Handle with Care

by lilpurplebird

Having been loving mates for five years, Mew desires for a baby even though Mewtwo feels the opposite. As strong as their bond is, receiving nothing but bad news and unfortunate events slowly pushes their relationship to the edge. A fragile heart can break in any hand that handles it for too long. It can be put back together, but it'll never be the same.

13. Chapter Twelve

I questioned how far was too far, but given the situation... yeah. Not a happy chapter.

Let's see if you can enjoy this.

---

Chapter Twelve

Time no longer mattered the more Mewtwo allowed himself to be consumed by his research. As a parallel of his nomadic days, he wandered in search of answers, a light at the end of the tunnel, anything that could be of help. He was plagued by dreams, perhaps nightmarish visions, of the Mew he once knew and loved taunting him with happy has-beens and what-ifs. And that was if she let him near her. In person was a whole different experience.

He had taken Dr. Mime's prescription to heart and made his first attempt to talk to her in weeks, but it wasn't the progress he had expected. She never once looked at him, nor showed she was listening, and her silently getting up to head outside could've caused him to snap had he not been so willing to try. At the very least, he knew she wasn't going to leave the house for long periods of time if she was intentionally avoiding him, though the cold rejection made him take pause from trying again.

But there was a question that had been bothering him for some time, shackles fastened to his heart that only Mew had the key for. It had caused sharp stings when it first came to mind, and the longer he pondered on it, the more it adapted to gentle squeezes to dull the pain. He couldn't bring himself to approach her about it, yet as he wandered out of his study to prepare a quick meal, the window of opportunity was open that very moment—literally, as she was seated on the windowsill. Back still turned to him, as usual, though her tail swayed slightly from the breeze.

He hadn't gotten a good look at her in quite some time, he realized. The distance between them had blurred some details on her he used to be wary of, and he was certain she wasn't so frail before. She was still eating so she wasn't losing too much weight, yet she just looked so loopy, so out of it. Perhaps she developed insomnia, or she found a way to hypnotize herself—a thought that made him ill to his stomach.

Shaking off the dark thoughts, Mewtwo stepped forward to be behind her. "Mew?"

Outside of her tail's uninterrupted swinging, she didn't make any movement from her spot at the window. It was hard to tell if she was even listening. He took a breath to coax himself into speaking his mind, consciously raising his voice to ensure she could hear him.

"Mew... when did you love me?"

She remained silent. His hands clenched, a reflexive tic he had been meaning to break.

"I am sorry for asking such a ridiculous question. I have just been bothered by it lately, and..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue. It had been such a long while since he last talked to her that he hoped his voice hadn't grown jittery. It couldn't be helped that his mind kept berating him for thinking of such stupid concerns because of course he knew the answer to that. If she didn't love him, she wouldn't have requested becoming his mate for—

"...I don't remember."

He felt his heart being ripped out of his chest, and the fragile hope he had desperately been clinging to slipped from his fingers. Despite being spoken in such a soft monotone, it echoed in his ears until it overtook his thoughts.

"What about you, Mewtwo?" He flinched, having not expected the inquiry, not when he was just barely comprehending it. "When did you claim to love me?"

Mewtwo fought to steady himself and cover his new weak point, but he was already losing it when his eyes drifted downward. "I... still have feelings for—"

"I don't care about what you feel now. I asked when."

She didn't even wait for him to give a response when she suddenly swerved around in her seat. The dull glint in her irises caused him to drop his stare again as a chill struck the raw hole his heart was dangling from. He wasn't focused on anything in particular, trying to pull his thoughts back together when she let out a harsh scoff.

"Not that it matters. It's typical of a male to have eyes only for the body."

His figure twitched at the accusation, wondering if it was actually just a coincidence Mew caught his gaze hovering on her lap for that split second. He didn't follow after her when she got up and strode by without another passing glance. The click of a door down the hallway snapped him out of his frozen state, and he cracked the sill with his fists upon crumpling to his knees.

---

A vine snagged the hammer mid-swing, allowing Mewtwo to blink down at the splintered wood he had been working absentmindedly with, feeling his co-workers' stares on the back of his head. It was unusually silent at the playground, though he hadn't been paying close attention to their chatting or bickering, if any. They had found the time to construct a long-overdue addition to the park as planned, though the clone had randomly decided to re-work the previous structures so he could have time to himself. That hadn't even been an hour ago.

His jaw locked up slightly, knowing Vic's words before he voiced them. "You should go home, Mewtwo."

The memory of Mew sneering at him still hadn't faded from mind, her words continuing to eat away at him. Shaking his head, he stated, "No, this is my top priority right now." He jerked his arm to free it, but the Flycatcher Pokémon tightened his grip on the tool.

"We have it under control," he said, eyes narrowed in concern. "You've been working yourself to exhaustion one-too many times, and frankly, we can't stand by any longer. Go home to the mate."

"I have nothing to return home to." He managed to yank the hammer free, but he instead gathered up the broken wood as he rose to his feet.

Mewtwo couldn't tell anymore if he was lying to himself to excuse why he was pushing himself to work longer hours. Even with his testy attitude, he was still making the attempt to converse with Mew in spite of her rebuff from that moment. Yet, there had still been no progress, no sign she was waking up, and his pessimism was catching up to him.

Swampert snatched the wood to stop the clone as he was passing by, sternly meeting his glower. "Just so you know, I respect you, 'Two," he said, voice low. "Even when one of us—or at least me—irritated you, you've done so much for us and never expected anything in return. So I think it's about time for us to rectify that." He eased the bundle and hammer out of his hold, looking tense as if expecting to be lashed out at. Mewtwo felt a painful twist in his gut for even thinking it. "I can only imagine the pain you two are going through, but this is nothing to work yourself to death over. Leave this to us."

So much for working his woes away; he must really be a wreck if he could be talked into going home. Though even with such bitter thoughts, Mewtwo had no energy to spare to be dismissive toward his peers for looking out for him. His expression fell slightly as he turned to catch their silent nods.

"I should at least stay on the sidelines—" he started only to be interrupted with gruff throat clearing.

"We've already made up our minds," Wiles spoke up, puffing out his chest. "If it'll make you feel better, we're not going to rush this, but we'll finish with or without you."

"Fingers crossed, boys!" Rugby crowed, then eyed his paw as it flexed.

When Swampert patted his back, the feline closed his eyes in defeat, feeling a small smile grace his mouth. "I will hold you to your words," he yielded. "But I will not hesitate to return should you call for it."

In agreement, they let him go without another word. He dusted himself off as he was passing the construction barricades, glancing over his shoulder when he heard someone jogging up to his side. Goddard didn't slow from the eye-contact, which he had to tilt his makeshift hat to do so.

"I'll walk you home," he offered.

"No need—"

"I insist."

Mewtwo didn't have the energy to argue, so after the water fowl gave a webbed thumbs up to the others, he allowed him to follow. He half-expected for it to be in silence to give his thoughts a break, but almost as soon as the park was out of sight, Goddard took the opportunity to speak.

"Sir—I mean, Mewtwo. Sorry if this comes off as insensitive, but..." He quickly trailed off, a frown on his beak. "No, I shouldn't. It was stupid to even think about..."

Not wanting there to be awkwardness between them, the clone gave in. "Ask away."

He nervously scratched at his chin, the gem on his forehead shimmering as his head canted. "Nngh... before... before things turned out for the worse, erm... Well, I mean, were you excited? Or proud about it? The egg, that is."

Mewtwo had figured he was going to ask about the egg during his stuttering, clearly trying to approach it carefully. He couldn't blame him for his hesitance with such a raw subject. "...There was a time, yes," he responded, his tone soft-spoken. The memory of him smiling down at the egg in his hand had faded into the background as time passed, so although he couldn't recall that fleeting feeling, his behavior showed in his mannerisms and stance.

Goddard seemed to relax some. "So... it's normal to be worried about an egg, then?"

"I would assume so, given how fragile they are."

"Yeah, this was stupid of me to ask," he muttered, slumping his shoulders with a sigh. His gaze strayed over to the treetops. "But it's just that I still remember how you looked with the egg, and I was kind of... expecting that to happen with me... Kind of like it did for the others, you know?"

So Mewtwo hadn't imagined it when the Azumarill walked away from their yard. "Congratulations."

Goddard got more flustered from the sudden praise. "W-Well uh, Aqua hasn't—she hasn't laid it yet. She's supposed to any time now, and uh... Thanks."

Nodding and looking up as the house came into view, the clone then swerved sharply off the path. His colleague let out a quack of confusion, but hurried up to his side. "Whoa, what was that for?"

He paused right beneath a tree and leaned his back on it, keeping his gaze down. "Let me know when Lil is finished."

"Oh, huh?" The Duck Pokémon peered over at the house. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not at all. It... just has been a while, is all."

He didn't want to go into more detail, and luckily his companion caught on and turned back to the path to keep watch. Eyes glued to the splotches of light filtering through the trees' shadows, Mewtwo undid the tool belt to drape it over his forearm when it started chafing. Right then he noticed from the weight a few tools were missing, though he had no use for them at the moment. He trusted they would be returned to him later in the day.

"Oh, here she comes."

Pleased he didn't have to wait long, he stepped out into the sun when the Lilligant was in earshot, looking light on her feet in spite of the solemn visit. Their gazes crossed paths as he wordlessly nodded to her, expecting to pass by when she stopped with a graceful twirl. "What's troubling you, Mewtwo?" she asked softly.

"It is nothing to be concerned about," he answered, a little too hastily. He didn't wish to be rude to the Flowering Pokémon, though as relaxing as the atmosphere was around her, he was still a little petulant.

If she noticed, she didn't let it show on her petite face. "I dropped off some herbs for Mew," was what he scarcely heard, but it got him to pause and look back at her. "They're for aromatherapy, though I do recommend using the rosemary for tea. They should relax her."

Goddard sighed, hands rested on his hips. "More like you need them most, gotta be honest."

Despite the quick shrewd glance he sent his colleague, Mewtwo knew he couldn't argue with that. "Thank you for your help," he said. "Even though it may not seem like it, Mew is grateful you have been looking out for her."

Lil's leaf-like hands rested before her waistline. "I sadly don't have much to offer, but I just want you to know Tangrowth and I understand what you're going through, and are willing to listen if you ever want to talk."

He blinked in surprise. It was all on him for not making an effort to befriend Tangrowth, and therefore learn of it, but it was suddenly hard to take in. They were still newly-mates, coming up on their first year, and yet they hit this cruel roadblock. From what he could tell with Grass-types, fertility was hardly an issue between them—although as he came to expect, there were exceptions.

Not wanting to press for details, he carefully worded out his inquiry, "Is... it hard?"

She glanced down in thought, her sparkling scarlet eyes glazing over for a moment. "Sometimes. I know it's outside of my control, I just can't help feeling really bad about it because Tangrowth would like a few sprouts, but he still chose me despite it. So we had decided together very early on to instead put that mindset into raising strawberries. Though admittedly, we're growing a bit too much." She giggled, like that of tinkering bells as she blushed. "In fact, I'm actually inviting the whole community to come pick strawberries next harvest. I'm hoping you and Mew will join us, though you don't have to pick them if you don't want to, Mewtwo."

While he wouldn't express it out loud, he wished her optimism was contagious. "Thank you. I... hope we can come, too."

Lil put her hands together under her chin. "Oh, good. Tangrowth would like to talk to you more, but I guess he hasn't said anything since he's a bit shy. So I'll pass along to you that he and I had prayed day and night that your egg would hatch."

"You are too kind."

Her face lit up as her eyes smiled sweetly, then her flower crown twitched as she turned to their silent peer. "Oh, congratulations on the egg, Goddard."

He jolted. "Eh? How'd you know—did she lay it already?" A wheeze was squeezing its way out of his beak.

"No, I just knew."

Mewtwo politely cleared his throat to hide a chuckle. "Thank you for checking in on Mew," he said, body half-turned to resume walking. "And thank you for the generous offer."

"Not at all." Lil waved, swaying like she was in the breeze.

"And Goddard, I appreciate you accompanying me home," he added to his colleague. "Please return my tools when you are finished with them."

Steady on his feet again, the water fowl smiled. "Sure thing, 'Two—I mean, sir! Er, uh... yeah, sir."

