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Dirk and Todd crept through the lab quietly, peering over the tables covered in piles of notebook papers scribbled over with strange writing and calculations, enclosed glass domes with throbbing substances of different colors, and syringes and scalpels. The entire room seemed to be coated in a layer of dust and grime and the ceilings were water damaged and crumbling, except for the table which seemed to be pristine, the metal surface shining, everything neatly organized. Dirk looked excitedly at Todd who seemed a bit more apprehensive. Todd scratched at his neck and shook his head.
"What do you think this means?" He whispered, acutely aware of the lack of the door keeping anyone out in the rest of the building from hearing them. Dirk shrugged. He picked up one of the notebook papers from the table and tried to decipher what the strange symbols could mean. It was nonsense, probably only of use to whoever it was that wrote it.
They spent another minute looking over the table when they heard voices and quick footsteps in the hallway. Dirk looked to Todd with wide eyes.
"Oh, shit! Go, go, go!" Dirk said in a panicked and hushed voice. He pointed to the door at the back of the room, which was cracked slightly open. Todd shoved him towards the back, running quickly past the tables, pulling open the door and pushing Dirk inside in front of him. Todd pulled the door closed, sending them into darkness, the only light coming through the crack in the base of the door. Dirk pulled him backwards, as far from the door as they could get in the small supply closet. The voices from the hallway got louder, footsteps now seemingly coming into the room right outside the door. Dirk's heart pounded, his hand gripped around Todd's arm nervously. Todd scratched at his neck again.
The voices were hard to hear, but Dirk was able to barely make out some of the conversation outside the door. He crept slightly closer, still wary, remembering the gun wielding crazies they'd dodged the sight of outside, but still curious as usual. Something about experiments, slow progress, results, something something.
Todd's eyes started to adjust to the dark. He stayed back, his shoulders leaned up against the decaying shelves behind him. The state of the building had him feeling itchy, imagining crawling bugs all over the place. He breathed deeply, trying to practice his grounding techniques he'd learned from his doctor. There was another itch on his neck, crawling and shifting in the baby hairs there. He swiped at it, his heart rate picking up slightly. He glanced over at Dirk's shadowy form by the door.
He was still listening, the conversation out in the next room turning more heated, frustrated shouts, coming through the door. Dirk turned back around, carefully walking back to face Todd.
"They seem angry," he said, whispering breathily. Todd nodded. His arms were itching now. Maybe he'd brushed against some poison ivy outside, he tried to reason to himself. It was just poison ivy, or something normal and natural. It wasn't an attack. It couldn't be. He tried to force that to be true as he remembered that he'd left his medication bottle in his jacket, which he'd left in the car. It's not an attack. It's just... itchy here.
Dirk looked at him carefully. "You okay?" Todd nodded stiffly, keeping his breath even and steady, trying to focus on keeping himself grounded. His skin was aching, the crawling and creeping sensation digging into his nerves. He didn't dare look down, knowing whatever his brain was imagining wasn't going to be pretty. The bug ones were some of his least favorite. His heart pounded hard in his chest.
Dirk recognized the look on his face with growing panic. He frowned and patted his pockets. He was usually so good about keeping spare pills with him, but Todd had an attack yesterday and used the last of the extras he'd kept on him, and he'd forgotten to replace them. Todd squeezed his eyes closed.
"Todd, where are your pills?" Dirk asked quietly, starting to pat over Todd's pockets. Todd shook his head, eyes still closed.
"Car," he spat out, his distress growing. Dirk's heart dropped into his stomach. The sounds of the voices outside the door were getting closer.
The itching was becoming less of just an annoyance and shifting more towards horribly painful. Todd could feel movement inside of him like there were things burrowing and digging underneath his skin. He gasped at a sharp stinging bite on his forearm, his eyes shooting open and looking down to see bulging lumps wriggling beneath his skin, crawling and wriggling legs and pincers, biting and cutting and itching.
"Shit!" Todd shouted, and Dirk jumped, his eyes wide, and cupped his hand over Todd's mouth. Todd shoved back against the shelves, rattling them slightly. Dirk looked back at the door panicked, listening for any sign the men outside heard them, but there wasn't any change to the arguing outside. Todd whimpered, digging his nails into his skin, trying to get the imagined creatures out. Dirk snatched his hand as he began to draw blood and shook his head.
"It's not real. Just breathe, Todd. Please. You have to be quiet. They're going to hear us." Dirk looked back at the door. The arguing was still going on, but it seemed louder, like they'd moved closer to the closet they were hiding in. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Dirk fought to keep his breathing under control. Todd clenched his jaw at the pain, tugging at Dirk's grip on his arm.
"They're real. Dirk, they're inside me. The bugs, fuck, I have to get them out," Todd tried to whisper, still somewhat aware of where they were, but the intensity of the attack was making him forget the danger outside the door. Dirk held up a finger to his mouth and leaned in closer, shaking his head.
"Todd, please." Dirk's heart was racing. The talking outside was getting closer still. Todd groaned, his other hand coming up to scratch at his chest frantically, trying to dig out the bugs he felt crawling into his lungs.
"Fuck, they're-" Todd was too loud, Dirk cut him off by shoving his hand over his mouth, pressing him up against the shelves behind him. Todd gave a muffled gasp, and clawed at Dirk's hand. He was still too loud. Dirk pressed harder, blocking off more of Todd's airflow, quieting him down a little more. Dirk was crying, mouthing apologies to Todd.
He could hear the voices outside more clearly now.
"-at the south fence is not responding."
"How long since they checked in?"
