A/N: Thank you so much to those of you who left me feedback! It makes me so happy! *hugs*
Part 47: First Day
Satoshi held his breath as he opened his bedroom door. The living area was quiet, slightly lit by the rising sun outside. Six am, his usual wake-up time. He'd meant to sleep in, since he took a slightly later shift on Saturdays, but the suspense had gotten to him. He took a few steps into the room so he could see the couch.
Krad was there, sleeping on his chest. His long gold hair and one wing draped off the side of the narrow surface. Satoshi drew a relieved breath. After what he'd said the night before, he wasn't sure the angel would be here. Of course he's here. He wouldn't say those things if he wasn't serious.
Oh, god… Krad was serious.
He'd been testing and pushing the blonde for weeks, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He'd been trying to rush the inevitable, and it hadn't worked. Krad hadn't snapped or grown cruel, despite the pressure Satoshi had thrown on him. Far from cruel, the blonde seemed more injured and confused by his behavior than anything else.
Guilty happiness pricked at him. I'm the one not acting serious. I have to stop doubting him.
But if he laid off Krad, that meant he'd have to deal with figuring out what was going on in his own head. Krad had said to do as he liked. What did he want? He wanted Krad to stay, but then what? If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the angel's mouth on him, the single cool finger propping up his chin. Damn. It was like someone kicked his legs out from under him.
Satoshi looked up from the blonde, toward the wall he'd been painting. Whoah. The angel had done a lot last night. Whorling gradients of blue and green had spread across most of the wall like a frozen sea. It must have taken hours. When had he gone to sleep?
He wondered if he should rethink his plan. The angel might want to sleep in. (Excuse!) He flipped the kitchen light on. Krad didn't stir. He might be mad if Satoshi woke him up. (Excuse!)
He tried not to make too much noise as he busied himself in the kitchen. It had been a while, but he had all the ingredients for pancakes. He even had some maple syrup somewhere. After a muted search and some measuring/stirring, he set a pan on the stove as quietly as possible and clicked it on.
About half an hour later, Satoshi glanced over for the three hundredth time to be sure the angel was still sleeping. Krad's body was still, back rising softly with each breath. The bluenette took a plate from the counter and walked over to the sofa. He crouched carefully next to the blonde. "Krad."
The angel didn't stir. His gold hair fell partly across his face, lit by the rose hues of the sunrise outside. Satoshi swallowed. He reached out carefully and gave the angel's shoulder a slight squeeze. He half expected the blonde to feel cold, like he had last night. Krad's sleep-warm skin was just the opposite.
Satoshi was so busy staring at his fingers on the pale skin that at first, he didn't notice the gold eyes that had opened to watch him. He was about to call the angel's name when their eyes met. Despite everything, Satoshi panicked for a second, flinching back.
Krad's blank look grew dimmer as he registered the fear on his tamer's face.
Idiot! Not a good start! Fix this! "Sorry for waking you," he stammered. "I have to go to work soon, and-" he paused. He was about to say "and I made you some pancakes," but something about Krad's tense look made him improvise. "-and I wanted to say good morning."
The shadow left the angel's eyes, replaced by something new. Krad pushed up on an elbow, wings folding behind him. Satoshi waited quietly while the angel absorbed his wing host's words, and the plate of pancakes he was holding. The bluenette remembered not to look away this time, and- oh, God, that face…
Krad's eyes were alive with magic. He was almost glowing. "Good Morning," he returned the greeting quietly.
Satoshi gulped back his heartbeat and held the plate toward Krad. "Will you eat these?"
Krad's eyes drifted to the plate. He looked confused, like he was trying to decide if this was a test. Satoshi pushed it into his hands. Krad closed his fingers around the plate before it could fall, his mouth curving into a real smile.
Satoshi's heart thrashed inside him. Krad was smiling! The bluenette stared in wonder. He couldn't have looked away from that expression if he wanted to. "I'll bring back some dinner when I get home, so…"
Krad's smile carefully dissolved. "I won't be here," he said." Satoshi's panic must have shown on his face, because the angel quickly rushed on. "Because I have something to do. I'll be back, probably sometime after you. I'm not sure when."
"You have somewhere to be?" Satoshi asked, truly curious now.
Krad's mouth formed a tense line for a second as he thought about his answer, which wasn't a great sign. "The job I was offered… I accepted it. It starts today."
