes however! I don’t need us falling behind schedule even more.” Herta huffs and Stephen lets a soft breath escape his lips. It’s not exactly a sigh but it also isn’t just an exhale of air. Thankfully, no one seems to notice it. Even if they do, they do not comment on it.

“Thank you, Madam Herta.” He hears Screwllum say and he stretches his arms over the table, something in his back cracking before he relaxes. He blinks. He’s tired.

…

Maybe Screwllum was right to request a break.

For one long moment, they all just sit in silence. He finds it nice, even if the air is a little tense from how visibly angry Herta still is, her puppet somehow managing to seethe despite the fact that it isn’t capable of many facial expressions with how it’s made of metal. He doesn’t pay much attention, his gaze turning back to his screen and reading the code there lazily. His eyelids droop and for a moment he thinks that they wouldn’t mind if he just takes a nap but–

“Madam Herta, there’s a problem!”

The sound of the sheer panic in Asta’s voice that comes from the speakers in the access port has him jolting awake, his body shooting straight in his chair at the suddenness of it. His gaze shoots over to Herta who sits across from him and watches as something of a mix between annoyance and surprise crosses her face. He finds it impressive that her puppets can be so expressive with so very little mobility in their faces.

“What is it, Asta? Did the chemistry department accidentally throw a Curio into space again?” Herta has no care towards getting up and speaking into the speaker of the access port and he ducks his head as she raises her voice far too loud for his tastes. He’s tempted to slam his hands over his ears before her words come to an end and he barely is able to catch the way that Ruan Mei grimaces out of the corner of his peripheral vision.

“One of the researchers got injured! We have several witnesses saying that it was a purposeful attack.” Asta’s voice is unsteady and he doesn’t like the way that those words make his stomach churn. He also doesn’t like the way that everyone seems to go tense after hearing those words. He can hear Ruan Mei suck in a breath beside him, her brows furrowing as he glances over at her and the annoyance seems to seep from Herta’s body in an instant.

“..I’ll be out in a second.” Herta eventually grits out, her voice curt and tense and Stephen can’t help the way he shrinks into himself. He watches as she glances over at Screwllum, something he can’t quite comprehend crossing her face before the man nods firmly once. Herta seems to relax at that.

“Ruan Mei, stay here and watch Stephen. Screwllum, with me.” Herta demands and he wants to tell her that he’s fine, that he doesn’t need to be watched like he’s a toddler but.. that feeling of being watched may have left but now there’s an odd pit in his stomach. Perhaps it’s just because there’s a decent chance that there was a serious fight aboard the station that he already doesn’t like but he finds that he doesn’t have any objections to her orders.

He can see Ruan Mei nod out of the corner of his eyes as he watches Herta get up from her chair and make her way over to the door, Screwllum following closely behind her. He finds that his gaze tracks their every move as they walk out of the door, catching sight of Asta looking just a bit too frazzled for what she described. He thinks that maybe it was worse than what she said happened.

“It will be okay. Small scuffles are common for the people here, Herta and Screwllum are more than capable of dealing with it even if it is more serious this time around.” Ruan Mei assures but he finds little comfort in her words. He thinks that he is being paranoid, that he needs to just calm down and focus on her words that Herta and Screwllum can handle it but that odd feeling in the pit of his stomach has yet to leave.

“This place is just a lot.” He admits, his voice more quiet than he meant it to be as his eyes remain locked on the door that is now closed. He is overreacting, he knows that very well but still. He can’t shake this odd little feeling within him that something is wrong.

“I can understand that. I much prefer the silence of my labs rather than the main areas.” Ruan Mei smiles at him, gentle and soft and Stephen finds himself smiling back, even if his smile is much, much smaller than her own.

It will be fine.

Everything will be fine.

“Don’t you think they’ve been gone for a while?”

The sound of his own voice is far too loud in the near silence of the meeting room. His phone is a solid weight in his hand, heavy enough to keep him from getting too lost in thought as he plays mindlessly on a random matching game he has downloaded but it’s not enough to fully banish the worry that has invaded his chest. He glances over at Ruan Mei. She’s still working on her part of the Simulated Universe code. Maybe he should be doing so too but he’s anxious and he has always had the habit of slacking off.

“Yes.. they are certainly taking longer than I thought they would be.” Ruan Mei mutters like it’s something she doesn’t mean to say out loud. His stomach churns with what can only be pure concern. It makes him feel almost sick.

