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“Um, Odaka-san, I'm so sorry to ask this of you especially after…everything, but Zero needs your help in sorting through um…Three.” Baku winced as he said that, face coloured with clear discomfort whether on Nox's behalf or due to what happened to Three––what Nox did to Three after what Three did to him.
But the fault does not lay with the kid, Nox knows how hard Baku tries to keep everyone safe and happy, and though he hates CODE and dreads the idea of stepping foot in that building…he owes Baku that much after everything they've been through.
Nox agrees with a tortured sigh “very well, only because you're asking.”
Baku beamed at him “thank you! It means a lot! I would have done it myself but Minami needs me to help her with stuff.”
“I understand.”
He will be nice and respectful to Baku but that doesn't mean he will do the same for Zero.
The next day he woke up in a mood that wasn't too terrible since he is waking up, and it's a blessing most people don't appreciate. That is until he remembered that he has to go to CODE's headquarters today to sort through Three and that's when his mood soured and his head ached.
He sat in his bed for a while, breathing in and out to calm himself then got up and opened the window to let the fresh air in. The wind caressed his cheeks, he inhaled it deeply into his lungs and let it cool his chest. The perks of living in a cabin in the suburbs.
Nox went to look into his kitchen for any bite to grab since the idea of sitting still and eating while knowing what was coming next would upset his stomach. He had bought groceries the other day, nothing much and mostly things that didn't need cooking since he lives alone and it never feels like going through the effort to cook when he will be eating it all alone.
Sometimes he and Fujimi would go grab a bite, Kensei was still not back to working with him as he needs time to figure things out, other times Baku would invite him to share a meal and Nox doesn't have the heart to refuse his earnest look.
He warmed some milk to eat with these biscuits that he bought just because the wrapper was half blue half orange which reminded him of his shadow suit. Sitting down, Kensei drank the milk and biscuits that weren't that good but he opened them and he will finish them if not today then tomorrow.
Once Nox was done he went to the bathroom to wash up, changed into the black set of clothes he usually wore when awake, brushed his hair and headed out after locking the door. He went up to his bike with a sigh, this bike that he obtained through a number of reasons, it felt weird to be going around on a bike in his age and with his style but a vehicle is a vehicle.
He turned it on and rode to the CODE headquarters, well, truth to be told this is just a side brunch as he had realised. Kensei isn't sure yet of many things about CODE but he will find out today as he intends to read through every line of those papers. Once he was a few streets away he stopped, took off his helmet and gloves, better keep his way out away just in case.
Nox walked the rest of the way, at the gates the guards didn't stop him and he continued until he reached the main door where Zero was waiting for him with one of his firm smiles “uh, Nox, how have you been?”
“Fine.”
Zero didn't let that deter him “good, good. So, as you heard from Baku, I need help collecting and sorting through Three after what you did and I can't leave it to anyone else since…well, we're really short staffed and the information on those papers are classified I can't leave them to just anyone.”
He gave the other man a look “I'm supposed to believe that no one took and hid a single paper?”
“It is the truth, we had the room heavily guarded and no one visited from higher positions so everything should be as it should.”
As it should? Three was a damn bastard but fighting against this very treatment of agents is what Nox does. So what if it was him who turned him into that? So what if Three forced him into becoming a slave for CODE? That's between them because they are enemies. But for the organisation to leave the room like that for so long, as if they never considered Three anything but an object. Not when he was alive or now.
Kensei let Zero guide him as he stewed in his anger in silence.
This is why CODE has to go! What is this?! What in the world is this?! Do they have no intention to learn?! Does he have to eliminate them one by one so that CODE can never exist again? Just because someone is an agent does not make them expendable the second they are not being useful!
Fuck CODE!
They think they can call him back to clean after they left him! Zero specifically denied him reinforcement! Of course he wouldn't care! Of course no one would care, this organisation does see them as humans. Hell, they barely treat people who aren't agents as human and Code Somnia is just proof of that!
There is no freedom under CODE.
Fuck doing things for them he will steal those papers then disappear using shadowes, it's not like they can chase him this branch is horribly under staffed. Then…he'll use that to find other branches and get rid of them until there is nothing left!
“Here we go.”