Satoshi's chest expanded anxiously. "Krad, I'm really not sure you should work with the police department," he said as carefully as possible.
Krad shook his head. "I know. It's something different."
"What job do they want you to do, then?" Satoshi asked, trying to figure out why the angel wasn't meeting his eyes anymore.
"I cannot tell you details." Krad said carefully. "But I will not hurt humans. I have sworn it to you."
Satoshi's instincts were yelling that this was not good, that he should say something to stop him. What kind of job had they offered him? Trust him, you decided to try to trust him!
"Okay," Satoshi said as he stood reluctantly to go. He would trust him. "See you when you're back, then." He paused at the door, looking back. "You know you don't have to work, right? I don't expect you to earn money. If you hate it, quit."
Krad looked down and cracked a smile again, making Satoshi's heart swing around the room. "Thank you, Satoshi."
The words along with Krad's expression sent chills up his spine. He suddenly hated that he had to leave the apartment at all today. Krad's surprisingly bright smile was burned into his thoughts as he embarked on his commute. Maybe this could actually work. Damn, he was going to be grinning like an idiot all day.
ooooOooooOooooOoooo
For a few minutes, Krad just stood on the balcony, letting the cool autumn air stir his feathers and ease his nerves. He'd ridden the high from his early interaction with Satoshi as far as he could, but eventually the anxiety had set in. Now it was a quarter to noon, and he couldn't postpone his task anymore. Reporters outside the gate had noticed him come out and were sending their crews to their vehicles, waiting to see where he'd go.
They were in for disappointment. No one was following him anywhere. Krad stepped up onto the railing, easily balanced on the narrow surface. He raised his wings for flight and fell lightly forward into the wind. He murmured a spell as the current filled beneath his wings. The reporters on the ground broke into confusion when the white angel disappeared from sight.
He arrived on the dot at the location they'd given him on the card; an unobtrusive brick office building near the outskirts of town. It had a revolving door, which Krad found vexing. The receptionist in the lobby nearly passed out when he removed his spell and came into view. That was at least amusing. She was too shocked by his appearance to dial the buttons right on her phone to call Nakamura down to get him, which was also fine with him. He was in no hurry to see the woman again, much less spend four months with her.
She appeared nonetheless, about twenty minutes later, in a white scrub coat with her glasses crooked. "Good of you to wait," she greeted in full bustle mode. "Lots of paperwork to fill out. Yours is next. First days are always kind of boring, huh?"
Boredom was not one of the things Krad was feeling at the moment.
"Today we'll just be taking baselines. Basically just lots of tests. I had to reserve half the equipment in the building since you've got me on such a tight timeline. Come follow me this way," she strode off toward the elevator. Krad followed her, wings folded tightly back.
A minute later they were in a sparse office with a cluttered desk. "Have a seat," she instructed him. He didn't. She launched into her next directions anyway. "I assume you can read? This is the consent form for your research period. Take a look through it and sign at the end. Try to read quickly, there's a lot to do."
She carried on with other instructions, regardless of whether he was listening or not. He was beginning to notice a trend there. He half-listened to her as he frowned through the form she'd given him to sign. Some of the bullets made him sick to his stomach. "We agreed that I reside at my apartment," he interrupted her mid-sentence, pointing to a clause on the ninth page.
She looked at him impatiently. "In the case where the subject is incapacitated or otherwise ill, and where such conditions would justify admittance to a medical institution, on-site overnight surveillance will be mandated," she quoted to him without looking at the page. "It's a reasonable precaution. If there's an emergency, you can't receive the right level of care at home."
"I don't care. Take it off."
"No doctor in her right mind would release a subject so ill they should be in a hospital."
"Then don't make me ill, because I go home, no matter what, or the deal is off."
She frowned at him a long moment, and then sighed. She took the form, crossed out the item in question, and initialed it. "That's it for my concessions. No more power plays. Don't forget you need my character reference to clear your friend's name."
Krad's temper burned, but he signed the stupid thing with a conjured quill and dropped the thick document on her desk.
"Great. Today will be mostly diagnostics. Let's get the scans over first," she said, leading him down the hall to a small room with lockers. "Place your clothes in a locker and change into this." She shoved a plain blue hospital gown at him. "Then we'll get started."
Ten minutes later, he was led into a room with a huge, and noisy, machine. It had a platform lying in a man-sized cylinder through the center. Oh, hell no. He was not getting in that thing.