Maybe she can tell, maybe it should on his face for as soon as she glances at him, she backtracks.

“I’m certain they are fine, Stephen. They probably just got caught up playing peacekeeper. If anything serious happened, the alarms would be triggered.” Ruan Mei tells him gently, her voice kind and soft. It helps him calm down a little bit and he smiles back at her even though it feels small and halfhearted at best. Nonetheless, it seems to calm her down a little as well. That’s enough for him.

He watches silently as she returns to her work, her finger poking at several lines of code like a cat to a string. He lets his gaze drift away from her, lets it return to the sight of the door that has stayed closed for far too long now. He waits for it to open. He just wants it to open and reveal Herta and Screwllum with not a single piece of their outfits out of place, and wants to hear Herta complaining about how long it took while Screwllum tries to summarize what happened.

The door remains closed. He knows that it could be another few hours before it actually opens up again but it has already been an hour and a half and he misses the noise of his fellow Geniuses talking amongst themselves whilst he tries to find the perfect opportunity to slip his phone out of his pocket to load up one of his games and slack off because the work got boring. It’s too quiet without them in here with him and Ruan Mei to fill the silence with their talking and the noise from all of the screens loaded up all at once.

He sighs and lets his eyes drift back to his phone. There are several matches that he can do to get closer to winning this round of his game but the lack of his fellow Geniuses makes it less fun. Certainly, they’re okay. They’re on the space station and Herta is an Emanator while Screwllum has more weapons and fighting abilities than anyone needs. Even if someone tried fighting them, they’d fail.

Some time passes. He doesn’t know just how long exactly it’s been since they last spoke but a quick glance at his phone’s clock tells him that a little over half an hour has passed. Still, Herta and Screwllum aren’t here.

“I’m going to go and check on them. They may enjoy another’s help in keeping the peace. Or perhaps they got distracted and need a reminder. It’s not uncommon for new research subjects to end up here after all.” Ruan Mei speaks up after far too long of silence and he finds his head snapping up to look at her.

He doesn’t want her to go. At the very least, he doesn’t want to be left alone when everything still feels odd and he doesn’t feel safe being alone. Maybe if he asks nicely, she’ll let him come with her. He wants her to let him come with her. He doesn’t want to be alone.

Perhaps she can see it on his face for her next words are–

“Stay here.” Stephen can feel himself deflate, can feel the way that his shoulders drop without his express permission and his hands tighten around his phone. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s upset that he will be left alone, he will be unsafe in a place that is supposed to be as safe as home or if it’s because they have started to shake from a mix of anxiety and fear and he doesn’t want her to see.

“If there is an emergency, you’ll be better off here than with me. I’m not much of a fighter and this room can only be accessed by us Geniuses. It’s fingerprint activated. You’ll be safe here.” Ruan Mei assures him but it does the exact opposite of comforting him like he’s certain she means it to. His shoulders tense at her words and he tries not to look too freaked out by what she says but with the concerned expression that flashes across her face, he’s almost sure that he fails.

“I’ll be back soon. Just give me a few minutes.” She settles on carefully, her words sounding calculated. If she were anyone else, he would believe that she is being disgenuine. However, she is herself and he knows her too well to think of her as being disgenuine. He bites his cheek, chooses to focus on the pain the blossoms in his mouth, and settles on merely nodding in agreement.

She smiles at him, something that wobbles at the edges and it is only when he smiles back that she gets up from her chair and turns towards the door. He wonders if perhaps she can feel his gaze burning into her back as she walks; wonders if perhaps it will be enough to convince her not to leave him here and simply turn back around to grab his hand and guide him out of this room and through the walls. He finds out quickly that it is not in fact enough for her to do so.

He watches closely as she opens the door, as it slides open to let her through before she steps out into the hall and he’s stuck watching her leave. The door closes behind her and he’s left staring at nothing but the grey metal that makes up the two parts of it.

Something in his stomach sinks.

One hour.

It has been one entire hour since Ruan Mei left the meeting room. His stomach keeps churning and his knees are bouncing into each other repeatedly in an attempt to stave off the anxiety that has made its way into his heart. He stares at the clock on his phone, stares at the numbers that seem to do nothing but mock him as he counts the seconds go by. Normally, an hour of waiting can be forgiven. With what Ruan Mei told him however, he finds that forgiveness is not coming to him easily right now.