Nox snapped out of his thoughts at the voice, Zero had stopped and was unlocking a door that he assumes was Three's office. Zero opened the door “thank you for helping out.”
“Just because Zeztz asked me.” He answered indifferently like he wasn't just planning on stealing them.
Zero smiled and said before leaving “I'll leave it to you then.”
He watched the other's back as it retreated, waiting for him to get out of his sight as he climbed down the stairs before Nox warily stepped inside the room, careful not to step on any of the papers strewn all over. His attack must have been so brutal for this level of scatter in a room with such tightly closed windows.
Looking all over the room he decided that the best course of action would be to collect everything then sort it based on time so Nox could get a clear picture on what the sins of CODE entail in the case of Three.
As he bent down to start from the far wall facing the desk he couldn't help thinking, he and Three never got along from the day they met. Obviously Three had joined before him and therefore his superior but they were surprisingly close in age, just the difference of a year. But even then Three was well established, like he had been working for CODE for a long time.
Back then when Kensei joined, Siege still hadn't left to meld with Punish Gore Nightmare and The Lady hadn't had Nem yet and therefore hadn't deflected either. Actually, Three was the one who discovered Odaka's ability and informed Zero who formally made him an agent, of course Three did in his usual violent and aggressive way. But why was he so?
The…Four of that time didn't mind, thought of it as merely a qualification test, but now that Nox thought about it, why was Three always so aggressive? Always so ready to kill, to get rid of anything that stood between him and what he believed is what he should do? Why so obsessed with keeping the nightmares away from the people when he doesn't care about people?
That, Nox doesn't know. As one would expect Three was generally not talkative, silent and easily annoyed, unassuming until he lost his temper…but was it losing his temper? Or was he just acting upon what he thought was the best course of action for an agent? Where is the line…was there even a person behind the agent? Nox by principle has to agree.
His back ached from bending so he kneeled once there was enough space for him to do that.
He and Three had to partner up for a number of missions, Kensei wants to lie to himself and say that Three cared about him as much as any two comrades, Nox wants to object. It doesn't matter which is right, maybe he'll find out if he reads these.
Halfway through the room Nox barely surpassed a grunt upon feeling something dig into his calf, irritated he leaned away and reached for it. The coolness of metal and the familiar shape in his hand told him everything he needed to know. Just as he knew there would be a 3 carved into it. Still, he brought it up to eye level to see it with his own eyes, it was Three's ring, the only thing left of him aside from what Kensei is dealing with right now.
The light from the window hit it in a way that reminded Kensei of a mission he and Three had gone on after Siege left and The Lady deflected. The nightmare had a big square for a head that would light up, it was a softbox light because the dreamer was afraid of photoshoots after a traumatic event.
And for some inane reason, it took one look at Three and kept shining its light on him, which had annoyed Three so much the mission was completed in one night.
Back then Kensei had joked that perhaps the nightmare found him a good muse for photography. Three had scoffed, “nonsense.” Before telling him to stop fooling around. Kensei wasn't fooling around but in his naivety concluded that Three must not be used to getting compliments on his looks but was careful to find the right opportunities to bring it up or who knows what Three will do.
It's slightly funny that they had worked together for a long time, Nox basically knew Three until the end of his life but he still didn't know his name, knew nothing about him other than what he managed to glean by chance.
Finally after collecting the papers under and over the desk and those on the chair he stood up and sighed in relief. Fighting nightmares in dreams is one thing, cleaning up like this was another kind of exhausting.
He pushed the document together before pressing their edges on the desk’s surface to straighten them up. The sight of the stack held like this between his hands on a desk brought back another memory. Nox looked at the thickness of the documents properly, not awfully thick, just a hundred A4 pages. Nothing like the waist of a living person no matter how much they tried to deny it.
Maybe he was losing his mind after everything, maybe these pages are cursed in a way…maybe Three is cursing him into having these visions but for a second an image flashed in front of his eyes. Pale back with a few tiny moles held between his own hands on a desk that really shouldn't have been used for this kind of action.
Because the other man was bent over the desk in an empty class room.
Nox felt ashamed at the memory. Yes, that's what it was, a memory, something had happened and not in a dream but in reality. Back when he was…teaching children for CODE to use later, so was Three as there had been just the two of them and Zero, Five was still new, still not fit to teach. So it had to be the two of them.
