Summary: Regis finds M-21's food stash, and then finds out how little he really knows about what happened to him while M-21 was in the Union.

Runeofluna poked the plotbunny, haha

This is probably my word limit for present tense, haha.

Food

By Dark Ice Dragon

Regis follows the puppy through the house, because he's finished his homework for the day and because the puppy still sometimes has the habit of chewing through cables so he wants to make sure he doesn't. He knows M-21's talked with the puppy about that, and sometimes Regis thinks the puppy bites through another cable because of the attention he receives afterwards.

The puppy wriggles into M-21's room and Regis knocks on the door and waits. When there's no answer, he peers in. He doesn't like to enter someone's room unannounced, especially after he's seen how the three modified humans just tense for a second when he'd pushed the door open. They pretend it didn't happen, but he still sees it.

The room smells of food. It's not something Regis had noticed before, assuming the smell had come from downstairs. Why would...?

M-21 isn't in his room to explain and the puppy's tugging at a drawer, his tail already wagging like he's playing a game, hard enough that he's shifting from paw to paw. There's a few scratches along the wood, so it's not the first time the puppy's done this.

"Stop that," Regis says as he walks over, even though he knows the only one the puppy will listen to is M-21. And Raizel-nim, on the good days, or when M-21 isn't there.

The puppy has already opened the drawer by the time Regis reaches him and he stops and stares at what's inside. He'd assumed there would have been clothes in there — that's what Shinwoo and Ik-han keep in their drawers. He'd assumed he would need to stop the puppy from shredding one of M-21's shirts.

It's not.

It's food. The entire drawer is filled with food. Snacks and sandwiches, drinks and fruit. They aren't open, and there's no way M-21 would be able to eat all that before it goes off. What is he doing with all that?

There's a small box in the corner that's filled with dog treats and the puppy takes one with a happy rumble.

"Regis."

He turns around and M-21 is in the doorway, staring at him.

"Why are you keeping food in your room?" Regis demands, flabbergasted. "You keep food in the kitchen!" M-21's been living here for months now; he has to know that. Eating food in his room would leave crumbs everywhere.

M-21 grits his teeth. "What's it to you what I do in my room?" he snarls.

Regis pauses, the reaction not what he's expecting, too visceral. This isn't one of their usual verbal sparring matches.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tao walks up behind M-21 and peers around him, smiling.

Tao sees where Regis is and his smile just freezes.

Regis has stepped on something personal and he doesn't know what.

"Heeeeey, M!" Tao throws his arms around M-21's shoulders. "C'mon, there's a project I'm working on I think you might enjoy."

M-21's shaking, his hands balled up into fists as he's led away.

Regis is at a loss, but he closes the drawer, knowing this is his chance to leave. He still doesn't understand. It's just food. It wasn't something personal.

"Regis..." This time it's Takeo at the door, and when he indicates Regis to follow him with a tilt of his head, Regis gladly does, shutting the door behind him. The puppy stays with them, the snack held between his teeth like a trophy.

They go to Takeo's room, and Regis is hit with the smell of gun oil and metal.

...Ah.

They each have their own quirks. Tao fills his room with technology and whatever catches his interest. Regis and Seira's rooms are the opposite: neither of them felt the need to clutter it up and make a mess. They can transform their clothes and that's all they need in their rooms.

"Regis," Takeo says, sitting on the edge of his bed, picking the puppy up and scratching down the puppy's back. He doesn't look at Regis for a few seconds, seeming to collect his thoughts. "Life in the Union…it's hard." Regis knows that, but seeing everyone's reactions, how Tao knew exactly what the food meant and what to do... Maybe he doesn't. "Tao and I, we're modified humans but we were part of the DA-5. The Union's Special Forces team. We were part of an elite group and we were looked after."

There's a sinking feeling in Regis' stomach and he sits down on one of the chairs. This is information he knows, but it's the context that he's been missing. He's never thought too hard about what it meant to be a modified human. At first he'd thought they'd given away their humanity for power, but then he learned that wasn't true, that they'd been forced into what they were against their will. But that is the extent of his knowledge. That's all he's needed. He had false information, it was corrected, and the Union is the one that needs to be stopped. That's all he thought he needed to know.

Takeo nods, seeing his face. "M-21 was something considered experimental material, a stepping stone to find out the limits of a modified body. The DA-5 and everyone else modified after them were created from the data found from the bodies of his comrades. We were perfected from the mistakes made from them."

He stops, rubbing the puppy between the ears. "It's believed in the Union that once you're experimented on once, you can't be enhanced again."

Regis splutters. "But Frankenstein-!"

"Isn't a Union scientist," Takeo interrupts, patient. "He's far beyond them. And he cares."

Of course Frankenstein cares, Regis thinks. He cares about everyone.

"Once you've outlived your usefulness in the Union, that's it.

"The Union no longer cared about M-21, Regis." Takeo is staring him in the eye, making sure he understands. Regis isn't sure he ever will. "They'd taken what they'd needed from his comrades and his body. They were waiting for him to die. A person who's no longer needed by the Union isn't given food or the money to buy any; they don't want to waste any more resources."

Regis' eyes go wider with every word. "Then..." All that food in the drawer... All that he had been denied before…

Takeo nods. "He and M-24 had to find whatever food they could and save it to survive. Something like that isn't going to disappear just because he has food here."

Regis' gaze goes to the floor. "There's a lot you three don't speak about." How much does he not know about what happened to them?

This time Takeo gives him a small smile. It doesn't make Regis feel much better. "It's a time we'd like to forget and we'd much rather think about the present."

He can see why. "Thank you," he says, "for informing me. I - I need to apologise." He stands up.

Takeo's smile is a little wider and he fusses over the puppy more as Regis leaves.

He knocks on Tao's door. He waits, counting the seconds and maybe he shouldn't be here. But he needs to apologise.

Tao opens the door enough for his face to be seen and Tao usually throws his door open and drags him into his room, no matter why Regis had gone there in the first place. The difference is obvious. Tao smiles at him, but it's a little strained.

"Heya, Number 3."

Normally he would have spluttered at that ridiculous nickname, but this time he ignores it. He has something more important on his mind right now.

"Can I speak to M-21?" he asks.

Tao doesn't answer him straight away and looks back into his room. Regis can't hear an exchange but Tao opens the door, stepping back.

M-21 is curled up in one of Tao's swivel chairs, and he's playing with the serrated edge of a snack bar with his fingers.

Regis swallows at the sight. It really does comfort him.

M-21 catches his gaze and then glowers at him, a corner of his lip lifting.

And he abhors being pitied.

Regis walks in, making sure to avoid tripping over the chaos that is Tao's cables. He bows to M-21.

"I apologise," he says, not raising his head. "I hadn't intended to insult you like that."

"Fine," M-21 bites out. "Whatever."

Regis winces, but he straightens and he leaves. Tao pats him on the way out, and that has to be a good sign.

An apology isn't enough, though Regis isn't sure how he's going to make it up to M-21. But he'll try.

That's where the fic/chapter decided to stop. If I continue on with this series, I'll probably explore Takeo and Tao, though I've already covered Tao in a tumblr post, hm…

And it'll probably be in past tense, hah...