She was supposed to be back by now. She was only supposed to be gone for a few minutes but it has been a complete hour since she left the room. He’s worried and scared and he feels frightened in a way that not even the battle of Irontomb had managed to make him feel. He feels sick, like he’s mere seconds away from throwing up as he stares at the numbers on his phone screen. He rereads the time.

His teeth dig into his cheek. He hasn’t been able to clear this round of his game yet despite how mindless its mechanics are because he can’t stop thinking about Asta’s words, about how Herta, Screwllum, and Ruan Mei have yet to come back despite the fact they either love working on this project or said that they would be back within just a few minutes. His gaze remains on the time.

Something within him urges him to just get up and check what is happening out there himself, wondering if maybe, just maybe they forgot about him or for some reason ditched him. Another, more rational part of him, tells him that they wouldn’t forget about him, that they most likely haven’t come back here or come to get him because it is safer here rather than wherever they are currently.

Still, something within him whispers, don’t you want to go and check on them?

He hesitates.

He does want to go and check on them, does want to go and demand answers as to why they have left him here alone. He knows that he shouldn’t, knows that he should just stay here where it is safe and they can easily find him but–

He’s scared.

He’s scared and he doesn’t want to be alone for even a second longer.

He decides then and there that he’s not going to stay here alone any longer. He turns his phone off and carefully settles it into one of his pockets, his hands almost instantly missing the comforting weight of it. It’s fine, everything is fine. He just needs to go and find at least one of his fellow Geniuses and everything will be fine; he won’t even have a need for comfort because there will be nothing that he will need comfort for.

He takes a deep breath in through his nose before he swings his legs over the edge of his chair, having to carefully settle his feet onto the floor before he pulls himself up. He finds himself slightly regretting that decision for as soon as he puts his weight down onto his feet, they begin to light up with pain that tingles that shoot through the entirety of them like thousands of sharp little needles jabbing into them. A soft noise of pain slips from his lips, a noise that he can’t quite catch before it escapes into the air and practically echoes back at him.

He gives himself a moment, tries to wait before the pain has mostly subsided before he takes a step forward. More tingles travel up his feet but thankfully, they are nowhere near as painful or as sharp as the prior ones were. He lets out a quiet breath of relief before he heads towards the door, something still odd sitting in the pit of his stomach as he makes his way towards it. He chooses to ignore it in favor of finding the others before he has to spend another second by himself in this room.

His footsteps are loud in the near silence, the only other noise being the quiet humming that the ship always gives off along with some of the data banks that line the walls of the meeting room like bookshelves. He reaches the door quickly and he is relieved because it’s harder for him to notice just how alone he is when his feet aren’t the only sounds made by people in this room. No, now it’s just silent and he can pretend that everyone has simply chosen to stop talking instead of thinking of something that would make his fright even worse than it already is.

He finds himself pausing at the sight of the access port. He has to lean down to be able to make out the words that are written in a script that is far too tiny and reads them as quickly as he can. Stephen.. doesn’t actually know how to open this door. Every time that he has come to the meeting room, he has been with one of the other Geniuses and they have always opened it for the both of them. He tries to remember how they did it as he reads.

The script that is far too tiny merely reads ‘fingerprint needed’. It is straight to the point and in a way he appreciates that but it’s nothing that he didn’t already know and it doesn’t leave him with any sort of instructions on just where he needs to put his finger for his fingerprint to even be properly scanned. He sighs. He’ll just have to try every inch of the screen, he supposes.

Although, now that he thinks about it, he is unsure if he can even exit with the fact that he is unsure of how Herta would even get his fingerprint to put into the system. The thought makes him groan, makes something inside of him tick with impatience and he finds himself smacking the access port with his hand in anger. Probably not the best idea but he can’t think straight right now.

Suddenly, a noise is echoing out into the room and he jumps in both surprise and sudden fear from the sound of it. His hand instantly tears away from the access port and he stumbles back a few steps to put more distance between him and it. He remembers distantly that Herta once said that there are systems in place designed to stop intruders from even attempting to get into the locked rooms.

Though, thankfully, there is no danger. After a couple of measly seconds, the noise ends and the door opens easily, the hall on the other side of it only a few steps away. Stephen finds himself staring at it, finds himself merely gazing into the hallway and hoping that Herta, Screwllum, and Ruan Mei will simply turn the corner and stare at him in surprise because they hadn’t thought that he would get up on his own to come and check out what is happening.