Before Three started wearing the black set he was often seen in after reaching a position where he doesn't have to do field work that often, which had happened slightly before that summer. He used to wear the usual agent uniform of white button down, black trousers and harness, Three's unexpected personal touch on the uniform was wearing the harness only on the left side to free his right arm.
According to him, which is one of the few things he disclosed about himself, was that it got in the way of moving his dominant arm freely.
His new sharp outfit got on Kensei’s nerves for some reason, like it was to show that they wouldn't get partnered up for missions anymore…maybe even felt like CODE was purposefully promoting Three to keep them away from each other.
Of course seeing that they were teaching children to get into dreams next, Kensei opted to keep those thoughts to himself. Nox hummed thoughtfully, was he right after all?
He glanced again at what he had in his hands.
However that summer, Three had to wear civilian clothes, clothes that made him look kind and approachable for children and their parents, not an agent who ran on logic and coffee, was definitely not friendly and easily got irritated. The outfit was a cream button down shirt, white trousers, and his new boots that were a part of his new uniform but he chose to wear because he actually likes them.
Kensei couldn't take his eyes off him, seeing someone so stiff in such breezy clothes, he had a very hard time processing that. Until Three took Kensei’s navy blazer that was a set with his trousers and vest. Though the blazer didn't fit the other man quite right, Kensei is taller and Three more muscular, but he still took it and wore it saying he wasn't used to such light clothes and didn't want to bother getting more.
Even then Kensei didn't lose himself and did his best to focus on teaching, even going as far as to help the children with their school homework just to distract himself from the guilt of the fact that he was feeding them to this organisation that wouldn't value them as it should.
He even resented Three for being complicit to such organisation. So they argued, Kensei’s doubts were clear in his arguments and Three would always warn him against this kind of useless thinking, things got violent even on the occasion. Until one day Kensei had to go to Three's classroom to talk to him about something and he managed to arrive just to see a striking sight of Three…smiling gently as he patted a child's head.
The warm light from the evening sun made his expression even more tender, paired with the outfit devoid of CODE'S black and whites. Kensei stood frozen for a long long time until Three noticed him after sending off the child with their parent.
He had looked at him with confusion “what is wrong with you?”
Unknowingly at the question Kensei had snapped out of his daze but his hand had snuck on its own to wrap around Three's who seemed still confused. Kensei had brought the other man's hand to his own chest and asked seriously, “Can I have sex with you?”
Three looked like he understood even less but agreed with a shrug “whatever.”
Maybe what spurred him on was the unexpected sight, something so opposite with the usual, the setting, the outfit, the expressions. He couldn't help thinking. If only it was real, if only it was always like this…teaching a real curriculum in a school then going back home together…
But no, not for the agents of CODE, after all, they aren't people. Just because they had sex that doesn't mean that they were in a relationship, Three hadn't thought that Kensei meant more than what he said. Kensei himself wasn't asking for more, he said what he meant, just that. He wasn't asking for a relationship, he didn't want to have a relationship with Three who was such a perfect agent to question the ways of CODE.
It happened, it just happened, they had sex and that was it.
Right?
Kensei hadn't felt anything more than that, right?
Then why, why is his heart beating so erratically in his chest at the sight of what used to be his ex…whatever, on a desk??
Did he just like desks? The discomfort radiating from his trousers had something else to say, his heart was saying something. Nox doesn't want to hear any of that! The quicker he is done the faster he can get started with getting rid of this rotten organisation once and for all!
Taking another glance at the stack, he swallowed. Looking around suspiciously before parting the papers right at the half. 50 pages at the right and another at the left, he pinched both ends and pushed them closer to create a hole. Nox stared at the paper hole and almost laughed, he must really be losing his mind!
He shook his head and put the stack back on the desk, putting the agent ring beside them. No way he would be thinking something like that, it's ridiculous, ludicrous to have even crossed his mind!
……….
……….
Which is why he must quickly get over with it!
Nox kept his eyes on the pages as he reached slowly for his belt and unbuckled it, pulled the zip down then pulled out his member and stoked it slowly. His other hand reached to touch the upper most page, caressing it before checking the date. 2004, couldn't be the oldest.
