Bug opened his eyes. He blinked at the permanent white of the lab. The boffins had left hours ago, assigning their youngest member the role of watching over the Specimen and informing them if it had reacted badly to memory transfer.
Binary ran his hand through his friend's short hair. He'd been through a lot in the last few days, what with his genetic alterations having finally had an effect. This had brought on the memory dump - the scientists had decided that they were pretty much done with him and just got it done so the could move on to the next thimg.
They had also felt that the memory dump would be an apt punishment for an...incident..that had occured the day before, as it would wipe out almost everything left from before, leaving only the useful memories behind. They knew the Specimen wouldn't like that.
Bug watched Binary with his soft brown eyes, the red barely visible in his calm. He hadn't been able to sing with him that night, as had become their habit, as he was having trouble with the many large and pointed teeth that now filled his mouth. He kept accidentally biting into his lips and tongue when he spoke.
Blood coated his teeth again as he asked, "What happened?" in the accent he had stolen from Binary.
"Memory dump."
Bug shifted his head in the straps in an attempt at nodding. "What did I get?" He seemed to care more about the information than the pain.
"Languages, mostly," Binary said. "Details on enemies, as well, along with lock-picking, hacking, and some basic combat info."
"Hacking?"
Binary laughed. "You've still got nothing on me, Bug, but they gave you enough to be useful in the field."
"Anything else?"
Binary blushed a little. "I may or may not have hacked into it and added in the lyrics to all my favourite songs."
There was a pause. Then Bug burst out laughing.
"You hacked it to teach me song lyrics?" Binary couldn't help smiling at his laughing friend, despite all the information he still had to deliver.
"Yeah...listen, Bug, there's still stuff left to me to tell you."
"What?"
"Well...the scientists-"
"The Boffins."
"-The Boffins," Binary shook his head as he corrected himself, "succeeded in making the desired genetic changes."
Bug looked unamused and bared his teeth. "I noticed."
Binary rubbed the back of his neck. "That is one of the permanent changes, but the sci - the Boffins - discovered yesterday when you were...stressed," (Binary didn't want to say 'in horrible pain at your body's sudden transformation'), "that the changes can worsen."
Bug frowned. "In what way?"
Binary paused, trying to find the right words. His hesitation caused the red chips in his friend's eyes to grow so he spoke quickly, hoping to balance it. "They say that your powers are animal based and that, as your powers have been amplified, the animal side has also been amplified."
The red chips became wider at this.
Binary continued hurriedly. "As long as you keep yourself calm there isn't a problem-"
"But when I'm not calm?" Despite his obvious efforts, Bug did not sound calm.
"It...takes over. The more stressed you are, the more powerful it is. If it takes complete control it affects your body as well."
The red was larger than the brown. Binary decided that that was a very bad sign.
So he hummed to him, continuing to stroke Bug's hair, in a effort to calm him.
"What are you doing?"
It wasn't working.
No sense beating around the bush. "I'm trying to keep you calm."
"It's taking control?" The chips grew again, almost completely shutting out the brown.
"Not if you stay calm."
Bug was practically hyperventilating. Shit.
"Bug, just take deep breaths, look at me, okay? In and out, in and out."
But the other half didn't listen.
Bug snarled, pointed teeth evident, his red eyes empty of any brown. Or any humanity. Rough fur sprouted, covering his whole body in a brown and black pattern. Something stirred at his sides, then four arms leapt up, unbound and uncontrollable.
The arms, tipped with claws, slashed randomly at the air. Binary stood well back, watching them easily, while Bug struggled with his remaining straps, oblivious to the fact that his new arms could help him.
Binary, determined not to be scared of his friend, gently took a hold of one or the rampaging arms, stroking the coarse fur that covered it. Two red eyes focused on Binary, who forced himself not to look afraid. A hint of brown appeared in the red and Binary sang to the brown, hoping to help it grow.
Without warning the hand he held clutched at him and pulled him towards the red. The other arms held him in place against Bug. Pointed teeth were shown in a smile, warm compassionate brown crept into the red eyes and fur stuck out like prickles on a hedgehog, but underneath all was the same softie that was Bug.
Also kinda like a hedgehog.
Binary couldn't help but smile at the comparison. "You're my little Hedgehog," he said to his friend.
A rumbling laugh came from Bug, and he released Binary as the red released his eyes, though not his form.
"A hedgehog. Really?" Binary was slightly surprised by the deepness of Bug's voice, but wasn't too concerned - that would probably fade when he dropped the rest of his physical changes.
Binary smirked. "The comparison is accurate. You've got all these dangerous powers but you're just an adorable little Snuggle-Bug." He tapped Bug on the nose to emphasise his point.
"Snuggle-Bug, now?"
"I'm gonna call you whatever pet names I want..." He paused. "If I can think of any more."
"You're so adorable...Tweetie."
Binary/Tweetie wrinkled his nose. "In what way am I 'Tweetie'?"
"It annoys you... Tweetie."
Binary tried to avoid huffing - that would only encourage Bug.
"What's wrong, Tweetie-Pie?" Bug sounded almost innocent as he took Binary's hand with one of his four free ones.
"Stop calling me Tweetie."
"Nope!"
"I'll stop calling you Snuggle-Bug."
"If you're that desperate to lose the nickname I think you have to keep it."
Binary laughed and took a proper hold on Bug's hand, shifting closer.
"Well then, what can I offer you that'll make you stop?" Binary leant over Bug, his face inches away, already having a pretry good idea.
Binary watched Bug's pupils dilate as the red disappeared completely for the first time. He felt his crush's breath on his cheek.
Binary leant closer, and a hand came to his back, sliding up to stroke the back of his neck. Two more accompanied it as Binary placed one hand on Bug's cheek, then closed the gap between their lips.
A/N Hey, this is me saying things, I guess. Please let me know if I've done Binary well enough for you guys to like him - I really love him and want to do him justice so any advice on how to do that is encouraged (BTW, yelling "I don't like him because he's not Gwen!" or "Peter's not gay!" isn't helpful - those are the two reasons I am expecting this character not to be liked but I'm hoping you can move past that and help me do this properly instead of grumping at those two details - one of them aids the plot and the other is unimportant).Also, sorry for the wait, the next chapter will be quicker so look forwards to that.