After a few moments pass however, it becomes clear that such a thing won’t happen. He tries not to let it get to him, tries not to let it make his anxiety and fear any worse than they already are and simply takes a deep breath. It’s fine. Them not immediately being on their way back here doesn’t mean anything serious, he just needs to calm down and think about how it is best to proceed from here.

Admittedly, it is more than a little hard to clear his head enough to think straight but that’s fine. He’ll calm down soon enough. He takes another deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, focusing on the way that his chest rises and falls with the gentle movement. He gives himself a moment, takes one long second to steel himself before he surveys the hallway. He takes a step forward. Then another. And another. He continues walking until he is standing in the middle of the hallway.

Like this; he finds that he feels more than a little bit exposed; vulnerable. He tries to just shake the feeling, tries to tell himself that he’s just once again being paranoid for no reason and begins to walk down the length of the hall. His footsteps seem to echo out into the air with how silent it is. He tries to not let it bother him. He reasons that it’s normal for the researchers to not be in this part of the station, Herta likes to be left alone when working and they are all scared of her to some degree.

It’s fine, he tells himself. It’s fine and he just needs to keep moving. With what he knows of what happened, Herta and the others should be either up in her office or in the medical bay dealing with the researcher who got injured. He’ll head to her office first, he decides. Herta’s office is safer because no one but him and the others are allowed in that aren’t her. If he gets too frightened, he can simply just.. stop there for a moment and steel himself again to once more go looking for them if they aren’t there.

He takes a steadying breath and begins to walk further down the length of the hall, each of his steps seeming to echo out into the silence of it. He tries his best to shake off the way that a chill threatens to make him shiver, tries his best to fight off the way that the silence makes unease steadily grow within his chest because it’s nothing. Silence is normal for this sector, he needs to stop being paranoid. Despite that thought, his footsteps speed up.

He’s overreacting, he tells himself. He’s overreacting and if anything was truly wrong they would have sent him some form of communication. But what if they didn’t? A distant part of him whispers, one that knows all too well that adults tend to lie to make sure that children do not freak out over their own panic. It’s.. possible that such is what is going on.

The thought makes him pause, makes him think a bit too fast than what is normal to the point that he is almost certain that he is beginning to panic in the middle of this hallway. Maybe his thoughts are right and there is in fact danger on the space station. He glances back down the hall, the door that he came from now out of his view with how far he has walked. He wonders if maybe he should just turn around, if he should just go back and wait there in the meeting room like everyone told him to–

“Stephen!”

The sound of Ruan Mei’s voice has him jumping, his body violently jolting as his head snaps her way. He can feel his heart in his throat as it thumps wildly within the confines of his chest and he watches as she slows down her approach, no doubt seeing the fear and panic on his face. He’s relieved to see though, relieved that maybe the potential danger has been dealt with and she’s now coming back to get him.

“Ruan Mei.” Stephen mutters, his voice shaking like the leaves of the trees that surround the fruit stand that his stepfather owns and he takes a step forward and another and another until he’s settling against her in a hug. Perhaps it’s from worry or perhaps it is because she can tell that he needs the comfort but Ruan Mei doesn’t move to put space between them. For that, he is grateful.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.” She sighs, her hand lifting up to rest on his head. It’s not exactly how he imagined her touch, he muses. He thought that her touch would be gentle and featherlight. Like this; her touch is firm and present against the top of his head. He finds that it’s not the most comforting gesture but he appreciates it nonetheless. Though, her words strike him as odd.

“You have?” Stephen asks, something blooming in his voice and even he does not quite know what it is. Ruan Mei shifts slightly beneath him and her fingers carefully scratch against his scalp. He melts against her touch eagerly, even if there’s an odd feeling in his chest at her words. He’s probably just still reeling from his own anxiousness and paranoia.

“Yes, of course I have. I came back to get you but you weren’t in the room.” She sighs, something heavy in her voice and he can’t quite figure out what’s wrong with that sentence despite the fact that alarm bells suddenly ring out in his head. Her fingers scratch just a bit too hard and a grunt escapes his mouth in response, causing her fingers to stop in their ministrations almost instantly.