"15 minutes. We have movement recorded on the sensors down that way."
"Could have been animals again. Let's get someone over there now, and get another perimeter check going."
"Yes, sir."
"And Jameson. You see anyone-"
"Shoot on sight, sir. I understand."
"Good man."
Dirk sucked in a nervous breath, his entire body shaking. His eyes were locked on Todd, his hand still pressed tightly over his mouth. Todd was moaning under his hand, tears starting to leak from his eyes as he fought against the effects of the attack on his body and the struggle to breathe.
Dirk leaned in close, whispering to him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Shhh. Shit, I'm sorry, Todd. Just hold on." Todd shifted his attention from the hand pressed over his mouth to the painful digging creatures in the rest of his body, his nails scratching into the skin of his arms. Dirk grabbed one of his wrists with his free hand. Todd groaned and whimpered under Dirk's hand. The voice outside the door went quiet, and Dirk couldn't tell if it had been the end of the conversation or if they'd heard them. He froze, his body pressed up against Todd firmly trying to keep him from moving.
It seemed like an eternity passed before Dirk heard the sound of footsteps moving away from the door and grew quieter as they went out into the hallway. He swallowed thickly, listening carefully. He eased his grip over Todd's face enough that he could hear Todd sucking in air desperately through his nose, and then waited until the pounding in his chest eased enough for him to hear fairly clearly the room outside had gone quiet until he moved his hand off Todd's mouth.
Todd gasped loudly, his muscles shaking, a choked sob following immediately after. Dirk pressed his hands over Todd's cheeks for a relieved second before pulling away and carefully and quickly pushing open the door a crack and peeking out. He sighed, relieved to find the room was in fact empty, not that they were completely in the clear yet, but at least out of the immediately-being-shot-with-a-bunch-of-bullets danger zone. He shut the door and returned to Todd, who was drooping against the shelves, his legs collapsing under him. Dirk helped him to the floor, and laid him down in his lap with Todd's back pressed up against his chest. He held Todd's hands in his own as he continued to try to scratch into his skin, marks already oozing beads of blood up and down his arms. Todd was muttering about the bugs, anxiously rambling that he needed to get them out, but the intensity of the attack seemed to start to fade, and Dirk didn't need the force that he had pushed onto Todd to keep him from hurting himself, which he was grateful for.
"Shh. Just breathe, Todd. You're safe. It's almost over." Dirk breathed in the scent of Todd's hair, resting his chin on top of his head. Todd groaned and winced and wriggled as the attack worked through his system, fading after about ten minutes laying down in the dirty supply closet. Dirk eased his grip when Todd let out a heavy exhausted breath, his body melting against Dirk's chest.
"Dirk?" Dirk stroked his hands over Todd's head, smoothing his hair down gently.
"You back now, darling?" Todd sighed and let out a groan. He gave a stiff nod. Dirk's hands dropped down from his head, wrapping loosely around his chest. Todd relaxed into the gentle sensation.
"Ah, fuck. That sucked," he said hoarsely. He held up his arms, looking over the scratches. Dirk stroked a finger gently over the skin between the scratches. Todd twisted his head up to look at Dirk and frowned at the strained expression on his face. "How come you always look worse than I do after I have an attack?" Dirk rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms tight around Todd's chest and nuzzling his face into his neck. Todd held Dirk's arms, leaning into him.
"Wow, you'd think after I kept us both from getting killed just then, I'd get more than, 'oh Dirk, you look like shit.'" Todd huffed.
"Oh, sorry, Dirk, you are the most beautiful and handsome and enticingly striking holistic detective in this gross dirty supply closet, and I love you," Todd said with a smirk. Dirk rolled his eyes again.
"So kind..." Dirk replied, sarcastically. He sighed. "We need to go," Dirk mumbled into Todd's hair. Todd nodded, stroking Dirk's hands. Todd moved to try and get up, but Dirk held him there, going quiet for a moment. "I'm really sorry, Todd." Todd frowned, shaking his head and twisting around on the floor, so he was facing Dirk, his feet tucked underneath him and Dirk's hands loose at his hips. Dirk's eyes were on the floor.
"For what?" Todd brought a hand up under Dirk's chin, pulling his face up so Dirk was looking at him. Todd frowned at the distress on his face. "Dirk? What?"
Dirk huffed. "What just happened. I nearly suffocated you... I just..." Todd rolled his eyes. He leaned in, pulling Dirk into a tight hug, stroking over his back.
"I forgive you. Okay? I'm alright. You kept us safe, Dirk." Todd felt Dirk's arms tighten around his waist. Dirk nodded into his chest.
"I know." Todd, stroked once more over his back before breaking the hug, and leaning back, so he could look at Dirk.
"Good, now come on. Help me up. We need to get out of here and you know I get all jelly legs." Dirk shook his head.
"They have guns, Todd. The man out there said 'shoot on sight,' if anyone sees us..." Todd frowned at him, smirking.
"Dirk, when has that ever stopped us before?" Dirk looked up at him, desperate and scared.
"That was close, Todd. Way too close. I just... you know I hate putting you in danger." Todd grabbed his hands, and leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Dirk's lips.
"You know you don't have much of a choice, right? Wherever you go, I go, and unfortunately for both of us, you're a bit of a danger magnet, so here we are. I'm not letting you do this shit alone. So, come on. Up."
Dirk frowned, and reluctantly stood up, pulling Todd with him and wrapping an arm under Todd's arm to support him, and they carefully and as quickly as possible made their way back out of the building, somehow managing to dodge the gun-toting guards on the way back to their car.