He smiled in amusement, and made his way to the house. He didn't show it on his face that he could sense their worry swelling until he reached the bottom of the slope, keeping his back turned as his calm demeanor dropped. By then the pair had left, and Mewtwo felt the weight of solitude pushing down on his shoulders. Approaching the front yard, he paused to lean against a fence post for a quick breather.

Once he talked himself into entering his home, he nearly knocked over the basket of herbs that had been left on the floor. Hissing under his breath, he snatched it up as he stepped inside, barely glossing over Mew laying on the couch, back to him, until he noticed how unusually stiff she was. Her breaths also sounded irregular, like she was having trouble breathing or was trying to hold it in.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Eh?" she choked, her shoulders wincing. "U-Um... why should you care?"

That wasn't what he wanted to hear, but her response was good enough. "I just talked to Lil," he reported with a huff, hanging up his hat and tool belt. "It was considerate of her to bring you herbs, but it is rude to leave them in front of the door."

She made no other movement to look at him, though she was stabilizing her breathing. "You can have them," she murmured. "Why don't you grow your own garden?"

Mewtwo's knuckles cracked when he swiftly flexed his fingers, trying to keep his composure. Right as he was walking past to drop the basket off in the kitchen, he happened to take a second glance, noticing the tips of her ears were red. "Are you sick?"

Possibly because of his tone of voice, she twitched again, almost curling in on herself. "N-No..."

Her timid reaction concerned him, though he counted down in his head before speaking up again. "If you need assistance—"

"No, I do not!" she snapped, swiftly sitting up to leer over at him, her face flushed. Even with faded eyes, it was the most emotive she had been in weeks, but he wasn't fazed by the outburst.

He broke the gaze to leave the room when he did another double-take at the couch. "Mew, did you wet yourself?" he asked, watching as she tensed again. "Is that what happened?"

With pursed lips, she hurried into the kitchen before he could get another look at her face. "...I'll clean it up right now."

Mewtwo didn't immediately correct her that he knew from the scent it wasn't urine. They never brought attention to it, but it wasn't entirely abnormal for Mew to have what the humans called a "wet dream". Since they'd first mated, there were nights he'd get up for a drink or for the bathroom and find her face flushed and breathing slightly more rapid, then he'd connect the dots to her cleaning up in the morning. There had even been a few times he himself had such nocturnal emissions, but occurrences became scarcer over time (and he'd counteract such dreams by then being spontaneous with Mew). What he found a little disheartening in this case was the time and place; she had to have only been napping on the couch anytime between when he left and when Lil visited.

Scanning the cushions once more, something caught his eye that got him to lean in for a closer look. Pinching one of the clumps of rosy fur, he instantly gritted his teeth. Damn it, Mew... if you would just let me help you...

He stood back up just as she paused in the entryway to glower, a damp washcloth clenched in her grip. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she seethed, voice deathly quiet as her tail whipped at the base. "Why're you sticking your nose in it?"

The accusation rubbed him the wrong way, but he knew her thought process would have her take his words and spin them against him. Instead of talking back to her, he just swiped his finger across his muzzle as he walked into the kitchen to store the herbs away, intentionally keeping his back to her. There was no indication she got the gesture, no other sound came from her nor did she follow him, making him crack a sly smirk. But as he let the moment sink in, he got more and more upset with her and with himself.

It was shameful how easy it had become to turn their backs on each other when she wasn't fighting him off. He didn't like raising his voice to her in the slightest, and their arguments would just end up going nowhere, but at least it was some form of communication. At least she would acknowledge his presence instead of ignoring him, but he never could shake off Mime's statement about it.

If she was indeed thinking of him, why would she actively avoid him? He would understand if she was angry with him, but he sincerely wished to talk about it. And yet, she seemed... content with locking him out.

What is the point of us being mates if she refuses to reach out?

Mewtwo nearly dropped the herbs he was putting away when his body racked with shivers. It was a dreaded question that kept popping up now and then, but it had stayed in the recesses of his mind where it belonged. He didn't want to consider it so soon, not when he was certain there was a better solution to their problem. Casting her aside to let her fend for herself was something that could prove disastrous in her current, vulnerable condition. If not sooner, it would become apparent later.

Shaking his head clear, he stared down at what still needed to be sorted out until his eyes drifted to the cluster of lavender buds. Glancing down at where dust still clung to his fur, he let out a slow sigh through his nose. Perhaps his co-workers had a point in sending him home, and Lil was kind in sharing her remedies with them. There was more to Mew's condition than she was letting on, but any form of relaxant would help with rational thinking and soothing the body.

Filling up a tea bag with the buds, he finished storing the herbs away then carried it with him for the bath. Mew wasn't in the front room, and the bedroom door was still cracked open as he passed by, so she had to have left the house—odd that he didn't hear her, although he was that deep in thought to tune everything out. Closing the door with his tail, he took out the washcloths and a towel from their shelves and stepped up to the tub, checking it for residue before turning the knob all the way. Once hot water was coming through, he pulled the drawstrings and dropped the tea bag right by the drain, and then wet the washcloth to rub on the soap.

The clone spent the next few minutes scrubbing himself down, eyeing the light pouring in through the frosted glass. It felt silly of him to think about bathing close to the afternoon when he could still head back outside at any time, perhaps minutes after getting out. There wasn't even any guarantee Mew would want to take an early bath, let alone an herbal bath on her own accord. And with her being out at the moment, she may not return for a while without him tracking her down to drag her back. He snorted at the thought, mentally kicking himself for acting too hastily—or desperately, he felt in this case.

Mewtwo nearly reeled from the combination of heat and lavender scent as he shut off the tap. Either his sense of smell was too strong, he used too much of the buds, or a little bit of both. If it was already too much for him, Mew would be overwhelmed by it as well. Perhaps he could soak first to test it out before turning it over to her, but if the steam was going to fill up the room with the scent, that alone could have the same effect. And personally, he didn't want to come out heavily smelling like lavender, even though the house was going to be permeated with it throughout the day as is.

Just as he sat back down, he heard the door open, but only managed to catch a glimpse of pink before it was slammed shut. It should've been a small relief she hadn't been gone for long after all, yet his brows furrowed as he felt his morale start to sink. She was becoming more difficult to read as time passed. So she thought about an early bath after all, but wasn't she aware it was occupied if she didn't want to stay?

The thought bothered him. They hadn't bathed together in months, so he shouldn't have been so disappointed by her reaction. Did he honestly expect her to take in a good look, or for him to quip about the intrusion before she could turn away? What good would any of that have done?

As soon as he finished his rinsing, he pulled out her seat and checked the bathwater before exiting the room, rustling the towel over his torso. He paused when he unexpectedly spotted her sitting by the door, arms and tail curled around her knees. She didn't even glance up at him, though he quickly averted his gaze in the off-chance she were to yell at him for staring.

"I already prepared the bath for you," was all he told her before he strode for his study. Just as he was closing the door, he watched her slip inside, and he slowly took a breath.

---

Steam coated the water and left condensation on the tiles, carrying the faint scent of lavender through the room. The tap was still dripping while Mew peered dully down into the tub, eyes hovering on a tea bag sitting by the drain. She wasn't going to soak after washing, anyway, but that was a suspicious sight. Just what the hell was Mewtwo plotting in getting her to come out smelling nice? Was he trying to tell her something about her hygiene? What was his end goal here?

"How disgusting," she darkly muttered.

Plopping herself on her step stool, she soaped up the wet washcloth, but didn't stop even when the bar snapped under her fingers. The squishes were nothing but white noise, and the tinge of fir mixing with the lavender was more of an annoyance than sweet. Wringing the cloth tight, she ignored how the suds dribbled onto her thighs, then balled it up to rinse and repeat.

Mew blinked rapidly upon recognizing her drowsy state, letting the gnarled washcloth hang from her fingers as she stared at the floor. Focusing her vision, she could just make out her dark reflection, but it was mostly a blur. It was probably for the best; she didn't want to see what she looked like. Sitting back, she noticed something else moving before her. Squinting, she could just make out a familiar figure looking at himself as well—no, he had his eyes on her.

Glancing up, the feline wanted to tell Mewtwo off for coming into the bath, but she couldn't find the voice for it. It had been a long while since they last washed each other, she could at least give him that right to get it out of his system. Letting out a small huff, she whirled around in her seat and held out the washcloth over her shoulder. "Do your thing, and then get out."

Nothing happened, not even a breath sounded. Her jaw hardened as a vein throbbed in her temple, her fingers curling tighter against the cloth. The silence was maddening, making her squirm impatiently.

"Well?" she hissed. "What're you waiting for? It's getting muggy in here, and I want to get out, but I'm not leaving my back dirty." She hadn't even washed her front, but she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction, knowing him.

There was a shift in the air, and Mew let out an exasperated sigh—only he didn't take the cloth from her. She flinched as the tips of his fingers raked slowly up and down her back, almost in a massage. Her mouth opened to snap at him, but she straightened her spine in response. With no resistance, her arm dropped to grip the back of the stool as she raised her head, eyes falling shut. She felt her frustration melt into the blissful darkness, deeply breathing in the heat that enveloped her.

His hands put more pressure on her lower back as he bent down, firm lips feathering the nape of her neck. The feline sharply sucked in air through her teeth, brows knitting upon recognition. "That's not what I meant!" she groaned, though she couldn't will herself to shrug him off. Her head tipped back when the clone leaned in further to circle around, nose skimming the soft flesh beneath her chin. "Mewtwo, you jerk..." was her next breath, steadily losing her train of thought. "Oh, Mewtwo..."

Her diaphragm went taut beneath antsy fingers, tracing along grooves of her sternum and edges of her rib cage. He mouthed her jawline, suctioning his lips to a faint, but rapid pulse as her heart pounded harder. She couldn't bring herself to turn her head in his direction, though she was twisting in attempt to get him to move. She was vaguely aware the washcloth had fallen from her grip, but she was more focused on how slick his touches were becoming due to perspiration.

Purposefully or not, his hand slipped to her thigh where soapy water still lingered. With it smeared on his palm, he immediately glided over to cup her groin, an action Mew knew he planned, but still found herself floored by it nevertheless. Scarcely able to tell the difference between fluids, she lifted her hips with a mewl through parted lips.

"N-Not fair—ooh!"

Slipping off the stool, Mew used it as a headrest as he quickened his pace, about to rub her raw. As she kicked out a foot, her toes bumped against an object, which she hazily noticed peeking over was phallic in shape. Scarcely moving from her spot, she dragged it over and squeezed it between her legs, gasping at how it pushed against her entrance when Mewtwo withdrew from her. She twisted it around using her thighs, marveled by the way it slid along the folds and put the perfect pressure on her clitoris.

"Please," she whimpered. "Take me, Mewtwo..."

He didn't take heed, his way of teasing her. A little frustrated at his lack of a response, Mew lifted herself and held his penis in place as she lowered herself onto the tip—only to struggle getting it to penetrate.

"Nngh... why can't you get in?" She bit back a yelp from an angled push, blinking down at the oblong shape. "O-Oh... when did you get so round? And so thick...?"

Abandoning the attempt at penetration, Mew hugged the base of the shaft and leaned in for a lick, moaning at its slick surface. Mewtwo never tasted that good, she recalled, but waived it off the harder she kissed it. As her mouth closed over the head, her tongue brushed against odd bumps she knew weren't there before, though it was driving her wild. How had she not noticed it before?

For a moment when she squeezed him, Mew wondered if he climaxed, but it was a sharper pressure that caused her to choke. Shoving him away, she was accosted with water and swallowed more stray droplets wrong, bending forward to cough her lungs out.

She flinched when the door opened a little too hastily, and she blearily stared wide-eyed at Mewtwo as he looked her over. "Are you alright?" he asked, sounding a little strained.

Something deep down inside her flipped from his concern, a prickling reminder of how he was checking up on her. It was quickly overridden with irritation at his interruption. "I'm fine," she snapped, still a little breathless. "How long have you been out there?"

"I was in the study when I heard you coughing."

Her ears flattened, not liking that he had an immediate answer. "That's a lie. You just want an excuse to come in here to peep on me."

The clone's brows twitched. "Why would I do that?"

Mew didn't know the answer to that, but she still didn't need a reason for why he had to barge in. She crossed her arms across her chest, twisting her back to him. "You've got a good look at me. Now get out!"

Mouth set in a thin line, Mewtwo roughly shut the door when he left. She waited until she was certain he wasn't listening in before grabbing the shower nozzle to turn it off. Refusing to get in the tub, she remained curled up where she sat, growing numb from her damp fur.