“..I got scared. I’m sorry.” Stephen mutters against her, his voice suddenly falling meek and he feels small in her grasp. She hums softly, letting her hand drift from his head to the nape of his neck. It makes him squirm, makes him break the hug earlier than he wants to. He doesn’t like his neck being touched.

“I’m sorry, Stephen. I didn’t mean to take so long.” The apology coming from her mouth sounds less sincere than it normally does. He supposes that it makes sense, he reasons, there must have been something important that happened if she were gone that long, something so important that it took necessity over him. The thought tastes bitter in his mouth.

“Can we just.. can we go get the others? Now that you’re done?” He asks meekly, trying his best to not let the mix of horrid feelings within him overflow into a horrible action such as crying. He can’t cry for no reason, especially not in front of his fellow Genius. That’d just be embarrassing.

Ruan Mei hums, a small smile spreading across her lips as she looks down at him. For some reason, it does the exact opposite of comforting him when he’s almost certain that was her intention. Perhaps he’s merely too high strung for such simple comforts to work right now..

“Of course. Come on, let’s go.” Her voice is gentle as she nods, as she extends her hand towards him for him to take and he only hesitates for a second before he grabs it. It makes no sense, he thinks to himself, he shouldn’t be hesitating when it comes to Ruan Mei. She is his friend and she has always treated him well, there is no reason to be hesitating unless it is because she wants him to sit in on one of her typically dangerous experiments.

Ruan Mei’s fingers are a firm pressure as they curl around his own, her grip on his hand so tight that it’s almost painful. He reasons that it has to do with whatever she and the others were dealing with. She must just still be stressed about it. Yeah, that has to be the reason. He’s simply just overthinking everything with the lingering panic that still clings so tightly to him.

She gives him no warning as she begins to walk, gives him no warning that she won’t slow her pace for him like she normally does and he stumbles over his own feet for a few seconds before he manages to catch himself. He glances up at her as he brings himself to match her pace, having to speed up his pace to be able to properly keep up with her.

She looks.. he wants to say nervous but something about that observation sits oddly atop his tongue. It’s not accurate, not correct but at the same time he doesn’t know what other emotion it could possibly be that is gracing her face right now. Maybe it’s.. stress? Though that doesn’t sound right either.

He swallows past the sudden lump in his throat and continues to walk through the halls with her. He.. doesn’t actually know where they’re going. He probably should have asked before he took her hand. Well. No time like the present, right?

“Ruan Mei,” He begins, watching as she continues looking ahead. He waits for a moment. Then two. Then two barrels into three and he blinks up at her in confusion. Perhaps she just didn’t hear him..?

“Ruan Mei?” Stephen repeats himself, just a few volumes higher than before and that catches her attention. The speed in which her eyes flick down to meet his gaze has him jumping– he does his best to suppress it but he’s unsure if hiding it even does anything with how she can most likely feel him jolt with how his hand is clasped in her own– and his own eyes dart down to his feet. He hears her inhale sharply.

“Yes, what is it, Stephen? Are you still scared?” She questions gently, carefully and he hates feeling like she is calculating her every word just so she won’t scare him even further. It’s sweet, he knows that such attempts come from a place of kindness but he still doesn’t appreciate being treated like a child. They always treat him like a child as if he isn’t a Genius as well.

“No, I just.. I just wanted to ask where we’re going?” Stephen manages to fumble out even though his voice comes out far smaller than he means it to. Ruan Mei is a person that despite his familiarity and comfortability with her, she still manages to make him feel nervous. It makes him feel more than a little bit guilty. He tries not to linger on that fact.

“Oh, right..” She mutters, seemingly more to herself than to him as her face brightens up in surprise and Stephen can feel his stomach ache with something wary. Ruan Mei does not often forget things, much less something like telling him where they are going. He tries his best to shake it off, tries to just chalk it up to the fact that there’s obviously something happening.

“We’re going to one of the upper sectors. There was an incident in one of the labs and it’s best if we leave now.” Ruan Mei informs him, her voice curt and almost stern like he needs to be told twice. He wants to ask just what occurred in the labs, wants to ask how that correlates with why the researcher got attacked and why Herta and Screwllum left but–

We’re leaving now.

