ʰᵒˡᵈ ᵒᶰ ᵗᵒ ᵐᵉ ( ᵇˣᵇ ᵖᵃᶠᵖ )

Quinn's face contorted into a mix of disbelief and as though he had just been broken. "No, I knew you wouldn't do that. You left the house all the time, remember?" He questioned frantically leaning back slightly to look into the others eyes. "You got take out one night, remember? I told you not to worry about it since you felt like sh*t but you said something among the lines of going crazy if you kept yourself holed up in the apartment" If this disease were a person, like just the disease itself not attached to any host. He would knock its teeth out. Break a few bones. He could even entertain the idea of ripping of its limbs. He hated whatever had possessed Rex.

Quinn wanted Rex to feel safe again. He wanted to curl up on their couch which was falling apart and go to sleep tangled in each others limbs. Watching some sh*tty TV. Quinn wanted quiet evenings where they sat and talked about nothing of importance. How did he even get infected in the first place? What the hell did this?

Quinn's arms fell to the floor uselessly when Rex pulled away. He looked like one might imagine a kicked puppy would appear. He leaned forward as though that would make up for Rex no longer being near him, no longer in his arms. "Rex, love, I'm sorry. Don't be mad. Please, I'm sor-" he was cut off by a bored voice over the intercom.

"Mr. Roanarke, please go to the main room for your dose and bruise progression check immediately" Quinn didn't move, his entire form tensed as he looked away from Rex. It wasn't 10 seconds later before the voice sounded throughout the suite again "If you do not comply we will have to use force"

"I'm going" He shouts, his fingers curled to fists, knuckles white against his skin. His anger is by no means concealed. He glances at Rex, his eyes softening for a moment before he grunts and scrabbles to his feet. Quinn stumbles from vertigo, placing a hand to his head to try and get his bearing before he pads out of the room. His hand leaving his head to drag against the wall to keep him up right.

It took him a few long moments to figure out what 'the main room' was but once he found his way there he saw that there was a tray waiting for him in the slot. Slowly he walks over to grab the tray, seeing a small syringe there with a milky liquid within it. "Please administer the syringe into your neck and then discard your shirt and show your bruise progression to the camera on your left" The bored voice sounded again.

Quinn really didn't like feeling doing tricks, and he thought about saying so for a moment before another thought crossed his mind. If he resisted, or in any way interfered with their research, became a difficult test subject. Then who was to say they wouldn't dispose of him? What would become of Rex if they deemed Quinn useless. It was only because Quinn offered himself up as a blank slate test subject that they hadn't killed of Rex yet . . .

He needed to jump if they said jump. So gritting his teeth he fumbles with the needle before jamming it into his neck with a wince. When he pressed the plunger to insert whatever chemical they had put in there his eyes widen as it feels as though fire is spreading from that area outwards. With clenched teeth he throws everything back into the slot before taking a shaky step back.

He practically rips off his shirt, the feeling of cool air not enough to get rid of the heat boiling beneath his skin. His entire body is tensed when he hears the camera clicking, a dull "Turn" command prompting him to move to face away and show the camera his back before the clicking reserved. "That is all for now. Mr. Lee's dose will arrive within the next hour or so" Then the intercom went silent.

Quinn's knees buckled, his hands clawing at his chest and shoulders. Trying to rip away the fire within his veins to no avail. Eventually the feeling dissipates, leaving him exhausted and panting. He touches his head to the cold floor, sweat trickling down his face. His back and side was on display. A Picasso painting of black and blue scattering over his skin in patches, a few scabs from where the bludgeon had hit to hard and broke skin.

*no idea why I wrote so much. Sorry my brain just short circuited and I didn't realize how far I progressed the story till I was done. Apologies.

When Rex finds him he makes a sound that could have been a whimper if it weren't so quiet. He curled away from Rex's touch, regretting not covering himself again and allowing Rex to see. Quinn didn't want Rex to think anything was his fault. His fingers curled back into fists as he mustered the strength to sit back up. It was a slow and torturous process that brought forth a series of winces and grunts.

Once in a more upright position he searches for his shirt, eager to hide his skin away again. He grabs the dark fabric eagerly and is about to put it back on when he realizes with dismay that he did in fact rip it. He throws the useless rags away from himself in frustration, squeezing his eyes shut and pulling at his hair as he tries to think of a way to get that look off Rex's face. He didn't like it. Not at all.