---

The lavender buds gone to waste, Mewtwo had to reconsider using the herbs as they were, but he held off on making any tea or more herbal baths with them. At first, he had to pick which stalks he could hide near where Mew would sit, knowing she'd throw them out if she found them. When that wasn't working, he extracted oil from a few when she was out that he decided to squirt near the furniture, by the windowsill, in the corner, wherever he felt she could still catch a whiff. But then she was moving around, and staying outside longer—which would've been a good thing for her to get sunlight and air if he wasn't trying to talk to her.

He sought to approach her about why she was regularly avoiding him and to figure out what it was about the attempts at aromatherapy that bothered her, but as always, she was dodging the questions or making accusations. He hated having his words twisted around and being condemned for showing concern for her personal welfare. It frustrated him that Mime had to tell him to "keep it up" when he gave the first progress report, because the doctor chose to hone in that she had "newfound" energy in leaving the house. She wouldn't let him accompany her, which was the desired effect in mending their relationship, but having any interaction with the outside world was seen as positive, even if he felt otherwise.

Every other night, the clone continued to do his research, including going back through the texts he had previously read to see if he had overlooked anything. Looking more into depression was a good start, though he felt it went deeper than moods. It had to have manifested sometime in her past, perhaps a previous trauma she had repressed that got triggered back to the forefront. Maybe there was something from her childhood that affected how she viewed adulthood, or just the lack of a parental figure in general. She had to teach herself, after all. It was probable she had gotten the wrong information of how to act or behave like her own species, instinct notwithstanding. She also had multiple mates in such a short amount of time, which had to be rather unusual behavior even in Pokémon. Her obsession (not a desire like previously thought) with wanting kittens had to have played a role—

Mewtwo suddenly halted his skimming and went back a couple of pages until a lone word popped out in italics.

Addictions.

Something clicked in his head he had been looking in the wrong direction. She was depressed, of course, but what led to it? Was she always depressed, or was it after the loss of the egg? She kept saying she "missed" him, always putting emphasis on it. What did she mean by it, exactly?

It was clear the textbook was only touching upon the subject given it took up a page-and-a-half. The main addictions mentioned were drug and alcohol abuse and how it caused chemical deficiencies, but that wasn't Mew. No, he had to go more into behavioral.

He searched through over half of the books he had on him until Mewtwo believed he found it. There was not much of it written (and the text noted it was considered debatable), but what he read brought him pause. He reviewed it, paused some more, and then read it again out loud, slower to take it in:

"...'distress about a pattern of repeated sexual relationships involving a succession of lovers who are experienced by the individual only as things to be used'..."

And the memories came rushing in like a tsunami.

"We must have sex for a month."

"There appears to be no sign of ovulation... Mew cannot remember her last heat cycle—if at all."

"Every one of them... they didn't care for me!"

"She had about fifteen mates prior to you, Mewtwo, give or take a few."

"Please take me with you as your mate."

"The night we met, I hated myself."

"I had thought for sure that he was going to be the one."

"I want kittens."

"You're no different from them! None of those bastards cared for me, so why should you?!"

"It's always the male that leaves. The female has no right in saying who goes and stays."

He remembered the dark thoughts he had after they had their fight and she went after Marjorie. There were all of the accusations that flooded his mind afterwards of her lying about her past mates and using him for sex. All the times she was coy, eager, brought to tears... how easily she yielded to him their first night... He wasn't in the clear, either, for having unintentionally fed into it once he accepted his libido, but he was uncomfortably correct.

"Oh, Mew..."

He shakily pushed himself up out of his seat.

---

"Ha... mmm—ah!..."

Pushing tiptoe on the mattress, Mew gyrated her pelvis to rub flesh against the palm of her hand before her fingers pinched. She pursed her lips and pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth in attempt to silence herself, but the temptation to sigh was too great. Flipping onto her stomach, she grazed her lifted clitoral hood along the wrinkled sheets and gasped into her pillow.

She didn't know where she was going with her thoughts of Mewtwo, if he was still licking her or allowing her to grind her hips into his abdomen. He was more-or-less just there gazing down on her and not making a sound. She once questioned his silence, wondering why only the sounds of her breaths and heartbeats filled her ears when usually she could hear his groans and the bed crackling under his weight. Not to mention the headboard sometimes thumping the wall whenever he got rough, which she hadn't heard in a while, either.

"Ooh..." She shakily reached out to grab the bars, and hoisted herself up to thrust her hips as hard and fast as she could. Outside of clitoral stimulation against his midriff, she didn't have the body mass to reproduce the same weight and friction to get the right rhythm she was looking for. But it didn't matter that she couldn't get Mewtwo rocking with her, she felt like she could still become one with him from the way she sank into him.

"Ah-ah-ahh—HA!"

Mew trembled and froze as she gauged the moistness between her legs, but her orgasm still held off. She was just in reach, a few more brushes should do...

"Mewtwooo..."

Her eyes blearily opened half-lidded, still feeling his name linger on her lips. She ached and twitched from ballasting herself, and though her skin was hot, the cold emptiness of the room kept her from feeling her own body heat. That was because he was always the source of warmth, from the way he would run his hands over her pelt as he held her to his chest to how his body would loom over her and shield her from moonlight. The back of her neck prickled from the thought of him behind her, noticing her pillow had replaced him without her knowing.

Swallowing to rehydrate her throat, Mew turned her head to look at the door like she expected him to be standing there, watching and waiting, perhaps even enjoying the view. He only just wanted to see her from a different angle, was all? Eyes drifting downward to watch him stroke himself, her claws restlessly tapped the bars as her hips jerked involuntarily. A squishy pillow was a poor substitute to his firm abdomen, but it had to do. She couldn't let him down.

Shifting her weight, a sharp gasp sounded deep in Mew's chest as a thick sheath suddenly pushed against her opening and slid past the tight walls. Tightening her grip as Mewtwo took her, she angled her pelvis while still keeping in contact with the pillow. Normally he didn't do it from behind because she liked looking at him, but for tonight she'd make an exception. At the risk of friction rubbing her raw, it wasn't often she felt two textures simultaneously touching her bead.

Panting thickly, Mew tearily glanced up to find Mewtwo had stepped up to the bed, penis still in hand as he hovered over her. She scarcely focused her vision past it at the lustful smirk that graced his face, feeling her mouth water as she crawled forward without further enticement. Grabbing onto him, she leaned forward to lasciviously lick it, running her tongue along the length of the shaft. The thought about its wooden taste was nothing more than a blip on her radar, her mind too clouded with desire. She couldn't take him fully into her mouth, although it didn't stop her from trying.

"Mewtwo... you're too big for me," she mewled, her lips cradling the tip. "Oh, God, you're so big..."

The withdrawal from between her legs left behind a wet prickle as she got off the mattress. She gingerly climbed on top of Mewtwo's lap, wondering for a brief moment why he wasn't laying a hand on her to aid in her balance. As she lowered herself on his erection, she twitched at the smooth push against her entrance—and she struggled to burrow him inside.

"H-Hey... why aren't you coming in?" she whimpered, wriggling her hips and stroking his girth. "Mewtwo... Mewtwo, please..."

She trembled the longer she couldn't open up further, her breath catching in her lungs. Something wasn't right, she always accepted him inside. She could take him with little difficulty, albeit not fully. Her thighs hugged around his stiff circumference when her vaginal walls constricted at the thought, feeling hollow, incomplete.

As Mew lolled her head back to meet his heated gaze, a thought teased from the back of her mind: Why not make him jealous? Make him beg to give you a good fuck.

She furrowed her brows slightly, unsure what that meant, but her eyes trailed back down to the pillows. Slowly licking her lips, the feline got up to return to the bed in a kneel, pulling one of the cushions between her legs. Running her palm along the creases, she skimmed her vulva on its surface for a test. A tingle spread upward into her abdomen, and closing her eyes, she hurriedly put pressure to curb the growing throbbing in spite of her need for penetration. Her stomach knotted, unused to the idea of her putting on a show for him, yet she was faintly acquainted with the smooth, rhythmic strokes.

"Aahhnnn... oooh... sh-shit..."

With a well-timed shift and squeeze of her thighs, she slipped her paw below to pull back the sticky clitoral hood and purred, rocking her pelvis in quick successions. Movement beneath her sent her sliding onto her backside, repositioning her legs out from underneath to keep them from cramping. Glancing up with a breath to find herself once again sitting in Mewtwo's open lap, Mew paused in thought, noticing his eyes had softened, as did his figure. He rolled his hips forward, and the feline was mesmerized by the rippling curves and perkiness that wasn't on him before—it was oddly feminine. Another feature she found unusual was she couldn't feel his genitals beneath her, but there was something wet pushing against her that took her a moment to register.

Since when could Mewtwo change sex? was her puzzled thought.

The feline realized she became breathless after another slick skim, and once she regained her bearings and stretched out a foot on a thigh, her hips lurched forward to keep pressure to her folds. Mewtwo moved against her, and with a deep sigh, Mew fell back a little bit and returned the thrusts. Gnawing on her bottom lip, she watched themselves gently rock back-and-forth against each other, taking in the size difference and musing how she could even rub up against anything. In her mind's eye, she recalled a vague memory of being in a similar flexible position, though she didn't have to stretch that much. What she had liked about it was how much her body cried in need for penetration every time flesh meshed, yet relished the lack of it all the same. Even long after the years had blurred the memory, it still remembered that heavenly sensation she had shared with another...

Oooh... oh God, that's good...

Sweat cascading down her body, Mew propped herself on her elbows and spread her thighs to quicken the grinding, panting through her teeth. The clone shifted again to go rougher, showing off some plentiful bounciness that made her gasp from the sight and lament that they couldn't press their chests together without parting. Fantasizing she had her own pair to caress, she let out a string of mewls at the warm moist rubbing on her entrance, even trembling from how frequently their clitorises flicked together.

"Yes, yes, oh Mewtwo, yesss!" she moaned, adverse to tearing her gaze away to tilt her head back, hands kneading her chest. "Ohhh, harder, push harder! It feels so good... so smooth... ooh!"

Hurriedly scrambling to her knees, Mew ballasted herself over Mewtwo's writhing figure and wildly lurched her hips, even angling more to stay connected. Hanging her head for a moment with a groan, her fingers crept up her hot figure, taut abdomen quivering at the touch. Before they reached her watering mouth, she whimpered when her lovely mate prodded and circled her puckered lips, the knobbed ends coated in thick fluid—her fluid—and a curiously furry texture. She opened wider to take it in, swiping her tongue along the underside.

"Mmnngh—mm-mm-mmMM!"

Mew staunchly flattened their puffy cores together at orgasm, her eyelids fluttering and drool dripping out of her mouth as the object pulled out. She blearily watched her tail flop to the side, and once she slumped in exhaustion, stared down at herself. Her thighs still hugged the pillow to herself, her eyes slightly widening at the glistening wet spot that covered the entire bottom half. Slowly, she bucked to brush her throbbing vulva across it again, finding intrigue with its cooling stickiness and loving how it felt, but she missed the reciprocating pressure of a partner. Then she noticed the pinned tail, and as it bumped against sensitive flesh from sliding away, her figure spasmed and she tossed back her head with a startled gasp. Without meaning to, she met Mewtwo's familiar needy gaze as he eagerly jutted his erection more against her raw mound.

Although she had found herself grown used to (and wanted more of) the curvaceous Mewtwo, she managed a smile at how passionate he had become. "M-Mew... two... Ah... you ready to do it for real?" With wavering breath, her eyes closed and spine arched as he pricked her entrance, and her mate shifted forward to push her backward on the bed to claim her.

---

The sheets rumpled in his grip as Mewtwo fell to his knees, body limp. Resting his forehead on the mattress, he breathed heavily, vainly trying to divert his thoughts elsewhere while still thinking of Mew. He tried to button his lip to soften his sobs, but when her big, bright blue eyes locked on his gaze in yearning, he couldn't help a throaty groan.

There was no getting around that he could no longer hold back. It had been too long since he last held her, last kissed her, last knew her. He was beginning to forget her loving caresses, her gasps at his ear, her heel digging into his thigh, her tail looping around him as he entered her tiny body. He had five years' worth of memories to sift through, but they weren't the present time. Interspersed were fantasies of what he had wanted to do with her, of what he would like her to do. As much as he loved her, she was so reserved in bed, always having to be goaded with his touches into reciprocating. What he would give to have her take the initiative more, like when they were in the back room of the clinic and she took him into her mouth...