"I'm going to need you to get in that thing," Dr. Nakamura instructed. "You can lie with your head at this end. The table will move through the MRI machine on its own, just keep very still."
The urge to bolt was intense. He faced away from the machine, and tried to slow his breath. Dr. Nakamura's hands guided him down onto the table, and he found himself complying stiffly. Not-murdering her was all his brain had room to process at the moment.
The door opened, and her colleague from the day before walked in. Krad thought his name was Horace or Harvey or something along those lines. Now that the human-to-Krad ratio had doubled, he braced himself not to fight them. He'd agreed to this. And it was a perfectly normal human test. He was determined to react like a reasonable human.
"Harold's going to start your IV contrast fluid while I strap you in."
Ah, so it was Harold. Wait... strap me in?
It was the most counterintuitive thing he'd ever had to do, to willingly lie tense as Harold gathered up his arm and threaded a needle up his vein, while Nakamura tightened vinyl guides over his chest and legs. The table wasn't designed to accommodate his wings, so he had to fold them in against his sides and allow the strap to hold them there. They aren't strong enough to hold me, he chanted to himself. Being tied or restrained was the one thing he really couldn't handle, and of course that was the test they had to start with.
"Starting up the contrast fluid now, expect a warm feeling," Harold announced, starting up the IV. Krad's pulse raced in panic as he suddenly felt heat all through his body. "It's just iodine. Nothing to worry about," Harold said.
Then the table started moving, sliding him into the coffin-like chamber. Too fast. Everything was happening too fast. "How long does this take?" Krad muttered through a wooden jaw. The machine was loud.
"It's a newer machine, so it should only take about two hours."
Two hours! In there!? He couldn't breathe. The angel found himself pulling at the straps unconsciously, chest heaving.
"Krad? We need you to stay still, or the test will need to be redone," Harold spoke through a speaker above him. "Can you take slower, smaller breaths? Do you want an IV sedative to relax?"
He felt rushed and unsteady. "No," he panted, unsure which part he was declining. Most likely all of it.
He stared at the top of the chamber, and tried to imagine being calm. If he was to stay with Satoshi, he had to live like a human. He couldn't blow up radiologists or attack reporters who startled him. He pictured his wing host crouched in front of him, saying 'good morning'. Krad clenched his eyes and made himself still.
The MRI left him feeling like he'd been through a two-hour train wreck. After that, there was a CT scan, which took almost as long, and then a whole bunch of tests he'd never heard of. An EKG, more blood draws, tests to see how well he could see and hear. They took DNA and tissue samples. And questions. So many endless, personal questions about his health, age, diet, sleep habits. Finally, like a crowning indignity for the day, they made him run on a treadmill for half an hour. They acted confused when he didn't run out of breath.
"Would you get tired eventually?" Harold followed up from next to him, looking impressed.
"...Yes," Krad stared at him like he was an idiot. Yes, of course he would get tired eventually… was this really what passed for human science? He was completely out of emotional resources at the moment, or he might have refused to answer at all. He felt nauseated from all the poking and prodding and electroding and god knows what else he would have to wash off later. He couldn't even feel the anxiety anymore; he'd gone numb to it all a few hours in.
"Could you run faster?"
"Yes."
"If something was chasing you, how far could you run?" Harold urged, scribbling in his clipboard.
Krad shook his head and glowered. "I wouldn't run."
Harold glanced from him, to his wings, back to him. "Oh, right. Guess not."
"Are you done?" He hated how desperate he sounded. At the same time, he really had no idea what he'd do if they decided to add something else. He was at his limit.
"We're done," Nakamura confirmed. "Harold and I will analyze all of this tonight and use the most standout results to frame our next steps for tomorrow. See you at noon."
Krad rose stiffly to go without a word. He didn't look at anyone as he made his way out of the building. In the lobby, he redid his invisibility spell, and then headed out into the night. The city was a blur around him as he flew bolt-fast toward home. His thoughts were too wild to even process until the sight of Satoshi's apartment building finally slowed them to something sane.
He beat his wings a few times to slow down, and dropped heavily onto the ledge of Satoshi's balcony. His hands and legs were shaking. Krad allowed his knees to bend and slid to a seat against the railing. His back to the world, he sat there breathlessly, listening to the human city buzz beneath him like a nest of aggressive insects. His skin crawled where they'd touched him. He wanted nothing more than to take a long, cold shower until this used, beaten feeling washed away.