He went through the pages one by one until he paused, this was the date of when CODE abandoned…Four. Blinking hard to clear his mind yet he didn't stop the movement of his hand.
Date: year xx month xx day xx
Time: xx:xx
Agent Code Number Four had encountered difficulty in completing his mission. We have opted against sending the requested reinforcement so as to not endanger other agents due to the level of ability Agent Code Number Four possesses, a nightmare which can put this agent in a bad spot must be too strong for us to waste more agent for.
Date: year xx month xx day xx
Time: xx:xx (earlier)
Agent Code Number Three has volunteered to act as reinforcement However, the decision has been officiated. Agent request is denied.
Nox stared, wishing the words to make sense. What…what does that even mean? That…that Three wanted to come help him? He already knew those things but that the organisation had an official statement not only dismissing him but also Three's request…that Three had wanted to come to him.
His thought closed up.
What is this?!
What is the meaning of this?! Why would he find out now?! Why would Three kill Kureha and Five!?
Kensei glared at the papers hatefully before roughly shaping them into a hole just like he had done earlier before sliding his dick in. Though he had leaked precum, it was too little to be of any use for the material he was working with. Still he continued thrusting his hips with his teeth gritted both in rage and to keep any noise to himself.
Why?!
Why must you be like this?! Why must you discard your humanity, why must you use other agents and discard them, why must you work for CODE, why must you be my enemy, why…why did you care? How come you cared enough to personally volunteer to come to my rescue yet still force me into becoming a slave for CODE against my will when you knew exactly what's wrong with them! They are the ones ruining our life's, must we allow them? Must we assist them in that?!
Maybe it was the anger, the frustration or the unusual method but before he realised it his hips twitched, his mind replayed a faded almost forgotten moan. His vision turned pure white until he could see the sight of a few scattered freckles on a familiar lower back making his body remember a much more pleasurable sensation than dry paper.
With a barely bitten off groan he spilled sticky cum between the pages, ruining them for reading forever. For an unknown time he stood there, leaning on his hands that were still clutching the documents to keep himself standing. When he gained more awareness of his body he realised that he was panting and that the liquid running down his cheeks was possibly not just sweat.
Those were tears.
That's when it downed on him what he just did. He had essentially used the body parts of someone who used to be his former comrade, even if it wasn't, using the body parts of a deceased for this kind of act… Nox felt disgusted with himself, all he could do was fix his clothes before taking those documents and disappearing into his shadows with shame burning through him.
++++++++
He reappeared home, with the feeling of shame burning brighter, he wanted to melt and become one with the floorboards. Nox put the papers stack on his coffee table before collapsing into one of his armchairs. He let out a sigh, how far can someone sink…he who actively fought the objectification of agents turned one into a literal object before using him to let out his frustrations.
And now there are parts that he won't be able to read because of his own carelessness. How does one even begin to clean this kind of thing out of paper?
He sat in silence for a while, it felt like torture, as he tried to think of anything. That's when the realisation really set in, Three had asked to be sent to his rescue, out of his own valuation, and never brought it up to him. Why? It makes no sense! Three who discards agents, Three who kills them the second they don't obey!
Nox shook his head. No, that was before, maybe he cared slightly at that time doesn't mean that he feels the same way now…that's not quite the right way to put it. But how should he then? That he died, maybe he…cared slightly, in his own way, or didn't and just wanted to do what he thought was his duty and when that failed he stopped caring?
It couldn't be that simple, there is more, there got to be more!
He reached out for the papers only to recoil when his fingers touched the part where most of his semen had overflowed. Nox looked at the drying stickiness at the edge helplessly and concluded that reading anything of that would be impossible. But he needs to know more! How could he when the only way to get that information is ruined by him?!
How foolish of him, getting caught in his emotions and ruining his easiest way at getting more of the information he wants!
Kensei let his head fall back on the headrest. What does he do now…
When he opened his eyes his body ached everywhere in a way that told him he had fallen asleep on the armchair. From the darkness outside it seemed to be late at night. He slept dreamlessly so he must have really exhausted himself with the mental pressure.