Mewtwo sat trembling as he watched himself unsheathe. She just had to be so delicate, didn't she? He could hardly be rough with her out of fear she'd break under him, and she could scarcely fully take him. That lack of trust in himself to not hurt her kept him from expressing his wishes and going all out.

You like having sex with her, he reminded himself, swallowing as his throat went dry. Stop over-analyzing it. So what if you cannot go all the way in? Not everything needs to be perfect.

A headache was steadily thrumming to life the more he struggled to think of something else, yet words such as "succession of lovers", "things to be used", and "addiction" mockingly circled around him. It didn't help that the voice in his head transitioned to Mew's like she was there whispering them in his ear. His member twitched from the thought, burning in need for her touch.

This is wrong. I should be with her to help her. And help myself—no, just her! It is Mew who needs help, not I!

Mewtwo gasped when fingertips gently skimmed his penis, and glancing down, he ran his thumb along the weeping tip as he pulled back the foreskin. What he'd give to have her there and bury himself into her frail. If she were any bigger, she could comfortably sit in his lap and throw her limbs around him, squeezing him closer to better match his momentum and breathing. Perhaps she could have a fuller chest, as well? Would she be firm pressed up against him, or would she be pillowy? Could she whisper her naughtiest thoughts against his mouth, and would she beg as his hands ran along her bouncy figure?

"O-Oh, Mew...!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin when objects clattered around him, removing his hand as he whipped his head around. There was no one else in the study with him, yet his books, papers and tools had been scattered on the floor. Exhaling a trembling breath as his heart pounded against his rib cage, Mewtwo moved to stand, but his knees were wobbling too much and his groin too hot to ignore. Hoisting himself to sit on his bed, he gawked at the mess before dropping his gaze.

Was I...?

He opened and closed his hands for a long moment to let it sink in, taking notice of how his softening member twitched the longer he dwelled on it. It felt like something in the back of his mind was scratching to get out, pleading to take over for a while. It was going to drive him mad if he didn't do something about it soon.

...should I...?

In an abrupt movement, Mewtwo strolled over to the door just to pause before it, staring at the wood. He didn't know why, exactly, he thought he felt Mew's presence outside. It was faint, possibly a result of them not being as close anymore, but it was her. Perhaps she had been startled by the noise and was coming to check it out—a thought that got his hand hovering at the doorknob, thinking about what expression she might have on her face. If they could talk it through, however, they could come to a solution together, perhaps even reconcile...

The tender notion then faded as quickly as it came, leaving behind an aching void. He was foolish for getting his hopes too high. Besides, he heard nothing beyond the door to indicate she had even considered leaving her room. Such a daunting thought accompanied him as he picked up a few books to return to his studies, but he couldn't take in any new information.

---

"This has been troubling you for a while, now?"

Staring listlessly at the floor, sluggishly kneading his brows, the clone nodded as Mime jotted down some notes. "It has only just been a week, but I can barely stand it," he murmured. "The more I fight it, the more I know deep down I am going to lose."

The morning sun still had of yet to ease its spindly rays into the study. Mew had her appointment earlier, which supposedly played out no differently from the last session in her being uncooperative in answering questions. He couldn't get a good look at her when she left, but she had seemed more restless. Mime had of yet to bring up anything that was said between them, which he concluded meant there were more private matters brought up as a result of the rift separating them getting wider. And as they jumped immediately into probing his mind as soon as he sat down, he was quick to get to his current state.

"Why does the thought of masturbation bother you so much?" The doctor took a quick sip of what little was left of his drink. Mewtwo couldn't figure out why it was Mew even bothered putting tea together if she wasn't going to touch her share. "It's clear here you do not enjoy it, so there should be no reason to be fretting over it."

Eyes drifting back down, he sighed through his nose. "It is because she is not there with me. I think about her so much that I sometimes wish my thoughts would manifest her before me, and we would be together again." Now that he was hearing himself speak his thoughts, he was aware of how much it sounded like he was sniveling. He had legitimate concerns, but there was a lack of coherency. It was somewhat embarrassing.

"Does it have any correlation with your lack of sleep? You've been studying well into the night, I take it?"

Mewtwo scarcely passed a glance at the textbooks he had sloppily shoved under the bed. "To be frank, I am unsure anymore. I only ever seem to have erotic thoughts, which just get worse the more I look into it. I thought a change of subject would help."

He was being vague about what he had been reading up on lately, but he trusted Mime to catch the hints he was dropping and push for more information. For some odd reason he didn't mind wanting to share his findings, even if it was just to clear his conscious.

Mouth scrunched in thought, the Mr. Mime scribbled down another note. "Have you ever desired sex before Mew?"

"No." The clone paused in remembrance, and not just for good measure. "At least... not in that way. At first the concept disgusted me, then upon looking into it further on a biological standpoint, I became intrigued by its hidden intricacies. Yet I had no desire for a mate, so my body never had a reaction. The night Mew and I consummated our relationship, I suppose that was awakened in me, though I did not recognize it. After some time passed, I realized I liked it, and that soon grew into a love for sex."

"That's normal."

He almost chuckled, wishing he could believe it. "So I love sex because I love Mew. Or do I love Mew because I love sex? Which was it that awoke inside me on that night?"

"Males develop emotional bonds with their mates through intercourse," Mime explained. "That's just how dopamine works."

Mewtwo could believe it. He never dwelled on it, having always been too high with bliss each time they rested after intercourse, but he had found it curious how easily he opened up to Mew a little more as they lay together. It had tended to ebb by the morning, though gradually over the years, it steadied out to where he equally enjoyed his time with her at all times of the day. She became his closest companion, and before he knew it, he had stopped inwardly struggling over the thought.

Perhaps that was due to all the sex they had, and subconsciously he knew that had a grip on his emotions. His mind, however, wanted to prove it wrong. "That may be how nature designed it to work, but Mew and I defy nature just by being together. I had to have loved her before we became mates. After all, she had fallen in love with me by then."

"How did you know?"

A quick palpitation of his heart almost kept him from answering. "She told me. Why else did she come to me to become my mate?"

There was a small rattle behind him that perked him up, but he figured Mew had just left the house and he dropped his eyes again. Mime hemmed as he mused, "Your stress levels need to decrease if you wish to help Mew."

"But if she loved me," the clone continued, his thoughts running off the rails again, "then why did she leave me?"

"Mew never left you, she isolated herself."

He just shook his head for a moment. "I do not like being alone. I was alone for so long that I became numb to it, to the point you could say I was used to it. Yet I feel like despite the circumstances surrounding my birth, I was not meant to be alone. My creators were there, but I had no connection to them. I was the only one of my kind by design, and it was as if the weight of the world closed in around me."

There was a sudden flash of an image that went by too fast to comprehend, but there was a feeling of nostalgia that lingered. When he tried to think back to it, Mewtwo hissed from a sharp throb in the back of his head. He was aware Mime got to his feet, and hurriedly turned down any aid he offered. Gently massaging his temple, he took slow deep breaths to dull the ache and quell his trembling.

"I... I had dreams in that cultivation tank," he whispered. "At first I thought they had happened, but I have no memory of them, so I wrote them off as just dreams. They were the most realistic dreams I have ever had, however... It is not a pleasant feeling to have, so I do not dwell on it much anymore. But there was a time when I went looking for that place in my dreams, even sought out the faces..."

"Faces of whom?"

He gritted his teeth as he fruitlessly tried to recall the images. The best he could conjure up was a simple white dress, perhaps the shapes of small Pokémon. "I cannot remember. I get excruciating headaches just trying to think back to it..." His gaze drifted to the sunlight that finally started seeping in, a sight that he oddly wasn't happy about. He seethed at the tiny pools of light, almost daring them to touch his skin.

Dr. Mime seemed to have noticed his mood, but didn't comment on it. "What was your life like before coming here, Mewtwo? Were you always alone?"

Still leering at the light, he shook his head as he slumped back in his chair. With the confidentiality of their session in mind, he answered truthfully, but sparsely, "I had created clones like myself to combat my loneliness, albeit for a more selfish reason. I was close with them, but at some point we all parted ways. The odd thing is I did not mind being alone after that. Perhaps it is because I had a choice in the matter, and I chose selflessly to let them all live their lives. I had made my own decision to live the way I did, and I was content with it."

Mime hadn't written anything down in some time, which Mewtwo was secretly relieved about. He listened intently with small polite nods here and there, and he hardly showed a reaction to the glimpse of his past. "And yet you fear loneliness," he noted, his tone of voice calm to show he had no intention to poke holes in his statements. "Perhaps that was one reason why you chose to become mates with Mew, because the opportunity presented itself to combat it?"

He mulled on it for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I had been used to the concept of loneliness that if I did fear it, I was unaware of it. I had taken it for granted, but five years living with Mew allowed me to recognize the opposite feeling of what I had known—of what I was missing. The thought of turning her down that night is almost alien to me now."

"Would you have asked Mew to be your mate?"

Mewtwo's brows furrowed in discomfort before shaking his head. "Never on my own terms. If we had gotten to know each other longer and I had developed an interest in mating, I could have considered the thought, but I do not believe she would have been my first choice. What got a hold of my attention then was she was the one to approach me, and it was difficult for her to do. She was the most... nervous I had ever seen from her."

"Nervous" was too simple a word to describe what she was like that night. He used to smile fondly at the memory, but further analysis brought to light the implications behind her anxiety of being less "nervous" and more "desperate". She was bold in telling him her feelings, that he admired, yet he had felt something breaking under pressure that she tried to keep at bay. As much as she ultimately had him wrapped around her little finger that night, it was an emotional tug-of-war that they called a truce on to join in union.

Mime shifted his weight as he picked up his cup. "Want my educated guess?" he asked for permission, which Mewtwo nodded for him to continue. "You observe a lot, Mewtwo, soaking up information one after the other and seeking out answers to get a better understanding of how or why the world is the way it is. Curiosity is a trait that's commonly associated with younglings, but it's healthy to ask questions, to stimulate cognitive development. This is because you cannot gain experience from just being a bystander, you must become a participant."

The doctor paused to finish his drink, giving the clone a moment for it to sink in how perceptive the Mr. Mime was. He recalled the many crossroads of life he had come across that crafted his character: his many accomplishments and mistakes, the lessons he learned, the wonders he saw, the people he met. Every crucial point of his life was a result of him taking action when he could've easily remained an observer. How much more different would his life had been if he had been more accepting, more quiet, or just more obedient? Could he have still chosen his own path as readily?

"If you had chosen to not accept Mew as your mate," he resumed, cup still in hand, "you might not have been able to learn of your fears, at least not as fast. You would still be walking the earth and still be content, as you put it, but would you have ever faced your fears? Ever come to terms with them? Ever been able to live?"

Mewtwo winced slightly at a quiet whisper in his head, but he couldn't bring himself to bring it to Mime's attention. He could sense the session had come to a close from the way he wrote something down on his clipboard and got up from his seat, and prolonging it sounded selfish. While he felt the doctor would be intrigued by his thoughts, learning about why "life is wonderful" was a long-term goal he wanted to answer on his own.

"I find it interesting how you two are so far apart from each other, and yet you share the same concerns," he mused out loud.

The feline blinked in surprise. "We what?"

Mime quirked a brow, tucking the clipboard under his arm. "I've been doing a little digging of my own, and found it's quite common for two psychics—of any species—to share psychosis. But it almost always leads to disastrous results."

Mewtwo wasn't liking what he was eluding to, but he cautiously leaned in. "...we have become psychotic?"

He canted his head from side-to-side. "Not necessarily. Psychics have to be extensively trained from a very young age to control their powers to keep their minds from falling apart, but even the most senior of psychics can fall victim if they're not careful. There's a human term for it: folie à deux—madness of two. It's been mostly documented with lower-leveled and poorly-trained psychics, so I just can't help wondering the effects it'd have on someone of yours and Mew's stature. You're still grounded in reality for the most part, it's just been Mew who seems to straddle that line. And from what she's told me, she must like it that way."

As much as he wanted to know more about the condition, something told him the double entendre was intentional. "Pardon?"

"I don't feel it's a coincidence you're just as hung up on your lack of sex as she is, Mewtwo." He gave a stern stare that made him nearly look away. "I've told you to talk with her. When you're not, she loses what it's like to have companionship while still desiring it. It will become more and more difficult to get her to stop engaging in fantasy the farther away you two drift from one another. I'm honestly surprised she hasn't gone off looking for an actual body yet."

