Make Me Feel

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the actual Spider-Man, Marvel Comics, DC Comics characters or any mentioned name brand products, existing television shows, movies, singers and or bands or existing songs or radio stations.

Notes: I'm back!!! For a little while at least, so as long as I'm on a computer that actually works I'm going to try to finish the story. I hope nobody gave up on me seeing how long its' been since I updated. Oh well. I would like to thank Toilet Paper Roll, anacsadder, Femme-Mishima, Goldbryn Callow Lyte, Seizure Squirrel, DocOcksGirl31, Agent Silver, hpnjdevanescence, getfuzzyfan04, Duel, Battle, and War, Moon Avenger, Lady Russell Holmes, Mithril Maiden, Angie King, Iron Yaoi Fan Jun, and finally hazelstarr for all taking the time to review and read and put up with the long wait.

Chapter 33

Zachary felt like he was coming up from a deep dive with his eyes still closed. He felt heavy and chilly air seemed even colder mixed with the wetness of his skin. A strange tingling feeling much like the one you feel when a limb falls asleep coved the majority of his body. He wondered vaguely why he was wet and why he was so cold. He knew that he knew the answers to these questions but the answers didn't seem as though they wished to be found.

As he pondered these thoughts sleepily he felt a new change. A rougher dry object was being wiped across his shoulders and chest, he could feel it and then the feeling would disappear for a second but he knew it was still there. He just couldn't feel it on that particular area. It took him a moment to place the feeling and when he did he realized that it was a cloth towel being used to dry him off. Sure enough he could feel his skin becoming dryer and the cold ebbed away slightly.

The towel moved to his head and he felt himself be lifted up slightly. The cloth touched his face and the side of his head as his hair was dried. He felt it be rubbed across his neck and he noticed a smoother and much warmer sensation on the base of his neck. He knew it must be the skin on the hand of the person caring for him and he wondered blearily who it could be. The hand moved and he felt another one touch his side. It couldn't be his mother; her hands were smaller and always a bit cooler. His father maybe? But that thought vanished quickly when the memory of seeing the man lying on his parent's bed bleeding heavily came to mind. Slowly the answer dawned on him and a tsunami of memories flowed into his mind in a giant wave.

He fought to open his heavy eyelids to see the face he believed he owed his life to. When he finally managed his vision was blurry, and he still felt the odd tingle all over his body. But he managed and his vision quickly came into focus after a moment of blinking and he saw the brown eyes hiding behind the dark glasses. Zachary couldn't help but to think of the sad puppy look those eyes gave off and he felt a smile twitch at the sides of his mouth.

"Hey handsome, come here often?"

He couldn't help but to say the first quirky thing to come to mind and Otto didn't seem to mind the least. The older man gave a short bark of amused laughter and it was enough to disturb some sleeping bats resting in the cave ceiling above their heads. The small creatures gave upset squeaks and flew away in order to find a quieter perch.

The older man stroked the teenager's hair for a moment and searched the pre-adult's eyes for any signs of pain. He was terrified he may have missed something and prayed that his fears were simply that; fears.

"How do you feel? Any strange pain or burning sensations on your skin, at all?"

Zachary shook his head and took a deep breath. He still felt tired but his strength was returning to him quickly. He couldn't wait until he was strong enough to go and find his mother and Emily. He sat up a little using his elbows for leverage.

"No, all I feel is this tingly feeling all over me. It's not painful though. Other than that I'm just tired."

He shook his head a bit in an attempt to force his damp bangs from his eyes, only to succeed in making more falling into the way of his vision. Otto snorted and ruffled his young partner's hair affectionately.

"Good, that should be a normal side affect. The whole point of the procedure was to have the chemicals fuse into your body and enter through your epidermis. The tingling feeling will ebb away and it shouldn't cause any problems with your reflexes or motor functions while it is still present. Your fatigue should be tolerable enough to walk in a few minutes or so."

Zachary nodded and translated his genius companion's words in his head from genius-smartypantsese to normal English. Some times he would forget that Otto was a doctor with an estimated extremely high IQ, and when the man got scientific he would have to try to catch up with what he was saying.

He sat up all the way only to pause at a small bit of dizziness that quickly passed. Otto assisted him and sent his children to retrieve the younger man's clothes from there spot on the other side of the large room like area. They returned in mere seconds and he helped Zachary move to the edge of the examining table he had been laid on.

Even though he was still slightly damp Zachary with only a small bit of help dressed into his clothes and slid off of the table and into a standing position. The floor beneath his feet was cold but he ignored it and thanked God knowing he would be feeling it in a few months.

When he was properly dressed and had slid on his shoes dismissing his socks and simply stuffing them into his pockets, he took the older man's face and planted a kiss on his face. Otto smiled against the teenager's mouth and when they pulled apart a few moments later he smiled quirkily.

"Well, your welcome."

Zachary couldn't help but laugh at the enthusiastic pitch in the older man's voice and wrapped his arms around the older man's neck and buried his face into the clothes being worn by the one he loved. Otto sighed and wrapped his arms around his boy holding him close knowing that they couldn't ever be separated by a horrible death that no longer lingered in their future ahead of them.

They didn't speak and stayed in that close position for many minutes. The tentacles watched them hold each other and pulled away from their father's mind so that when they spoke to each other, they would not disturb the moment being shared by the couple. Even the machines understood that this moment was a precious one.

They could feel the love, relief, and countless other emotions that were wrapped abundantly inside the mind of their creator and they curled and writhed around the two humans. If anything dared disturb what was being shared, they wouldn't have hesitated to avenge what had been ruined.

When they finally pulled away from each other Zachary had to take a deep breath. It was hard for him to try to fully understand everything that had happened between him and the doctor in such a truthfully short amount of time. A lot had happened to both of them, and they were such a perfect but utterly unexpected combination. But Zachary knew that not only did he owe his life to Octavius, he owed his everything. Even before the stone rash had begun he had been on his way down. He had been drinking more often and more heavily, he had popped a few pills and been growing less and less fond of school and teachers.

His mortal life had been saved yes, but he had found something that he would have most likely fallen all the way if he hadn't found it. He had found his truth on something he was unsure of, he had found a true friend and companion, he had found a hell of a lot of tolerance, but most importantly no matter how dreadfully cheesy it sounded, he had found what he had really needed.

Love.

End of Chapter

Whew, that was a really enjoyable chapter to write. I would guess two chapters left at this point. Possibly three if I get either lazy or really in to it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I think you all know what I'm going to say next by now. Please Review!!

Stray-