Nox stood up and left to take a shower and change his clothes which he did quickly then came back to warm up the omelette from last night's dinner. After eating he sat on the coach this time to contemplate his choices.
By now the documents were stuck together completely on one side. He hesitated before trying to work his way through each page.
This is very unpleasant.
If only Three would just talk and tell him everything!
Wait…
…if Three had any kind of awareness in this state…then surely this much must have been enough to torture the information out of him. Nox just has to figure out how to undo the transformation. He did it in a dream so it's reasonable that he should be able to undo it also in a dream, no it should be much easier to undo in a dream.
So with those thoughts he put on his driver and clutched the stack to his chest and closed his eyes. In his dream he was standing in a grey space he had never been to. A cloudy sky that looked like it would start crying at any second, and a grey beach. Nox still had the papers in his arms, in the dream there was no sight of fluids on them but the pages were still stuck together.
He couldn't pry them apart and decided to check out the place first in case there were any nightmares. There wasn't much around, but some sad looking foliage where the sand ended and was met by dry ground which was covered by more plants that seemed to go endlessly. Certainly no place for anything to hide as far as he could tell.
Nox returned to the beach and got close to the water, he looked at it and was stunned with what he saw. What was in the water instead of sea were alphabets, like the sea was the world's biggest alphabet soup only that the letters were black and clearly papery. That's when he realised that the whole place was too still, dead even.
The water was completely still, and so were the plants, the whole place was frozen like time had stopped.
Nox looked up and could make out two birds that were frozen mid-flight in the sky. Is this…could this be Three's subconscious mind? It's…not what he expected, not that he had anything in mind for what he assumed it would look like. Maybe less grey…maybe in a way he had assumed Three doesn't have…
It doesn't matter, what he needs right now is to find a way to return him as before. There are a few possibilities as to why he had been brought here. Maybe the way to fix Three was here somewhere, maybe this is the best place for Nox to use his abilities to achieve his objective, maybe the information he wanted was somewhere here.
What to do? This place is so desolate that if there was anything he should look for he either has to dig into the ground or sand, or take a dive into the water.
Nox chose to transform, he took the Midnight Shadow Capsem out and cranked it until the two halves came apart before putting them in his driver then twisted it.
<<Midnight>>
<<Shadow>>
Once his transformation was complete he used his shadow tendrils to hold the stack in place, above the ground. Since his spin kick caused this, he should be able to undo it if he kicks with a reverse spin to that. He nodded, in the dream world with enough determination it should be plausible. He raised his leg and spun.
<<Midnight Nova Blades>>
Once he was done he took out the Capsem to see if it worked. He was disappointed to see that the only thing he did was cut the A4s into A5s. Nox sighed as he watched the ebb and flow of the waves swallow the pieces.
Wait.
That wasn't right, the sea had been completely still earlier. For there to be waves means that what he did had some kind of merit though not much as everything else stayed frozen and grey.
Nox sat down on the sand to think of what else he could do when from the corner of his eyes he saw something unexpected.
A splash of colour.
He hurried to it, and found it to be a patch of sand that was a wane cream, very similar to the button down shirt Three had worn that summer. Nox touched his hand to the grains, the texture was softer than the sand he knew of. He dug his hand deeper, curious what he would find until he felt his finder graze something.
Something that was certainly not sand, it was made of clothes, a coat probably. Nox used both hands to dig a hole. Maybe, maybe this…is this…
Despondency poured on his heart like cold water.
It wasn't a person, not even a body, just a navy coloured coat. Still he took it out and examined it, it looked familiar. Like…is this his coat? Yes, yes it is. This is the very same coat Three had taken from him. Kensei had forgotten about it but it seemed Three had kept it, at least in his subconscious mind.
Nox stayed there, looking at the coat in disbelief. What does that even mean? What does he do with that? Should he dig deeper? Is this a hint at something?
He looked at the waving sea, the patch of cream, and this blue blazer in his hand. Is that all Three is? A deserted world with no colour? Is that why he thought that dreams brought discord, because he himself was unable to dream? Was there never anything that he wanted? Wished for?
Kensei put his arms around his legs and kept staring at the creamy place but it glowed gently changing colour into something more golden before much smaller patches started appearing in a line like some kind of foot steps.