Unintentionally, Mewtwo rose to his feet with clenched fists and teeth, his gaze hardening. "What are you implying, doctor? That Mew will become a whore?"

Mime was unfazed by his sudden behavior. "That's not what I'm saying at all. How about you, Mewtwo? Have you ever had or are currently having thoughts of Mew being a 'whore', as you're accusing her of?"

His mind cruelly overlaid a recording of himself reading the definition over an image of Mew sprawled beneath another male, one of many he had thought of in the past week. Quickly regaining his composure, he shook his head and went over to his desk to hunch over it. "...I... I do not want to believe it..."

"Pokémon being promiscuous is nothing new, but putting such human terms on their behavior is hardly fair." He found himself agreeing with the doctor, though he still couldn't relax his tense muscles. "Many Pokémon have multiple mates in their lifetime, although that typically means having offspring with different mates. And mating for pleasure is limited to a few species, it seems, though exceptions exist. I'm going to be honest that given the rarity of her species, it's plausible she was just prone to it."

"If she is tired of me, she should have just left," Mewtwo hissed before he could stop himself, whirling back around to face him. "But it was Mew who suggested we be mates for life."

"...I see." Dr. Mime let out a slow sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced outside. His voice then lowered, "This community is quite the oddball, Mewtwo. Most everyone here has had more than the one mate, and yet the mates they do have are the ones they are raising children with. And here, of all places. This is not a breeding grounds, it is just someplace humans don't travel to much."

"What are you getting at, doctor?"

"Outside of you and I, no other Pokémon here has had human interaction. My hypothesis is the Pokémon who have congregated here with their mates are all wired differently from the general population. And as the need for companionship is hard-wired into our DNA, like-minded individuals will always find each other, someway." He gave a small, sad smile, age showing once more on his face. "Mew has everything she needs here to recover, but only if she allows it, and if you are open to it. I know you truly care for her, Mewtwo, but something has got to give if you two are to move forward."

At that, Mewtwo reluctantly dropped his eyes to stare at his hands, his destructive hands.

He offered to go with Mime back to the clinic for the mere purpose of returning the books, but the doctor insisted he keep them on hand a little while longer. And as he lingered in the doorway to watch him depart, his thoughts went over what he said as well as the concerns of their neighbors. Glancing at the bare soil that once flourished with Mew's handiwork, he wondered about the gift of herbs Lil had dropped off. They were more for calming purposes than seasoning, and far as he knew they hadn't been touched since he stored them away.

He hadn't used all of the sprigs, but there was a limited amount, and he was running out of a few of them. While grateful for the gift, he knew they couldn't keep leeching off their neighbors' generosity. Even if it was just to calm her down with scents (which she was consistently rejecting), he had come to accept he wasn't doing a proper job at it. But on the off-chance it were to start working, he'd need to have the knowledge to do it, as well as regular access to supplies. Though in being honest with himself, it was so he could have a way to clear his head.

Mewtwo thought about telling Mew he was heading out, but as the bedroom door had been closed since leaving the study, he believed she was getting a little more sleep. Besides, he figured he wasn't going to be out long, and he'd be back in time to fix themselves breakfast. And so, he exited the house to take his first step to starting his new nurturing hobby.

---

One of the hands running along Mew's chest slid up to poke its knobbed fingers inside her mouth, subduing her moans just before she curved from soft skims between her shoulder blades. Breathing sporadically through her nose, the feline rubbed her cheek against the muzzle nestled in the crook of her neck, writhing her hips in tandem with the pelvis digging into her backside. A leg snaked over her thigh to draw her closer, and the unoccupied paw raked grooves down her abdomen. Their tails coiled out of reach, tips stroking, with the thicker appendage easily pinning the smaller of the pair.

There was movement as her partner feathered up her face to lick at her ear, bringing her to bend backwards without breaking skin contact to catch a quick kiss. The freed fingers held her by the chin to keep her still as their tongues danced and explored, Mew's heart fluttering from the dual wet texture of their mouths and between her legs. Without parting, she half-flipped onto her back until their chests brushed, dropping a hand to knead a firm breast.

Mewtwo was going the extra mile, having remembered her unfulfilled desires and changed much more than physique to meet her conveniences. It had taken a few trysts and some trial and error before the transformation could come smoothly, now at the point where the clone was ready at first eye-contact. Not that the rosy feline wasn't satisfied to begin with, it was just that the new form tired less and was softer on the body no matter how rough they would get. Though it amused her that the sex had gotten better as a result...

She sighed into the kiss from the memories. Even as their pelvises met and slowly rocked in yearning, Mewtwo still fondled her, burying deep inside to blindly search for a raw spot. Mew whimpered and swerved her legs around to rest them on the shoulders, sinking far enough into her pillow to sloppily break away and gaze up at her beautiful mate.

"We know she's not real."

Her eyes snapped over to peer at what had to be a mirror sitting at the foot of the bed. At least, she thought that was what she was seeing, but it was just a lone figure of herself, staring at them with contempt. Brows furrowing slightly at the interruption, Mew muttered, "Why should it matter?"

A shrug, glassy eyes narrowing mischievously. "Because the real one feels better."

As Mewtwo pecked along her chest, she winced from a small twist to sensitive flesh. "What real one?" she grunted out.

Her reflection's face curled slightly into a devious smile. "'What real one', indeed."

A moan escaped her parted lips as the clone sat up to impatiently grind their crotches together, her ankles slipping from the momentum. Mesmerized by how the breasts and curves swayed, their hips gyrated with irregular speed for a few rounds without parting. Mew's heated cries then petered out upon noticing her other self hadn't moved from her spot, let alone changed her expression. Growing self-conscious about her performance, the feline reached up to grip tighter and lunged harder against her, breaths shortening out over swift slapping flesh.

"Hah-ha-ahh, Mewtwooo—AAUGHH!"

Her voice suddenly contorted with anguish at a bolt shooting up her legs, a result of harsh penetration. Feet still hovering at Mewtwo's hips, she was distraught to find he returned to normal in size and anatomy inside her, though their eyes didn't meet. She convulsed from the increasing thrusts, realizing the pain had extended further into her abdominal cavity like a dull knife searing into her flesh.

"Mewtwo, wait!" she gasped, tightly gripping the pillow. "Y-You're too far in! It hurts!"

A quiet laugh vibrated at her ear, hands gently cupping her jaw from behind. "'It hurts'?" was the coo. "But don't we like pain?"

Mew threw her head back more to gape up at the sly smirk plastered on the illusion's face. Her legs tingled from the blood rushing to her hips, having an unsinkable feeling Mewtwo wasn't going to slow down any time soon. Shaking her head, she whimpered, "O-Only the good pain!"

"But if pain hurts, how can it be good?"

Her eyes fell shut with another cry, growing nauseated from her rocking. "Mm-mm-mm... M-Mewtwo hurt me..."

"Oh, yes," her double sighed, sounding lost in a memory. A paw gently slid up to touch her cheek, slowly tracing a circle, and she realized it felt too real to be a mirage. "He was very sorry, wasn't he? Though he never did apologize for the other time he hurt us, has he?"

Mew squirmed once she dropped from her face to her chest. When their eyes met, a sinister gleam flared in her still-faraway gaze, and her paw slipped down her figure to cup her clitoris. Sharply gasping and bucking her hips, the feline reached up to push her away only to end up fondling hers as well.

"If he were like the other males, we'd have left him a long time ago, wouldn't we?" she purred, slowly swaying to her touches. "At least then, he wouldn't have had the chance to hurt us."

Distantly, she realized Mewtwo had pulled out of her, but he didn't move away. Her abdomen quivered when his hand caressed it, weaving around her reflection's arm but moving no further up than her ribs. Mew darted her gaze between them, her breath catching at the smoldering look they shared.

"So why does he stay?" her other self continued to whisper, leaning in closer. "Why do we still want him inside, even though he hurts?"

A quiet whimper was silenced when their lips touched right as their fingers entered each other. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds until she pulled away for Mewtwo to take her place, hardly giving Mew room to breathe. The difference in pressure sent her mind spiraling, opening her mouth out of habit for him as she stroked his jawline with her other paw. Images flashed through her mind's eye of her mate holding her, seeing him shrouded in moonlight, covered in dust, reclining in the bathtub... resting on his side as they held hands.

"It's because he's a good lover."

Mew couldn't tell if she said it against his lips, or if it was from the mirror image of her. She mewled when his thick digits also fondled her, not seeming to mind the second hand already preoccupying itself with her. Pushing up on tiptoe to encourage them to go deeper and flattening herself on the bed, she slinked her tail between his thighs.

"But that's a lie."

Her heart skipped a beat when Mewtwo forcibly lifted himself from her like she burned him, yanking her tail away. Exposed and aching, she mourned the loss of his touch and dropped her hands until another twist disoriented her thoughts. Turning her head, she froze at the icy glare drilling into her soul.

"It's because you don't love yourself."

Even if she wanted to, she had no rebuttal to give, instead quietly admitting to herself there was truth to it. Laying a paw over her heart, she willed herself to break the gaze upwards for the ceiling, thinking of the nights she and Mewtwo had worked at trying to get her pregnant. "I-I just..."

"What good will having kittens do for you?" was the retort. She winced at the harsh tone and from when a hand roughly caressed her stomach, claws lightly scratching her skin. "You were happy to know you being infertile meant having all the sex you could milk from him."

"No, that's not—" Her voice stuttered when her reflection compressed herself into her side, mouth peppering along a shoulder. A leg hooked over her hips to roll her closer while the petting increased. "Get off!" she gasped, shoving her away.

"That's all you're ever good for, sweetheart," the shadow drawled, licking her lips. Her frosty irises roamed her body as she giggled. "You're just a good fuck. That's as unmotherly as it gets."

Mew rapidly shook her head, trying to crawl away from her prying eyes only to find herself in a warm lap. She let out a yell when strong hands held her down, spreading her legs for room. "Hey, wait!" She shivered at the lecherous smirk on Mewtwo's face as he rubbed his erection against her slick entrance. Looking up to find her double smiling fiercely and her fingers suggestively hovering parallel to her clitoral hood, she didn't need an explanation for their intentions.

"I've gone mad," she whimpered to herself, eyes tearing up. "I'm in a bad dream."

Chuckling under her breath, the second Mew strode forward with a swing of the hips. "Your fantasies get wilder every day, toots. But it's what you've wanted."

"I-I didn't want this! I swear!" She tried to throw off the hand when she was gripped by her chin.

"But you do want to know what it's like to mate with another of your species. It's why Mewtwo's so irresistible." Mew gritted her teeth to bite back a whine, squirming uncomfortably from the intrusive erotic thoughts that suddenly bombarded her mind. "And with two of us here before him..."

"No!"

A commanding look was shot up at Mewtwo, and he released her, allowing her to be swept up in the other's tail and pulled into a body hug. Try as she could to fight her way out, she was forced to keep eye-contact as her figure was felt up, unhurried and sensual to relax her tense muscles. She could scarcely stay afloat, but was too tangled up in the appendage and probing limbs to even fall away. A teasing nip to her neck got her to jerk and grab on, her breaths growing shallow.

"Why're you doing this?" she managed to choke out, scrunching her eyes shut as a finger stroked her mound.

"Because it is what you want," was the sultry purr, snouts bumping when she raised her head. "Deep down, you want to mate with another Mew, but alas, it's just been you." She chuckled, her breath ghosting over her lips. Mew's mouth dropped in a strangled cry when her labia was pried apart, feeling hot liquid oozing down her inner thigh. "Mm, slippery. Just the way Arceus intended."

She was then pushed to the bed, her assailant straddling over her hips. Wrists pinned above her head, the feline looked up in time to watch her duplicate lean in for a full-body massage, putting the most pressure on her abdomen. She found it difficult to breathe from the added weight, but more-so as she twitched against her each time her teats were stimulated. Her legs flailed to kick her off, but they were wrestled down in return and entangled beneath her.

"Stop fighting it," was the demand, angling her backside upward. "You like how it feels. Yield yourself to your desires as before."

Weakly shaking her head, Mew gave a pitiful mewl, "No, please..."