Her words strike him as more than odd, those alarm bells from before once again ringing out into his head. He glances around. He realizes now that they are on one of the upper sectors, just one below the main control area but some of the walls seem to blur and–

“Where’s Screwllum?” The question slips free from his lips before he can truly think about it and her hand tightens around his own enough that he swears he can feel his fingers creak dangerously from the new pressure. He bites back the wince that wants to escape his mouth as he looks up at her, as he squints to try and look closer at her without having to actually step closer.

“Why does that matter?” Her voice is strained and the question makes his heart jolt. Why does that matter? Why does that matter– as if the entire reason behind him riding on Screwllum’s ship wasn’t because she had a packed schedule both before and after the meeting and couldn’t make a stop to his planet to pick him up. Those words, along with her other ones, along with her behavior and the odd feeling in his stomach make him forcibly stop both of them, planting his feet down onto the floor firmly.

He looks at her– really looks at her, looks at the edges of her body and sees how her skin seems to fade into smoke and suddenly he’s remembering something that she shared with him after her experiment with the Swarm.

“Often when people experience hallucinations from the Stings, the edges of the mirages will appear to fade at the edges like smoke. If you notice something doing that, either alert one of us or run.”

He listens.

He tears his hand out of her grasp and begins to run back the way he came, not caring enough to turn around and check to see if she– it is following him.

It’s certainly an it, he thinks. The Stings are the only ones that could be lingering around such an isolated place. Even if this isolation turns out to also be a hallucination, even if there are people around that the Stings hallucinogenic properties are not allowing him to see, he doubts that he’s the only one affected. If there are others here, they probably can’t see him either.

His feet slam against the metal of the floor and he curses himself for not wearing his thick boots because the metal hurts even through the material of his shoes. He runs into a wall. He pushes himself off of it and refuses to stop and linger on the pain that blooms from his side.

He can feel his heart beating in his own ears, can feel the way that his blood rushes through him and threatens to make him falter from the intensity of it. He doesn’t. He can’t. He can’t so he doesn’t.

He runs through a door. He thinks that maybe he’s managed to outrun it thankfully but–

There are footsteps behind him that are quickly gaining speed and he finds himself speeding up himself in response. Okay, he thinks, so maybe not an it if it has footsteps. The thought makes a jolt of fear shoot up his body.

He turns a corner, his heart beating in his ears. He sees a door that is closed that should open to him due to his clearance and the fact that the doors that are locked have facial recognition sensors and he thinks that the door goes to the highest level. Good. There are people there. They can help him.

He reaches out as soon as he’s almost within reach, ready to hook his fingers around the doorframe once he’s close enough and–

An arm wraps around his middle.

A yelp escapes his mouth as he’s suddenly dragged backwards, as suddenly there’s a hand approaching his mouth and he doesn’t truly think when he surges forwards and bites. His teeth sink into flesh until there’s a sound that makes his stomach flip and the taste of copper floods his mouth. There’s a scream that threatens to make his ears ring but that arm lets go and he’s stumbling forwards before he can truly think about it.

He almost hits the floor, almost crashes and burns but he manages to catch himself for just a moment before–

A hand wraps around his ankle, the fingers thick and forceful and they do not hesitate in pulling him backwards until the floor slips out from beneath him. He hits the floor hard, his face slamming into it before he can stop himself; a strangled cry escaping his mouth at the pain that bursts forth from his nose.

Ow, ow, ow.

He flips himself onto his back as he’s still being pulled backwards and he finds out quickly that the hallucinogenic properties of the Sting have worn off. A mix between relief and pure terror settles in his chest at the actual sight of who he has been talking to greets his eyes.

It’s a man– organic with a jagged scar running down the tip of his nose to the bottom of his chin, ivory skin flushed with what seems like exertion with how sweat shines on his face in the lights of the hallway. The man is clothed in black and brown and his eyes are an electric green that he feels sick looking into, the white of his hair and lashes and making it a far too sharp contrast for his eyes.

He’s much older than him, his body lean with muscles that he doesn’t need to see to know of his strength when he is still at his whims right now.

“Let me go!” The words come out of his mouth in a sharp shrill, panic interlaced in each one and he uses his free leg to bring his foot up and down as hard as he can manage. The man lets out a grunt in response, his hold on his ankle loosening for just a fraction of a second and he takes the opportunity without hesitation.

He manages to flip himself over and crawl to his own two feet, having to almost immediately force more speed into his run as he realizes just how far away he was dragged away from the door.

The world goes spinning once more.