Nox blinked and stumbled to follow them, it seemed as if with each small patch some of the expanse of the sand would turn golden until the path stopped, all of the sand had turned golden but Nox stood confused. Where exactly does he dig now?
No place to start better than right where he stands because as he remembers the steps stopped here before becoming one with the rest. He kneeled down and dug, much quicker this time, his patience was thinning. And he found–he found him! Nox pulled the man out of the sand.
The only sound in his ears was his own panting, Three wasn't breathing and his usually pale skin was grey making the darkness around his eyes more pronounced. Clad in the outfit he had died in, the only spots of colour on him were the golden sand grains.
It would be better to wash that off, he decided for the lack of any better idea. Nox carried Three close to the water and sat down before scooping it into his hands and splashing it on the other man a few times.
Why does this dream world behave so oddly? He had never encountered another dreamscape that was like this. Nox turned him into paper but somehow he is buried at the beach? The sea swallowed those papers, how does that even make sense? Why was his coat here? It couldn't be that Three really loved it or something, it barely fit him! It was both too long and too tight!
Absent mindedly he had placed his hand on Three's chest after he had poured water on his face, under it he could feel a faint trembling. When Nox realised that he was about to lean down to put his ear to the other man's chest when all of sudden his face was met by a splash of water and leaves that weren't actually leaves but pieces of papers.
Three was gasping violently trying to get air into his lungs then started coughing. Nox watched him with his side bang soaked and sticking to his cheek, he decided to help him sit up and even pat his back.
Once he had caught his breath Three looked at him, his eyes were red but his skin had returned to its normal shade. His voice was rough when he spoke “How naive can you be, why would you…go through the trouble to revive me when you were the one who killed me.”
Nox's eyes itched from outrage, he grabbed Three by the collar “because you make no sense at all! What is with you!? You keep my coat, you agree to have sex with me and I know you're not the kind of person who would easily allow this kind of thing, you volunteer to act as back up to me yet you turn me into a puppet and dispose of other agents like you have no humanity, what are you?!”
Three blinked at him before looking at the sea with an indifferent expression. Then asked evenly “does CODE know that I'm alive?”
“No, they asked me, me of all the people to come help gather your parts so of course I took them to read them.” He lied “I read some and decided it was nonsense. I want to hear it from you…I was sure you had been through enough to ease the way for your confession.”
Three pushed Nox away and stood up, he was still unsteady but he continued, putting his hands in his pockets and started walking.
“Where are you going?!”
“I want to stay dead, leave me alone.”
Nox followed him and grabbed his shoulder to force him to turn around. “Don't give me that, I can make your existence much worse now that you're without any of your weapons to fight with.”
Three narrowed his eyes at him “you think I can't beat you on my own? When the only reason I was chosen to be an agent was because I could take out nightmares bare handed?”
He was shocked to hear that. Kensei hadn't really thought about the selection process of the agents before him except that Siege was sentenced to 1000 years in prison but that's common knowledge. He hadn't really thought of it. But taking out nightmares bare handed is something no agent can achieve, not even Zeztz with his endless array of abilities.
Still, he pushed on “so what? I beat you last time.”
The other man snapped “because you turned me into paper before I could reach you.”
“And I'll do it again unless you answer my questions! Why do you insist that dreams are bad?! Why did you have to kill Six and Five?!”
Three lunged at him, forcing Nox's back to land with considerable strength to the sand, this time he was the one who was clutching the other's collar.
“You think I wanted this? One, Two and even you deflected leaving only me. They were waiting, watching my every step, praying for any second that I show the littlest bit of dissent to label me a traitor too and carry out my execution immediately! You had it so easy! All of you! Left me to stay there whether I wanted it or not I was chained till the end!”
“You're fine now!” Nox objected.
Though it made sense, three out of five of its agents turned against it, of course they would keep a close watch so as not to lose the fourth. Even if they had to kill him then risk him turning against them.
“Fine?! Fine?! This is the end! I died, do you realise that?! You killed me! And then revived me on a whim just because you wanted something! You say that CODE used its agents like tools but dare you say you're any different?”
He isn't that different, and he admits that. Nox knows he has enough good in him to admit that he is wrong when he is wrong. But he knows when he is right and knows that he is stubborn. “This is the organisation that stripped you of everything!”