"And leave Mewtwo unsatisfied?" A nod was gestured in his direction with a click of her tongue. "You're such a bad mate and a bad tease. This is a rare sight for him, so at least have some courtesy to give him a good show."

Her eyes flickered briefly over to where he sat, taking note of the thin film of sweat being smeared along his swollen penis. Quickly turning her head away, she whined at the lick to her jugular, feeling her vaginal muscles automatically squeeze. "I-I..."

"Would you like to be on top, instead?" came the muse, a smile quirking on her lips. "That should be more empowering."

With little effort, she rolled themselves over so Mew was forced to peer down at her shadow. Her neck too tense to keep up for the moment, she collapsed into her hold, their lips meeting as a result. A hand gripped the back of her head to prevent her from moving away, the kiss growing in vigor. She hardly could keep up, her muffled protests quietening down to contented moans as she became accustomed to letting her partner lead, their bodies pressing closer. The only ineptitude she felt was whenever they tongue-kissed overtly and messily, done to give Mewtwo a better view.

Gradually they slowed, resorting to licking and nipping each others' lips to catch their breaths as hands wandered. The rapid sound of wet flesh came to a grinding halt as a groan rumbled from the clone, and Mew choked on a gasp when she felt drops of sticky fluid splash over her back, returning her to her harsh reality. Feeling a little sick to her stomach, she squinted down at the bottom feline, disturbed by how she leered beneath her lashes.

"Turn around, slut," came the growl, tongue between her teeth.

Gulping, Mew shakily lifted herself to turn in a half-circle, purposefully avoiding looking at her lone spectator. Resting once more on her belly, she glanced down at the glistening mound, hesitantly pulling it back for a better look and feeling herself widen as well. When she flicked the fleshy nub, she, too, jerked from the same touch. Easing a leg to the side to make room for her head, she cautiously leaned down to pucker her lips on the clitoris, wincing at the skim of teeth from below.

That shouldn't be happening, her thoughts whispered anxiously. How am I—

"Lower," was the murmur behind her, claws pricking her hindquarters.

She tried again, brushing her lips to sensitive flesh. The movement was also mirrored between her legs, making her breaths quicken and her stomach to churn. "No, I-I can't...!" she attempted to gasp.

"Do as I goddamn say!" came the hiss, and she squealed in surprise. "Use your tongue and lick me like the bitch you are!"

Mew half-expected Mewtwo to step in and stop it, perhaps even pull her into his arms where she belonged, but a swift glance in his direction crushed that hope. Trembling, she gave in to the demand and ran her tongue along the bitter folds, trying to ignore the same sensation being done to her but failing. She couldn't prevent a moan from emitting in her throat, didn't miss the slight differences between the slimy textures. They started to move their hips, as much as they held tighter to keep themselves still.

There was something about her scent that was catching her off-guard. It might've been the familiarity of it, making her question what was her species' natural musk, but it was being covered up by the pheromones. Pheromones, she realized, that she shouldn't have even been affected by if they were coming from herself. And yet, it got her to think past the wild tang that bit at the tip of her tongue to delve deeper and faster, getting the same treatment in return.

Was this how Mewtwo felt each time he had his head between her thighs? Although she wasn't a fan of the taste and couldn't speak for him, did each lick and each breath drive him just as crazy?

Her neck still ached, and there was a pinched muscle in her back, but she didn't want to be snapped at again. Pushing her cheekbone into the inner thigh, Mew dabbed at the side of her clitoris, keeping brief contact as she circled around it and ended with a gentle suck. She fought back a whimper as her pelvis spasmed, nearly ramming herself into her partner's face.

"Having a hard time up there?"

It was an oddly teasing tone when it had been just minutes ago she was getting jeered at. She wet her dry throat, still keeping her head down. "U-Um... I can't hold this pose..."

She heard a soft apathetic scoff until it was replaced by a sigh of disappointment. "You need to work on your flexibility. Same goes for your technique."

"But I've never done this before."

"You were thinking it earlier." She yelped in shock when a hand smacked her behind. "Now get up, but don't get off."

Taking it easy to stretch out her back, Mew scooted herself into a sitting position while remaining on her knees, glancing over her shoulder to find a look of boredom on her reflection's face. She raised a brow up at her, then rubbed a thigh to her vulva, a tingle coaxing out a startled gasp. "H-Hey, no!"

"You should know your likes and dislikes, what gets you hot and bothered. You're still on top, so now act like it."

Unable to counteract, the feline gently pushed the leg away, then lowered herself to sit crisscross with a shaky moan. Like her partner had expected it, her hips immediately elevated to roughly grind against her, and passing a glance to their enchanted spectator, they then rolled in sync as voices fervently climbed. Flesh wasn't fully touching outside of some pressure and skimming to the clitoral hood, yet she could feel themselves become slicker and stickier with each swaying motion, accompanied by a yearning to be filled with something, anything. When grasped tightly in place, a succession of hard bucks got her to coo and push back more firmly in return as a pleasurable numbing spread further up her body, licking her lips in anticipation and hugging the bent knee to her chest. And for a euphoric moment, their duet crescendoed as their thighs squeezed and groins melded from a suction.

Flipping herself around to better look her in the eye, Mew kept a leg hooked over a thigh and straightened out flat, letting out a wailing sigh upon resting together at the pelvis. Their hips hastened their rocking, finding herself loving how their teats brushed every now and then the higher their ecstasy soared. Blinking down at her mirror image, she wondered what it was about her sharp, devious gaze that bothered her.

She jerked at a furry, bulbous end stroking against raw flesh. "Fuck me with your tail," was the command, just as she wriggled it inside without missing a beat. "Shove it in if you have to."

Whimpering, Mew obeyed, finding it not as strange a sensation as the thought implicated, and she slid through the cavity with ease. Then again, her tail was acclimated to her size, even though it wasn't enough—

As a pair of hands gripped her hips, she whirled her head around with a gasp. "Wait, what're you...?!" She could scarcely finish before Mewtwo entered another orifice, and she let out a scream at the stretching, yet odd stimulation that came from the penetration.

She didn't realize she had stopped pumping until her head was yanked back by the ears. "Harder, you fucking whore!" her partner barked. "Move your ass!"

"Ah—AHH, AHHGH!"

"Ooh, you like that, don't you?" The laugh that burst out of her throat was cruel. "If you want more, sing for me, toots. Tell me you want me."

Mew really didn't, she wanted to have ended it long ago. But something inside her broke, too overwhelmed by everything she was taking in. Now she couldn't speak her thoughts, not when her voice was betraying her with moans that wavered from increased momentum. Sighs echoed in her ears, and her lips constantly craved for kisses, no matter how biting. Their legs were in a tangled mess to stay joined, almost pulling her away from physical contact with Mewtwo who appeared very invested in their sexual escapade. Before she knew it, she couldn't pick out his touches from her double's, and presumed he stepped back to give them room to tussle about and explore each other uninterrupted. Then losing herself to lust, she abstained his presence in favor of her shadow who knew the right parts, the right touches, the right positions to gratify the female body.

Once their mouths wetly parted for the umpteenth time, Mew noticed her vision hazing over and her hips pounding wilder as her groin went numb against her partner's thigh. Her arms strained to hold herself up, pulling harshly at the sheets as her head tossed back with every cry. Shifting beneath her with a naughty smirk, her reflection raised a leg to rest on her shoulder, slipping their mounds together with a squelch without slowing. Panting heavily, the rosy feline whimpered and buried her face into her hot collar, feeling her heart was about to pop.

Right at the very cusp of her orgasmic throes, she was flipped over and pinned onto her back, clefts smashing at an angle. Her voice tightened from a high-pitched scream, keeping her pelvis lingering in reach of skin contact as her thighs squeezed and figure quaked. She closed her eyes when they rolled too far into her skull, her hands reaching for something but only grasped space.

"Ooh, she came her brains out!" was scarcely caught in the void, a weight lifting from her. "Looks like Mewtwo never got that far. Well, as they say, 'No one knows you better than you'."

Air burned her throat as she struggled to remain conscious and steady herself. Sinking into the mattress, her fingers snagged the sheets above her head only to wince from the aches in her muscles. She was briefly aware of her double looking down at her, the thinnest of smiles on her face.

"That's a good girl," she murmured, leaving behind an electrical current each time she stroked her face. "Rest up, now. I'll take over from here."

Mew clenched her fists as she braced herself, but nothing came of it. She looked over in slight confusion at Mewtwo the moment he went up to the shadow from behind, wrapping his arms around her torso. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she moaned in encouragement, reaching back to pet his cheekbone right as his mouth pecked her neck.

The feline's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she helplessly watched her mate ravish her other self. The passion increased when he ran his hands over her tiny body and nipped her skin with a growl. "H-Hey," she weakly rasped out, trying to lift her head. "What're you... he's..."

The icy stare silenced her as their tails entwined, a devilish smirk on her lips. "Just relax, Mew," she cooed, "I'm only fulfilling my duty as a mate. Just sit back and enjoy the show for once, maybe take some pointers." And she turned her head without breaking eye-contact to kiss him, moaning deeply as his tongue plunged into her mouth. The wet sucks between their lips seemed to increase in volume, laughs rumbling in their chests.

Mew's thighs involuntarily squeezed at the sight of Mewtwo cupping her crotch, taking in how his knuckles flexed as he pumped his fingers in-and-out of her. Her mate never touched anyone else but her and her alone, and his movements affirmed his loyalty. He knew the workings of her body, how to thrill her and get her to think of nothing else but of how his body felt draped over her. He valued their intimacy, building it up to levels she could've never dreamed of to the point she'd beg for him to please don't stop.

Even if the female he was fondling looked like her, it was obvious she wasn't her. Her touches were too possessive, her figure too curvy, her voice too husky. She looked at him with lustful eyes, not adoration. She kissed him too sloppily with such a dirty mouth, not bothering to try matching up. She was too loose, too loud, too wild to be her.

How could Mewtwo not see that? Was he too blinded with hormones to notice he was with the wrong one? Did she hypnotize him into thinking she was her?

Mew fought back a sudden wave of nausea upon remembering that night. Some of it was a blur, but only because it felt like she was more of an observer than a participant. Her body had moved and writhed to his touches like clockwork, yet her mind was left behind to pick up the pieces. She had the desire to love him back and strengthen their bond, but she was stopped by a thin barrier that she couldn't break, no matter how weakened it became when he had dived into her heart for a look. Even then, the knowledge of the egg's fate had been looming over her head like a guillotine, and with it the reason why she couldn't be in full control.

Mewtwo knew that and had tried to dance around the subject, to keep her in blissful ignorance so she wouldn't feel it when it eventually sliced through her. As a result, however, his heart wasn't in it. It hurt him just as much as it hurt her that they couldn't fully love each other.

She just couldn't recognize in time that he shared her pain with her.

"Oo-OOOOH!"

Mew covered her mouth at the sight of him burying his face directly into her double's vulva, tongue drawing crazy circles over her folds and lapping up her fluids. Tiny paws gripping his head, she humped in tune to his movements, nibbling her lip. She dreamily glanced over at their little voyeur and let out a pleased laugh, loosening her tail to drop between his legs. He jerked under her touch, aiding her to stroke in the right spots.

Tears trickled down her cheeks. She didn't want to watch anymore, didn't want to know of the fire in his irises burning the brightest she had ever seen. If she had the strength, she could get up to pull them apart, snap him out of it, and remind him of why he chose her as his mate.

"Ah!"

Her other hand had slipped its way down her body without her knowing, sinking into her puffy core to plug herself up. Her fingers weren't of his girth, the size she was most attuned to, but she just needed something to impede the throbbing. Biting down on her knuckles to stifle her sobs, she squirmed to get into a more comfortable position without drawing too much attention to herself.

Harmonious yowls broke her concentration, and her eyes refocused on the copulating pair, Mewtwo hunched on his knees and her other self on her face, pelvis in the air. Though her expression was unpleasantly distorted, there was a smirk quirked on her lips. "Ahhh, fuck, that's the spot!" she crooned, quickening her pace. "Plow my pussy deep, Mewtwo! I want to feel it all!"

Even though she couldn't find her voice, Mew felt her lips mouth the words and leave herself in a buzz. She wouldn't have dared say them, she felt her actions were more important, yet Mewtwo responded rather positively to such vulgarity. The act was too crude, too feral to even be enjoyable—but there they were, lost to euphoria and to themselves, not caring about who could come across them.