His hair was damp with sweat and his skin carried a slight sheen as well. Whatever they gave him had sent his system into overdrive, causing his heart to pound furiously to try and burn the chemical out of his system. Now that it had passed he felt like he could curl up and sleep for a year. But he knew he shouldn't. Not with Rex looking so worried. He keeps space between himself and the other, his shoulders hunched in something akin to defeat. "Please don't hate me" He mumbled without looking in the others direction, his gaze focused firmly on the floor.

Quinn turned his head away after Rex kissed his cheek. He didn't like Rex looking at him like that, or seeing him in this state. "If we are going to take a nap then lets get to the couch. . . I don't think I can make it back to the bedroom" He said softly, unable to look at Rex. But he did shift so that he was heavily leaning against the other, even sitting up was taking a lot of energy he didn't have.

Besides, he wanted to get his strength back before Rex got his dose of whatever they deemed to give him. Quinn wasn't sure what would happen after their hour was up and it was time to receive another syringe.

Quinn didn't have it in him to protest. So with jerky, fatigued movements he takes the pillow and blankets situating them on the on the floor before burrowing under. His hand snaked out and grabbed onto Rex's arm and tugged the other under the blankets with him. He curled his arm around Rex's shoulders so that the other was more or less forced to lay his head on Quinn's chest.

Despite it being his own doing for pulling Rex to him so fast, his bruises were hit a few more times. He glares up at the ceiling, biting his inner cheek hard enough to draw blood to keep from outwardly showing his pain. Against his will Quinn began to drift off, soon falling into a deep sleep as his body tried to recoup. His grip on Rex slackening and his arm laying heavily against the other where he had curled it around Rex's chest.

A long time passed, at some point in the middle of his sleep Quinn began to sweat profusely again and his skin grew flush as he shifted irritably. He was still asleep and after a few moments of this he settled back down. His skin growing clammy as his temperature evened out again. After an hour of silence the intercom spoke again "Mr. Lee your dose has arrived, Mr. Roanarke draw two vials of blood and return them to the slot." The voice pauses "You have 15 minutes" Then the room was silent again. Quinn did not rouse at the sound, far to deep in sleep to take notice of anything going on around him.

Quinn made a rumbling noise of confirmation before slowly blinking his eyes open. Though they quickly flew open at the sight of Rex. He tried to get up to fast and knocked his head into Rex's, effectively making him lay back down with a pained grunt. He shifted away and sat up slower this time. "Sorry" He murmured before putting a hand on the side of Rex's face. "Rex, what's wrong?" He questions confused at the boys pale complexion, or at least paler than normal. His face almost had a green tint to it.

Quinn grumbled something about leeches as he stumbled to his feet. Vertigo almost knocking him straight back down. He does manage to grab the tray and fall back down against the wall to a sitting position. He grabs the blue rubber strip and ties it above his elbow like he remembered them showing how to do before he went into Rex's cage. Taking the needle he attaches it to the tube and then the first vial. He had maybe 15 minutes of training on how to draw his own blood so he had to stab the needle into his arm at least 23 times before blood finally started flowing slowly down the tube and into the vial.

Once that one was filled he yanked it off the tube without removing the needle and screwed its cap back on and plugged the other vial in. When all was said and done he yanked the objects off of him and threw it all back on the tray haphazardly next to Rex's empty syringe. Without looking he reached up behind him and shoved the tray roughly back through the slot. His hand coming back down to put pressure on his elbow which was already bruising due to his sh*t blood drawing job. He hadn't noticed before but the smears of blood on his arm weren't red anymore. It had a darker, tint to it that when spread thin was a dark combination of red and green. Just as he noticed this the intercom went off again, it almost seemed like there was a smile in the voice "Congratulations Mr. Roanarke. You have been infected"

Quinn in a daze lifted his fingers to eye level and rubbed the tainted blood to think it so that its abnormal color was obvious. "Huh" he stated in surprise. He hadn't thought he'd get sick so soon. This means they were probably going to ramp up the tests and variations of the cure to try. His attention was stolen by Rex who was in the bathroom.

He really didn't have the strength to follow him at the moment. So he was forced to just call from the floor "Rex, love, what's wrong?" His tone worried and under lined with panic.

"I don't care" he said with a furrowed brow to Rex's last words. His other hand tugged Rex to sit down by him fingers fluttering over the males arms. As though that might help him figure out what was wrong with Rex. "Don't worry about me, just focus on getting better" He said determinedly. Quinn didn't like this new look to Rex's eyes. As if they weren't completely focuses on what was going on. And there was a light inside them that Quinn had already caught glimpses of, usually right before the boy threw a fit.