Three raised his voice for the first time “It didn't strip me of anything! I had nothing to be stripped of me! I was…nothing.”
“You…” Nox was a loss. What does that mean? So he asked quietly “...what does that mean?”
He did his best to show his honest desire to know more about Three and understand him.Three looked like talking about himself, his past or reasons disgusted him greatly so Nox brought his hand to wrap them around the ones gripping his collar. He kept them there, neither pushing or pulling, not squeezing either, just there.
Three sneered “I…was an orphan that CODE took in for some reason to join the military squad. I don't know if it was because I was special or if that was the norm, since I had no other alternative I agreed. Of course I was the third member of that squad and so it's expected that I keep being called that, Three. It's ironic I knew but it wasn't something I got a choice in.”
Another sin to add to the sins of CODE, training children and forcing orphans to work for them because they don't know or just can't have better…
“Then? How did you come to see nightmares?”
“Nightmares are unpredictable, the one I met wasn't mine but another squad member's. The nightmare pulled me with her because our bunks were close perhaps. It seemed like the accident interested it and made it focus its attack on me. I had to do something to protect myself but since I had nothing and knew nothing the best I could do was take it on in combat.”
From Three's pinched expression Nox could tell that he had reached the end of his talking battery so he guessed “then someone saw you fighting it right…it couldn't be Siege or The Lady since she liked focusing on experiments, was it Zero? And then he made you an agent?”
“Yes.” After some contemplation Three added “which is why I hate the dream because they are the root of nightmares who put the people's lives in danger. I do not regret using Code Somnia because I believe it is the only solution we have to protect the people.”
“I disagree.”
Taking away people's freedom is in no way protecting them! It's harming them! Dreams aren't inherently bad, it's the nightmares.
But by now Three had opted to let go of Nox and get up “I don't care. Actually I don't care anymore, do whatever you want and I'll act like I'm dead, surely they must have already marked me as officially deceased.”
Nox stood too and grabbed Three's hand “you can stay with me. I want to…get to know you, not as Three and Four but as two people who…were colleagues and now maybe are trying to become…friends?”
Yes he knows how he sounds and he will be blaming Baku for making Nox into the type of guy who would ask people to become friends. How embarrassing, yet it seems like there are hardly any other ways to deal with someone like Three.
Three looked at him like Nox was a particularly incomprehensible case “...Stop fooling around, It's time to wake up.”
As he said that the dream started breaking, when Nox opened his eyes the light of the morning had already lit up the house. The second thing he noticed was Three standing in front of him, very naked and very not amused as the evidence of what Nox had done with the papers was clear and crusted on his body.
It was mostly on his stomach though it seemed like it had spluttered to random places like his shoulder, arm, face, and one of his legs. If Nox didn't know any better he would have assumed that a snowball made out of vanilla ice-cream must have been thrown at him.
Three's arms were crossed over his chest as he looked down on Nox “took the papers away, you said? I think I can see why you had too.”
“I…I don't have anything to defend myself with.” He dropped his eyes to look down in shame but then his eyes caught sight of finger shaped bruises on Three's waist from where Nox had been apparently gripped yesterday during his detour.
“And now you're looking down, you have become so shameless, Four.”
Automatically he snapped “don't call people by numbers!”
Instead he found Three hiding a grin behind a hand, his eyes crinkling in amusement. Nox's mouth fell open in surprise before he forced his expression to return to normal.
Seeing this Three chuckled “Well, brainwashing you to have you back by my side did bring me a not so small amount of joy, so let's say we're even like this?”
“Fine.” Kensei stood up “and you're too comfortable standing like this in the middle of someone's home but you call me shameless.”
Three shrugged “it's evidence of your sins. Besides, I never stood naked in anyone's house and especially not when someone could see.”
“so I'm special?” He rolled his eyes and made his way to the bathroom.
“Hmm…maybe.”
“the joys,” Kensei opened the bathroom door “now go shower please.”
Three entered the bathroom and closed the door shut with a last remark “don't give me turtlenecks, I hate them.”