The Mewtwo before her was a different creature at this point, but she couldn't help feeling envious of the Mew he risked crushing beneath him. It was a side of him that may not even exist, yet he was confident enough in his little mate to show it to her. For all the times he believed himself unnatural as a product of science, the insatiable driving force of nature came instinctively to him as it did her.

She missed him... she missed him so much...

With a heavy sigh, Mew tipped back her head as her tail reached an opening, envisioning herself switching places. "More... more, Mewtwo..."

---

As he stepped onto the path for his house, Mewtwo's stream of positive thoughts kept flowing towards Lil, feeling he couldn't thank her enough for her help even with the impromptu visit (though it was no real surprise she was a morning person). He thought it a little embarrassing he was starting up a garden in the winter season, yet her gentle smile convinced him otherwise. She happily gave tips for the herbs and lent him the containers so he could start it indoors, although from the way she had danced about gathering them up, she was more excited that he was even taking up gardening. Far as he knew, being more adept in tinkering with scrap metal meant he couldn't possibly have a green thumb, but he didn't want the herbs to go to waste.

"Although what would Vic say?" he smirked to himself, amusing himself with the most viable responses of the pitcher plant should he ever learn of his new hobby.

He almost came to a stop by the fence, briefly sensing a disturbance in the air. Unsure of its origins, he inhaled deeply and hoisted the items in his arms to psychically sort them out. He had a good picture of how he could reorganize his study to be better suited for the plants, which he would get started on right after their late breakfast—

"...Mewtwo!"

Blood ran cold so fast that he trembled and collapsed on a knee. It was muffled, yet the urgency in the tone sharply rippled through his body. Without a second thought, he dropped everything at the gate to hurry inside, nearly stumbling over the threshold. "Mew, what happened?!" he gasped, poking his head into the empty kitchen.

There came a sneer from the back of his mind, telling him he was crazy for being frantic until her cries interrupted it. Shooting his gaze down the hall, Mewtwo ran to grab the doorknob to find it locked.

...locked? Why would it be locked?

"...more, Mewtwo... your cock feels so fucking good!"

He stood frozen as he listened to Mew shout his name again beyond the wood. On top of her no longer sounding as urgent as he thought, she was audibly out of breath, but that didn't bother him as much as how brazen she became. It was rare for her to use harsh language even in anger, and the concept of "dirty talk" wasn't something they considered. He shook in place, heart pounding in his ears as he cursed under his breath.

Something was wrong.

Telekinetically, he turned the lock just as he heard the creak of the bed followed by another string of moans. "Mew, are you all ri—?" It was when he shoved the door open that he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

Mew, draped upside-down over the edge of the disheveled bed, had an unfocused stare as her gasps became irregular, drool slipping down her cheek. Her raised hips gyrated to the rhythm of her paw and tail, which was plunging deep into herself at an angle. The other hand, palm slick with sweat, was tightly gripping the sheets hanging around her head and yanking it with every thrust out of passion.

"O-O-O—OHH! Oh, harder, Mewtwo! Fuck my brains out!"

The clone was sure his mouth was agape from the shock of what was displayed before him, but he couldn't feel his numb body apart from the icy chill that continued to run up his spine. He could scarcely stand to look at her as she deliriously writhed on the bed, and yet he couldn't turn away as if mesmerized. The taunting nag hovered in the back of his mind as if to further rub it in his face:

She sometimes screamed your name during sex, remember?

"Mewt... Mewtwoooo... God, yesss..."

Mewtwo involuntarily gulped as her moans echoed in his ears. The way she mewled his name triggered the bitter loneliness that made his core throb with every hollow heartbeat. His vision struggled between her puckering lips and puffy groin, suddenly unsure which to focus on. His curiosity went to a dark, sick place in wondering just what it was she was thinking of, in how it was she could pretend to enjoy herself without shame. And rising up from the depths was frustration he had been hoarding for a long time. He loathed that he was still around and still willing to make it up with her, and yet she refused him to instead replace him with some false image he couldn't see nor hear.

And he wondered if that Mewtwo could pleasure her tenfold than he ever could.

As her panting grew heated, Mew's tongue weakly ran across her bottom lip, her back arching and tightening in preparation. Her voice started to peter out, the sheets further rumpled in her fist, her midriff quivered when she ran her paw over her exposed teats, and tail blurred as her parted legs quaked from holding herself up. Feet firmly planted on the mattress, her body thrusted long and hard as her head tilted further back and her mouth widened with an inhale.

That all came to an abrupt halt once they made eye-contact.

Mewtwo shivered at the recognition that sparked to life in her wide, teary eyes, and noticed he hadn't been gripping the doorknob. Swiftly removing her paw and tail from between her legs, Mew rolled to sit on her knees and hide herself, her lower half visibly shaken up. The flush on her face darkened, drops of sweat clinging to her.

"M-Mewtwo..." she croaked out.

His heart painfully squeezed from the whiplash of her tone going from heated to timid. Trying to regain his composure, he just shook his head and waved his hand around. "No, no... d-do not mind me, Mew..."

"Mewtwo, I-I'm sorry!"

"Do not get up, Mew... That was rude of me to barge into our bedroom." He swallowed to find his mouth had gone dry from the strong scent that permeated the room. "If I had known you were going to be... busy..."

"Mewtwo, please! Don't be like that!" Tears cascaded down her cheeks, her sobs bursting from her chest.

He turned his head to finally avoid her gaze when his throat tightened. "I just remembered I need to be somewhere. I would like to return in an hour for breakfast, but I could always stay out longer."

"STOP IT, I'M SORRY!" she screamed over him.

"Actually now that I think about it, I may be home tonight at the latest. Do not wait for me." He then quickly pulled the door shut and rushed back to the front room, narrowly keeping his balance. His hand just touched the doorknob when Mew ran into his back, taking hold of his sides.

"NO! DON'T GO, MEWTWO! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

"I-I am late enough as it is..."

"JUST SAY IT, MEWTWO!"

"No... no, I will not..." Mewtwo pried her off, pushing her back far enough to momentarily exit the house and close the door shut, psychically jamming it.

From behind the wood, he heard her wail and claw anywhere between the knob and the boards themselves, continuing to scream for him to not leave and chanting her apology on repeat. Too caught up in her own grief, she never once teleported outside, to which the clone was glad she didn't. Gagging back his sobs as the taunting image of her orgasming rapidly flashed in his mind, he collapsed against the door when his legs gave out, twisting his body to shield his now-flaccid genitals.

---

It was one of the longest days of his life. Unable to face anyone in the community, he had left to take a breather on the farthest side of the mountain range where he'd be left alone, but his attempts to meditate were futile with the intrusive damning thoughts. What once was his safe haven for self-reflection, solitude became his self-torture and a battle of wills he had no probable chance of winning. And he didn't.

He had tried to convince himself it was normal, that in their current situation it was the only way to find temporary relief, but he knew in his heart it wasn't. Mew had never once touched herself—as far as he was aware of. He wasn't always around her, there were days he was gone for long hours, and it was rare of him to be away overnight. If she had ever gotten urges at any of those times, it was possible she may have had a way to release it.

No, he knew her long enough to know she was too reserved for such a thing, even around him. So why did she do it? When did she start doing it, and how did he not know of it? There was no way it was her first time judging from her cries and position.

Exhausted in heart, mind and body, Mewtwo carefully timed out when she would start on dinner before he would step back through the door. He kept his entrance quiet, hovering in the living room to avoid seeing her in his line of sight, not ready to confront her. What prevented him from doing so was the heavy atmosphere that still pressed on his shoulders, a sensation he couldn't shake off. As much as he wanted to forget what he had seen and done (and he was positive he could wipe out his own memory on a whim), something nagged at him that it wouldn't make a difference.

He grunted under his breath as his loins started to burn again in need, looking for a distraction from the mental images. His eyes fell upon the table by the couch, and stared at the white envelope laying there. Within moments, he felt his insides drop as a memory flashed by, remembering he had not been happy about the delivery. He shakily picked it up and held it to the dying light as the sigma glinted at him. It hadn't been opened; that tidbit left an odd taste in his mouth.

Carefully, he peeled the sticker off and pried it open. A single, laminated card was tucked inside, front facing him. Taking it out, he gaped down at it, looked it over, and reread it. Then he barked out a small laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.

He received it months ago, and yet the printed date was only a few days away.

"You have got to be kidding me," he scoffed, yet couldn't stop smirking. He readied himself to rip the invitation in two—but stayed frozen when he noticed his hands were trembling.

"No, don't!"

Mewtwo snapped his head up to find Mew in the kitchen entranceway. Her face was still dark, but her eyes shone of anxiety. His brows furrowed a little that this was what she greeted him with after the events of that morning. "Why are you so concerned?"

"He thought of you, Mewtwo! Don't just throw it away like that!"

For a brief moment, he questioned how it was she knew what it was since it was left gathering dust; then it occurred to him the envelope had nary a speck on it. His heart ached at the thought Mew kept it unopened since it was he who was invited, even though she was the one who convinced him. Glancing down at the invitation, he let out a sigh through his nose.

"He will not get offended." Mewtwo tightened his grip on the card, and managed to tear halfway before Mew snatched his wrist to stop him.

"But you should respect his thoughts! You should go to the ceremony!"

Forgoing another question of how she knew it hadn't yet happened, he pulled himself away. "I cannot trust you can take care of yourself."

Her shaky hands continued to hover. "I will, I promise! If I have to, I'll stay with one of the girls while you're gone! But...," and she clenched them as her voice grew thick with melancholy, "...the nights will be lonely."

Mewtwo's core quivered from a sudden image of her curled in bed with both paws between her thighs. She ducked her head to avoid his gaze, quickly returning to the kitchen. Dropping the invitation on the couch, he followed after her, pausing by the table. She shot him a brief glance before turning her back to him and picking up a knife to chop a small bundle of celery.

"It's nothing, Mewtwo..."

As static as he was, he couldn't help shivering, sensing the uneasiness emitting from her. She had to be berating herself for stepping out of line after what happened. Staring over at the window as the last of the sun's rays dimmed, he slowly exhaled.

"Mew... please be honest with me," he muttered, noticing he sounded sober.

"I'm busy right now," was her quick response, her posture not once moving from her place by the stove. She started to chop louder, vainly making the attempt to end the conversation.

"I just want a simple response from you is all."

"Can you do it later?" Her voice was more strained and the slices even louder and rougher, as evident from the small pieces flying off the countertop.

"I have held off on this for far too long. Procrastinating will only make this more difficult."

The shunck! of the knife cutting the board pierced the air, Mew's ears flattening and shoulders rolling back. She remained in place, not moving to even crane her head for a glance. The only visible sign was the tip of her tail flicking in an irritable manner, and right arm trembling.

Silently and warily, Mewtwo strode into the kitchen to turn on the light above the stove, standing where his shadow wouldn't overlap with any part of her. He cautiously eyed the knife still in her hand, finding no reflection on its blade from the angle it had sunk into the cutting board. Then glancing at the boiling soup, he reached over to turn down the gas, keeping her and the knife in his line of sight. Though he knew she could see the movement at the corner of her eye, she remained still.

Straightening back up, he inhaled long and deep. "Do you want to stop being my mate?"

He heard a strangled gasp interrupt her breathing until she slowed it down. Her body twitching and squirming in discomfort, she continued to refuse looking at him as she quickly scooped up the celery to throw into the pot. It was a reaction he expected, but he did not want to play the quiet game.

"Answer the question, Mew."

"It's a silly question," she mumbled out, reaching for another bundle to chop.

He telekinetically slid it further down the countertop. She tensed and flattened her ears, her jaw locking up. "Fine, let me reword it. Do you want to end our relationship?"

Given where they stood, normally, Mewtwo would have disregarded the knife to drape his arms over her as he watched her make dinner. If not pouting about the teasing "keep away" game, she would be chatting about her day or anything on her mind, rolling her eyes or smirking at any joking remarks he would say. The kitchen would be livelier, more welcoming, their countenances brightening the atmosphere.

That moment had slipped past his fingertips a long time ago.

Despite the stinging silence, it was like he was the only one talking, his voice on an endless loop by reverberating off the gray walls. He remained still, numb to the growing emptiness inside as he waited for her to react, keeping an eye on the knife. Judging from how much she struggled to steady herself and breathe, she never thought he would ask such a biting question—or she was having second thoughts.

"I..." She paused to take a few more breaths. "I need time to think on it."