His ears ring as he crashes against the floor, a rush of air being punched out of his lungs from the force of it and the arms that are now wrapped around his torso. They hurt. They are not like his stepfather’s gentle arms that always wrap in the softest of hugs nor like Herta’s arms that wrapped him in a firm but careful embrace when she came back from Amphoreus, his head tucked beneath her chin comfortably. No, this hurts and makes panic shoot through him.

“Stop squirming!” The man’s voice is loud and rough and he whimpers from the pain and volume all at once. The world spins once more– he needs it to stop doing that– before he is hoisted up and suddenly the man is taking a few small steps backward.

His head spins but even then, he knows that this man should not be moving small nor slow.

Despite the amount of energy it suddenly takes to move, despite the way that pain rings out through his whole body; he manages to lift his head up. It hurts, it hurts so bad that he wants to just drop his head back down to make it stop but–

He meets the eyes of Screwllum.

His vision blurs at the edges and his mind is reeling but he can make out Screwllum, Herta, and the actual Ruan Mei. A breath of relief escapes him– it sounds like a whine more than anything– as he observes them, as he takes in Herta and Ruan Mei’s scared and angry faces. For a moment, he wonders how he looks for them to look like that. He squints, catches himself in the reflection of Screwllum’s faceplate. Ah. That’s why. Blood is pouring from his nose and down his mouth from when he hit it against the floor.

“Unhand him right this instant.” The sound of the fury in Screwllum’s voice makes him whimper. Logically, he shouldn’t. There’s no way that the man is mad at him but he does make the noise anyway and he watches as Herta stiffens. He bites his cheek. He needs to– he needs to what? He doesn’t know what to do here and he doesn’t think that there is anything here that he can do. The arms around him tighten and a breath squeezes out of his lungs forcibly, his head falling back down.

“I’m quite fine with where he is actually.” The man holding him grits out, though his voice shakes and he can feel his breath against the back of his neck. Stephen wants out of his arms. He doesn’t really like touch from the people that he actually knows, much less a stranger that has hurt him so badly. Now that the adrenaline has left him, he hurts everywhere. It makes lifting his hand up far harder than it should be, his fingers curling as he tries to reach the others.

In the back of his mind he is well aware of the fact that he cannot reach them, that this man’s grip is too strong and they are too far away but he tries. He tries because he wants them, wants to be held by them instead of this stranger who hurts him. His head feels foggy. He wants to go back home, he wants his stepfather.

“Unhand him or face the consequences.” Screwllum’s voice is crackling sharply and it makes his ears hurt. Through all of the fog that has settled over his mind, he recognizes the fact that it shouldn’t be crackling at all and that it shouldn’t be making his ears hurt. He can’t quite grasp onto the reason as to why however and he can’t bring himself to even try to think of the reason.

“No.” The stranger says, his voice far more firm than it was a second ago and despite the fact that he wants to let his eyes fall closed and give into the exhaustion that plagues him, he can feel alarm bells ring throughout his head once more. He grunts, swings his leg forward before bringing it back with as much force as he can manage. Those arms squeeze and he wails, feeling something within his chest crack at the sudden intense pressure.

“Stop– stop, ‘m sorry–” The words escape his mouth before he can even think about it, the only thing suddenly on his mind being the pain within his body and the fact that breathing is suddenly much harder to do. He can hear the man exhale heavily against his neck, his grip loosening enough that he can actually suck in a somewhat full breath. Thank the Aeons.

He thinks that he can hear a mutter of his name. Honestly, he finds it rather hard to hear anything over the ringing in his ears and he wants it to stop, wants to be let go so he can go to the others and be safe but nothing is going his way today. Everything hurts, everything hurts and he is still within this stranger’s grasp. He wants out but his head is swimming too much to think of any way to get out.

There’s the clunk clunk of familiar heavy footsteps that are far faster than they normally are before they suddenly stop and he has to force his head up once more to see why.

“Screw–” Is all that he can manage to say as he takes in the sight of another Intellitron– he doesn’t know where they came from– holding Screwllum back and Herta is calling for someone behind her while Ruan Mei’s watching with a hand over her mouth, her gaze wavering in a way it never has before. It makes his chest ache, makes him muster all of his strength to lift his hand up and reach for them but then those arms are squeezing again and–

He finds that his vision goes black before he can even finish his thoughts.