Kensei stood still for a few seconds, offended. How dare he?! He knows, he must know that turtlenecks are what Kensei wears the most! Especially in the waking world. The reason? Because they keep him warm after he spent so long on the cold and dark nightmare also the feeling of wind creasing his neck sets him on edge like how Shadow Gore Nightmare’s tendrils felt.
Just because Nox is using the very same power now does not mean that he is healed from the effects they had on him.
With that said he turned around to go look into his wardrobe for what he was asked. It took a bit but he found a purple button down that he doesn't remember buying but it will do, any of his trousers would be too long for Three so he chose one that would be comfortable.
Nox also had a few unused boxers so he took one though he knew they would be tight around the thighs. He pulled along a bath towel and headed back to the bathroom. He knocked “I got you clothes and a towel, what do you want for breakfast?”
The shower stopped and Three poked his head out, his wavy hair was sopping which made it look longer as it dripped water into his face. “coffee.”
“Other than coffee, I know you live off it at this point.”
Three took the towel from him “whatever will do.”
Kensei raised an eyebrow “you really don't care?”
“I lived in an orphanage, military squad and then agent life, you think my life was so leisurely to get picky over food?”
“Got it.” He'll make French toast just to get on his nerves. Served with honey, fruits and a glass of milk because new life means letting go of past bad habits.
It was half an hour later when breakfast was ready and Three made his way to the kitchen. Expectedly the trousers were too long so they had been rolled up, the shirt looked fine, and Three's hair was very fluffy after he had dried it with Kensei’s blowdrier.
The man looked at the table curiously, “What did you make?”
“French toast and milk, it would benefit your body greatly I believe.”
“No coffee?” Three sounded disappointed.
Kensei answered “no coffee, aren't you sick of it?”
He shrugged and took a seat at the table “got used to it.”
“I see.”
Kensei started cutting one of the toasts in his plate, picked it up with his fork along with a piece of strawberry. It tasted good, normal, as he is not the top chef, just a guy who cooks on occasion. Three watched him for a few seconds before cutting his own toast. He chewed thoughtfully like he didn't know what to make out of the taste.
“So?”
“It's good.” Three added like it was a shameful secret “I actually like sweets.”
That was unexpected, for someone who drank plain black coffee so religiously to actually have a sweet tooth…could it be some sort of self-harm?
But Kensei smiled “I didn't know, I'm glad you like it.”
Three averted his eyes wordlessly back to his plate.
Kensei’s hatred for CODE grows, he must destroy it because how could they just––
They both flinched at the ringtone before he realised it's his phone. He checked the ID and found Baku was calling him, he answered “hello.”
<<Odaka-san! Hello! How are you? Actually I'm calling about yesterday, Zero said both you and the documents disappeared so I was worried something happened especially when I didn't see you last night!>>
Oh, right. He had forgotten about that.
“Thank you for asking. I am fine. And about the papers…they disappeared the second I touched them but I had to leave quickly to deal with a nightmare which I wasn't able to eliminate until morning.”
<<what?! A nightmare so dangerous?! You should have called me, how come I wasn't taken there…and, oh, don't worry about the papers then if that's the case, I'll tell Zero.>>
He feels bad for lying to Baku but it's for the best.
“Don't worry about it, you must have been busy too. Thank you then.”
<<okay! Bye, see you!>> He hung up.
Kensei sighed how can someone be so kindhearted while being someone like Zero's child? It must be because Zero wasn't the one to raise him.
“Such naivety will bring him downfall…is what I want to say but he has been quite resilient.” Three commented.
“That is true…” He hesitated before confessing “truth to be told I had wished for a world without nightmares where we could be just his grumpy teachers who live together.”
Three raised an eyebrow “you thought I would make a good teacher?”
“Do you not like the profession?”
He shook his head “I just never thought of it.”
Kensei returned to his seat “and your name? Do you want me to keep calling you Three?”
The man said “I'm almost forty now, I think, and I was Three for more than half of that, change wouldn't be easy at this point. Besides…I haven't thought about this either.”
So he hadn't thought about it, just made do with whatever he was given and forced himself not to think to protect himself from the pain those thoughts would bring…
They'll work on it. It might be difficult and they'll probably fight a lot and there is still CODE to get rid of but with some patience they might actually be able to make it work.