Mewtwo welcomed her response, knowing she was going to need it. "I will give you until after dinner," he stated, and then left for the study.

Just as he reached the door, he heard the knife sink once more into the cutting board as she sobbed. He stood in place, hand trembling on the knob, fighting back any conflicting emotions that were bubbling up. And he was losing.

---

Try as he might, as much as he wanted to, he could not convince himself that it was the right thing to do. They could talk about it all they want, even as civilly as possible, but whatever the decision was, nothing good was going to come from it. It was as if they were in a stalemate, yet were unable to, or refused to reconcile.

Such thoughts made it hard for Mewtwo to eat as he sat in the living room, waiting for Mew to finish. Where he sat, he could peek over at the kitchen to see her engrossed in her dinner, positioned so she wouldn't have to see him. The discarded invitation was still within reach, though he tried to keep it out of his peripheral each time he cast his eyes about. He didn't need anything else to add to the problem, and he hoped it would stay out of the conversation.

Mew got up to wash her bowl by the time he found the motivation to gulp the soup down. It was stone cold, but such a trivial detail didn't bother him. Whatever gave her a few extra minutes to collect her thoughts, even if it left a knot in his stomach. Just when she came into the living room, he exited to wash the rest of the dishes, avoiding looking over at her. He glanced over at her bowl on the rack, frowned at how poorly-cleaned it was, and rewashed it without a word. He tried to ignore how his hands shook, and to look past the size differences between the dishware, and not to think about how they were able to calculate the amount of food to prepare for the two of them with such normal-sized pots. It was almost pathetic how much he was stalling to reminisce about just the kitchenware. They weren't even made by his own hand like the house, yet Mew never minded.

Mewtwo forced himself to return to the living room, and briefly hesitated sitting down next to her. She made no attempt to move from her side nor stop him, which he took as a silver lining. The heavy atmosphere had lightened up some, but it still made him shift as he thought on the question once more.

There was no turning back now.

"I will ask again, Mew," he started off somberly, glancing over at her. His mate looked frail and limp, her pale skin more visible through her thinning fur. She only breathed, not a twitch to be seen on her. "Do you want to end our relationship?"

Her eyes remained distant, but she had heard him. "...I don't know..."

"Why do you not know?"

She covered the right side of her face. "I feel I should know..."

With a quiet grunt, Mewtwo turned away to pinch his brows. As much as he despised hearing the "I don't know" answer, it was her default response. It was already taking all of his willpower to remain calm and keep his thoughts on the matter at hand. If he wanted their talk to go well regardless of direction, getting into a shouting match was going to do much more harm. Though secretly, he was a bit relieved her saying "I don't know" guaranteed them an excuse to talk it over.

"...you're asking because you're not happy... isn't it." From what he gathered in her soft tone, it was more of a statement than a question. It pained his heart for her to point it out, but it was an excuse to spill his thoughts.

"Neither of us are happy. I cannot remember the last time either of us smiled, or were able to be confident that we were happy together." When he glanced over, her expression was still unchanged, though an ear flicked. "We no longer talk to each other like we used to, neither do we have nice things to say about one another. We no longer do anything together such as eating at the same table and sleeping in the same bed and... dating... Hell, we do not look at each other anymore. There is no life in this house, no interaction. We are always exhausted, we reject any support our... friends have tried to give us..."

Mewtwo had to pause to breathe. "There is literally no 'we' anymore... if it was ever 'we' and 'us'. It is just two strangers who happen to live under one roof. It is possible that if this relationship was never a 'we' relationship, then everything we did was more of a 'friends with benefits', so it goes in human terms. That was not what I wanted from the start, and I hope—I plead that is not the case."

Mew had dropped her arm and hung her head, but she remained unresponsive. It was almost insulting that she was coming off as emotionless while he spilled out his heart for her to see.

"So I will ask one more time. Mew... do you want to stop being my mate? It is just a simple 'yes' or 'no' response."

Her fingers twitched in her lap. "You're going to get mad," she murmured.

"I am not going to get mad," he whispered back, fighting back a shiver.

Mew opened her mouth in attempt to speak, but her voice kept cracking. There was a hint of a tear in her eye, though he wrote it off as either tiredness or her getting frustrated at herself for choking up. He slightly turned his head away, wondering if she wasn't comfortable being looked at to answer.

"...N-No..."

Mewtwo closed his eyes and covered his face, trying to muffle his sharp inhaling. He knew she was going to say that, and it pissed him off. But as much as he couldn't trust himself to keep calm, he held it in for her sake, waiting for more of her response.

She breathed enough to raise her voice. "No, I don't want to end this relationship. But because we're not happy, it should be the right thing to end it, right? It's just that... it's going to be so awkward. I don't want to not be with you anymore, but if we end this relationship, would that mean ending our friendship?"

Once he cleared his mind, Mewtwo straightened up. "If you feel it is the right thing to do, we will go our separate ways," he muttered.

She shook her head. "I don't want to... b-because we... we did so many things together... so many happy things. And..." He caught her shyly glancing up at him, her face flushing. "...And we had sex... Many times."

Her feeble voice pricked a hole in his heart. "What are you getting at?"

Her gaze faltered as she hugged her arms close. "You can wipe memories... right? If we separate, you will have to wipe my memory of this, or I'm never going to move on."

"I refuse," he interjected, brows furrowed. "I only resort to that technique when necessary. Erasing all memory of our relationship is going to do more harm than good. That is at least five years' worth of memories, Mew."

Her grip tightened. "I don't want to be sad anymore, Mewtwo... it's just that..." Struggling to keep her voice steady, she got up. Her tail dragged on the floor when she moved for the entranceway, quivering in place. "Even if we're not in love anymore, even though we don't talk like we used to... for some reason, I don't want to leave. We were happy. I know it because you were able to smile. I... we made this place our home, put our hearts and love into it. I love being home with you, Mewtwo. E-Even if we don't ever have children, we still have each other, and that is why we were happy."

She hiccuped from her sobs and braced against the wall. "I did this... everything that went wrong here... It was a mistake to care for that... that egg. It... she ruined—no... I ruined everything. I ruined our lives."

Mewtwo got up and startled her when he grasped her head to look her firmly in the eye. "Mew, no one is at fault, not you, nor Marjorie. She made a mistake, and she wanted a solution. She thought of you and how much you wanted a child." His hands began to tremble, and he quickly swallowed down the tears when her eyes lightened up. "You happily agreed to adopt the child—we both did. It just somehow was not meant to be. No one knew it was defective, we discovered it too late."

"I discovered too late, Mewtwo!" she exclaimed, jabbing herself in the chest when she pulled away. "It was you who knew something was wrong, but I refused to listen! Everything that happened is all my damn fault! Don't pretend it isn't, Mewtwo!"

He shook his head. "No, not everything is your fault. I turned a blind eye myself, believing you were happy... but you really were not. And as your mate, I should have caught that. Everything that got worse happened because I let it happen."

"Mewtwo, no—"

"Stop pretending it was all on you, Mew!"

"No, it wasn't just the egg! I-It wasn't just that... it was before then..."

"I know, Mew."

"Then why didn't you say anything?!" she wailed. "Why did you pretend everything was okay for five years?! God, Mewtwo, I trusted you! I loved you!" She hiccuped and rapidly shook her head. "And all while I couldn't even trust myself!"

She dropped her face into her hands in a vain effort to hold back her bawls. At the risk of setting her off, Mewtwo carefully reached out for her, cradling her close when she sank into his chest without hesitation. Although concerned she was sending mixed signals, he pressed his cheek between her ears as he rocked her, finding himself glaring at the thin moonlight streaming in from the kitchen and wishing a cloud would roll over. He didn't need to be reminded of their happier moments underneath the silver rays, neither he nor Mew were worthy of it. For it to shine on a stressful moment was like the moon mockingly spit on their faces.

He tilted his head to look behind him, laying his eyes on the invitation. Then burying his face into her temple, the clone gingerly murmured, "Let us leave tomorrow."

It took a bit more of silence before Mew's reply could be audible. "You sure?"

He briefly rubbed her shoulder. "Think of it as a vacation. It will give us a few extra days to breathe."

She sniffled and squirmed in his hold. "...thank you..." She lifted her head with a hand at her nose and mouth, tears slowly slipping down her red face. "Um... can you stay with me tonight?"

Mewtwo gritted his teeth to block the sobs bursting from his throat, but managed a small nod of assurance. "Of course... dear."

A tiny beam of gratitude graced her face, and she wiped her eyes before ducking her face into the crook of his neck. He held her close for her to weep it out as he made the rounds of securing the house for the night, purposefully taking his time. As he entered the hallway, she squeezed tighter.

"Mewtwo... how big is the other bed?" she murmured, still keeping her head down.

He paused in front of their bedroom door, mulling on her question. "It is fit for one person," he answered after a few moments of silence. "Why do you ask?"

She shifted as her head turned, but didn't pull away. "I defiled our bed..."

Mewtwo shivered, staring at the door. "It is all right... it was about time to make a new one anyway."

Upon pushing the door open, she let out a shuddering breath, curling more into his arms. "Don't! Please..."

Pausing to stare at the lunar rays as she sobbed into his chest, try as he could to push the unsettling memory from mind, he could still feel the heavy weight in his stomach rooting him in place. The atmosphere was unusually stifling, and not because he hadn't stepped foot inside for months. Mew was deeply troubled by whatever she did inside, a dark curiosity he knew better than to further probe.

She relaxed a little when he pulled it closed and he changed course for the study. It was still cramped, but not as suffocating, and the bed looked more welcoming. Like custom, he gently tucked her in on her side of the bed, allowing her to use the fuller pillow, then quickly tidied up the room to open it up more. Once the curtains were drawn to shut out the night sky, he hesitated to climb in himself, gauging the width and how scrunched up she'd be against the wall if he took up residence. Her eyes gleamed from tears when she glanced up at him, a look of concern in the blue depths.

"Is something wrong?" she whispered, hugging the pillow closer.

He didn't sugarcoat his answer. "There is not going to be enough room for you if I join you. Besides, I need to do some nightly reading before I retire to bed."

She sat up and scooted closer to reach out to him, but didn't even graze an arm. "No, it's... it's okay, Mewtwo."

"Are you sure?"

Slowly, she nodded, dropping her hand and stare to the blankets. "Y... You don't have to fall asleep, but... I want you to stay."

"I am not going to leave the room."

"No..." She then smoothed out the flat pillow, shyly meeting his gaze. "Here... with me..."

He silently chewed it over, fighting off a chill creeping up his back. He watched her eyes glaze over, looking almost as though she fell into a trance while taking him in. The clone saw a glint of what he interpreted as desire, perhaps longing. She didn't appear to be aware of her change in expression, even when he heard her breath start to hitch in her chest.

On any normal night, he would have fallen upon her without hesitation and made love with her well into the twilight. However, the differences between then and now were visible in the gap that separated them. He could lay a hand on her as he did earlier gathering her in his arms, yet he would receive no reciprocating stir in return. She could plead with her eyes, perhaps even envision the same scene as he, but she wouldn't handle any physical touch without breaking.

Mewtwo didn't deserve to be in the same bed, let alone the same room as Mew. He felt unworthy to even look at her, a broken soul he had unknowingly assisted in wrecking further when he wanted to help her. He had failed her and himself time and time again, and there was no rewarding failure.

And yet, his body disobeyed and slipped into the covers, facing her as they lay down on opposite ends of the mattress. As he thought, even when he chose to lay as close to the edge as possible, there was little wriggle room for the two of them, and they couldn't look away from each other. She didn't look uncomfortable being in close proximity to him, however, in which a cruel tease at the back of his mind reminded him that all she had to do was stretch out a paw and stroke his chin, and he'd be putty in her hands.

He blinked down at the open left hand, her delicate fingers nervously curling as if hiding themselves from his gaze. Her timid voice broke the silence, "Can... can we hold hands?"

He was going to ask, but chose to hold his tongue as he gently took her paw to lay in his palm. She grasped his thumb, shivering as his fingers brushed along the outside of her wrist. Her eyes drifted not in coyness, he realized, but in shame.

"Are you still going to be here in the morning?" she anxiously asked, pulling her tail close to her chest.

Though he had no intent to leave in the middle of the night, Mewtwo couldn't blame her for asking it. So he answered her with a nod, "I plan to."

Mew briefly crossed visions again and slightly hiccuped on a couple of breaths, tightening her hold.