He couldn't let these things get to him. If he couldn't stick to this arrangement, the best scenario would be that Satoshi would lose his job. The boy could just as easily go to prison, or be publicly branded as a criminal. It would destroy him. Krad had fought all day to think of an alternative, and there was none. Either he was theirs, or everything went to hell.
oooooOoooooOoooooOooooo
It was a little after nine when Satoshi heard the angel's soft landing on the balcony. Relief sifted through him. He straightened up on the sofa, suddenly unsure what to pretend to be doing when Krad came in. He didn't want to look like he'd been waiting. He grabbed a magazine from the table and opened it half-heartedly.
A few minutes later, the angel slid the balcony door open and let himself in. Satoshi lowered the magazine enough to look at him. "Hey," the boy said.
Krad paused and regarded Satoshi curiously. After all, he was usually closed off in his room at this time of night. "Hey," he echoed back.
"How'd it go?"
Krad's wings stretched backward, long and steady. He looked aside and muttered, "Stressful."
Satoshi gave a little snort. Now that he was sure the angel hadn't made the six o'clock news (he'd checked), he attempted to envision Krad going to his first day of human work. 'Stressful' made sense. "Sounds about normal for a new job," he smirked reassuringly.
Krad cocked his head. "Normal?"
"Yeah. I mean, day one is probably what? Like 50% HR paperwork and 50% getting dragged around for instructions?" Satoshi noticed then that the angel was staring. He fidgeted backward. "Here," he said. He took something off the coffee table and held it out to Krad. The angel took it reflexively and studied the device in his hand. "A cell phone?" he identified the device with a glance at Satoshi.
"If you're working, there should be a way to reach you when you aren't home."
The angel stared at the phone. "But you can already-" he cut off his statement, a strained look in his eyes.
Satoshi's chest tightened guiltily. "Krad?" Satoshi sought his eyes, and Krad reluctantly offered them. He looked so tired. "I shouldn't be the only person you use this with."
That made him blink. "Such as?"
Satoshi pursed his lips. "I don't know, maybe Daisuke? Coworkers, friends. People you want to keep in touch with."
Krad scoffed. "I have no one I desire to-" he started off, and paused. He looked like he'd just thought of something.
"Did you think of someone?" Satoshi asked, quietly hopeful.
Krad looked tense, but earnest as he stared at the phone. "...Will you show me how to use it?"
oooooOooooOoooooOooooo
Jirou's leg was killing him.
"Keep up, Sakamoto!"
"Who invited the nerd?" Saya asked.
"Come on, Saya. It's his birthday, and his mom asked us," Eric chirped with his usual laid-back smile.
"Doesn't he have a leg thing, though?" Kei muttered. "He'll slow us down."
"It's fine today!" Jirou squeaked. He jogged to catch back up to them. These were the coolest kids in his class, and they'd made the effort to include him. He was determined not to make a fool of himself.
"So what's the plan?" Shota asked.
Saya smirked. "Let's do the water tower again."
"Jeez, I nearly died last time," Kei complained."
"Then maybe you should grow a pair this time, and you'll make it up."
Eric snorted. "Let's do it." The others nodded. Because Eric had said it, therefore it was decided. "Ever climbed a tower before, Sakamoto?"
"I didn't think it was allowed," Jirou wondered politely.
Saya rolled her eyes and gave Eric a "See what I mean?" look. Eric just clapped Jirou on the back. "That's the point, isn't it?" he said with a wink.
"If the nerd makes it up there, I'll eat my homework," Saya scoffed.
"Hey, he could make it. His arms are probably ripped from carrying all those books of his."
Jirou studied his own feet while they got the joke out of their system. A chance like this might not come again. He had to do something if he wanted them to like him. "I'm a good climber," he assured. "Let's go."
This made Eric smile widely. "Well played, man. This is gonna rock. Come on."
"Make sure you're serious, Sakamoto," Kei smirked. "One wrong move and you'll fly like Dark Mousey. Then again, maybe a fantasy otaku like you would enjoy that."
"Well, the ladies do love Dark."
"Maybe then Saya will fall for him!"
Saya rolled her eyes. "Psh. The others can have Dark, I'd rather take the white one.
"Figures you'd like the psycho one, Saya."
"Ha. Ha." She showed him her middle finger, winning ooohs from Eric and Shota.
"He's not psycho, really," Jirou said quietly.
"Oh? I didn't realize you knew him," Saya sneered.
Jirou blushed. "Not super well… Only a little," he conceded, wishing he hadn't said anything. This time, all four of them cast him dubious stares. They turned a bend in the path, and the tower came into sight. Jirou had never noticed how tall it was.
"Man, I hate liars," Shota sighed.
"He might not be lying," Eric said, and grinned. "He could just be nuts."
That stung. So far, Eric had seemed neutral, if not an ally. Now, he was teasing him just like the others.
"You'll love the tower, Sakamoto. It's a great place to go off into your own world."
"Yeah, fine," Jirou muttered as they reached the base of the structure.
"I know!" Saya smiled, too innocently. "Let's make it a race. Me versus Sakamoto. He wins, I eat my homework, and he can hang out with us at school. I win," she smiled, "and Sakamoto does whatever I say for a week."
"Wait a sec-"
"Ready?" she ignored him.
"I didn't say-"
"Set, Go!" The others chanted it with her. And just like that, she was leaping to pull herself up to the first crossbeam.
Jirou panicked and took off after her while the others hooted behind them. He could not be Saya's slave for a week. She'd find a way to ruin his life, for sure. He threw his bag onto the grass and swung up onto a parallel beam on the opposite side of the tower, earning cheers from the other boys.
His leg gave a warning twitch as he scrambled for the next metal joint. He didn't know how long it would respond for him. He just had to make it up there hard and fast, before it went wonky. He crouched on the beam he'd climbed to and leapt up to catch the next one.
"Whoa!" he heard Kei gasp from the ground behind him. Jirou yanked himself up onto the beam and strafed to the corner of the tower, where he saw a slanted pole he thought he could shimmy up. He didn't let himself hesitate, and definitely didn't look down. He didn't realize how far behind he'd left the ground until a familiar ringtone sounded from below.
"Whoah, Sakamoto's got his own smartphone! Man, my folks won't let me have one till I'm twelve. Must be nice to be loaded."
"It's ringing, nerd. Want us to get it for you?" Kei shouted up mischievously.
Jirou gritted his teeth. It would almost definitely be his mom. He didn't want them to talk to her, but also didn't want her to worry. "No," he called back, branching off onto a new beam and hauling himself up over it.
Shoot, his leg was going to pins and needles. But he had a strategy now, and he could see the top of the tower a few more rungs above him. He used his good leg to grapple up to the next beam. He chanced a look to see where Saya was, and was relieved to find her two beams lower than him. She looked pissed, which he kind of enjoyed.
"Sakamoto's phone," Kei greeted brightly below him. Jirou glanced down, and saw Kei with his phone to his ear.
"Hey!" he protested, hesitating in his grab for the next pole. That was all it took for him to miscalculate the jump. He gripped the beam clumsily, but he was off balance. He tipped off the beam and lost his grip. His stomach turned inside out for a moment as he fell to the previous beam. Jirou swung an arm wildly and caught it with the crook of his elbow. It hurt like hell, but gave him the chance to swing his weight. He landed roughly another beam down. Pain splintered up his bad leg, and then a cold, icy feeling. It went limp. Jirou tottered sideways and just barely managed to wrap his good leg and both arms tightly around the beam, hanging upside down.
Saya smirked and used the chance to get ahead of him, still going for the top.
"Holy shit! Sakamoto!" Eric shouted.
Jirou ignored them and tried to get himself back up over the beam. He was at least three stories up, and so close to the top! The boys on the ground were no longer cheering, but staring anxiously.
"Told you he had a frickin leg thing!" Shota said.
"He's nuts," Eric muttered. "Jirou, forget it! Come down!"
Jirou tried again to haul himself right-side up, but his leg was about as supportive as a stack of marbles. This was probably the worst he'd felt it get so far. This must be what the doctors meant by overstressing the nerves. He stopped trying to move and hung onto the beam, panting. His hands and other leg were starting to shake wildly from the adrenaline of the fall.
The others were right - he should get down, but… "I c-can't move," he called down, his grip sliding on the rounded metal.
"Shit, if he falls, we're all gonna get in serious trouble," Kei muttered, still holding Jirou's phone to his ear. Something on the other end got his attention. "Huh? None of your fricking business, man."
"Is that an adult?" Eric reached over and swiped the phone. He ignored the protesting looks on Shota and Kei's faces as he slammed the phone to his ear. "Hello? We're at Koteki Park. We need help!"
To be continued...