System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL]

After a whole lot of comparing, it was two in the morning.

The laboratory had become almost painfully quiet.

The only sounds were the low hum of the machines, the occasional tapping of keys, and the soft rustling of papers being moved from one pile to another.

Blake had long since stopped understanding what half of the information on the screens meant.

He had tried, really.

At first, he’d been sitting beside Estelle, looking over the biological results and trying to understand why certain markers mattered.

Then he’d moved beside Zlatan. Then Alexis.

Eventually, he’d just started staring at the same screen for several minutes at a time.

His eyes were burning, his head also felt heavy.

And whenever someone asked him something, it took him a few seconds to realize they’d actually spoken.

Myles had noticed.

That was why, eventually, he’d stood beside Blake and said simply,

"You’re going to sleep."

Blake hadn’t argued much. Which, in itself, proved how tired he was.

Now they were entering his room.

Blake walked toward the bed, rubbing his eyes, yawning.

"I’m sorry I wasn’t helping anymore. Everyone else is still awake, I feel kind of embarrassed."

"It doesn’t matter. We can go on without sleep."

Blake rubbed his eyes again.

"Still."

Despite everything, he did manage to convince Myles into letting him stay up until this late at night.

So it’s not as if he did absolutely nothing.

Blake lay down, and his eyes immediately started to close.

Myles stood beside the bed for a moment.

"What do you want to do?"

"Hm?"

Blake stared at him.

His brain didn’t immediately process the question. He was already halfway asleep.

"Do... what?"

Myles remained silent.

Blake frowned.

Then, slowly, the conversation from earlier, about Alexander’s birthday returned to him.

"Oh."

He rubbed his face.

"You mean that?"

Myles nodded.

Blake stared toward the ceiling.

"I’m not sure. I don’t really want to lose my time there."

Myles got into the bed beside him.

One arm slipped beneath Blake’s neck, and inevitably beneath his cheek, while the other rested on his waist.

The sudden cold beneath his face sent a small shiver through him.

He instinctively moved closer anyway.

"You shouldn’t go."

Blake hummed sleepily.

"I don’t want you to go through unnecessary stress."

Blake’s eyes threatened to close again, but Myles continued.

"So you shouldn’t go."

Blake chuckled weakly.

"It won’t be that bad... like, I’m used to it."

Myles looked down at him.

"Did you always go to your siblings’ birthday parties?"

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

"Yeah... must be like that."

Myles sighed lightly. ’What does he mean?’

Within seconds, Blake’s breathing became slower, until he completely fell asleep, body going limp against his.

Myles stared at his face.

To be honest, his main reason for not wanting Blake to go wasn’t simply the stress.

That was part of it, but it wasn’t the most important part.

Blake’s sleep talking had been getting worse, so had his sleepwalking. The episodes were becoming more intense and frequent.

Myles tightened his arm around him, stroking Blake’s back slowly.

Then he kissed his cheek.

It was something Blake had done for him.

That time, Myles had been being comforted for something he couldn’t properly think about, that he couldn’t put into words.

Now he wondered if perhaps he could return the gesture, even if Blake was asleep.

Myles closed his eyes.

His thoughts drifted backward, to something he remembered clearly: his birth.

He didn’t remember every single day he’d ever lived automatically, but if he thought about something long enough, he could usually recall it.

And yet... he had never met that woman.

His biological mother.

He had been told who she was, but had never seen images, even while being told that they looked alike.

Not that there could be any available, as by the time she was experimented on, her existence had been erased from the world.

When he’d been born, he had immediately been held by his uncle.

His mother had been somewhere else.

And then, she was gone.

Myles remembered her frail, weak heartbeat.

He remembered hearing it while he was still inside her.

Everything had sounded muffled and distant then.

Her heartbeat, breathing, and even her voice, even if not what she had said.

And a few minutes after his birth, that heartbeat stopped.

Myles opened his eyes.

He remembered seeing the photograph Estelle had shown him.

The picture looked so ruined, but there was no denying the resemblance.

They looked alike, that wasn’t news, since he’d been informed of it when he was still an infant.

For a long time, he’d thought his uncle’s words were simply out of love for his sister.

Myles knew he wasn’t lying per se but, for some reason, he thought it was out of love for his sister that he had said it.

After all, him and his uncle looked identical.

But now that he saw that woman’s picture... they all just looked alike, after all.

Myles looked down at Blake, who was completely asleep.

His breathing was warm against him.

Myles buried his face against Blake’s hair. While holding him, his senses felt muted.

The world wasn’t pressing against him as much.

The constant awareness of everything around him seemed to soften.

He could hear everything. But somehow, being here made it feel farther away.

Myles closed his eyes.

He shamelessly wanted more.

More moments where he could simply hold Blake and not have to think about everything else.

But...

Could he continue wanting something like this?

Dangerously so?

Especially when he knew it wasn’t going to last?

He tightened his arms around Blake.

He said nothing.

***

"Mommy, I love you."

***

Blake slowly opened his eyes.

For several seconds, he didn’t seem to understand where he was, even if he was used to this view, by now.

Then he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes.

Blake stood, and he walked toward the door. There was no one outside, which was unusual.

Usually, there was at least one person somewhere nearby.

But now there was nothing.

Blake walked through the corridor.

His footsteps barely made a sound.

He eventually noticed something on a nearby table.

It was a note.

He picked it up.

Everybody will be out for a while. I’ll come back by lunch.

Blake stared at it. It was Myles’ handwriting, which made him smile.

A small laugh escaped him.

"Hah..."

He blinked, the emptiness in his heart disappeared.

"Oh."

He looked around.

"Right."

His stomach growled.

He went toward the dining area.

A meal had already been prepared for him.

Blake laughed again.

’He left breakfast for me again... gosh, I can do that much on my own, but he never listens.’

He sat down and began eating.

For a little while, everything felt normal.

Ring.

Blake stopped.

It was his phone.

He pulled it out.

Mother.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

His heart immediately accelerated.

Blake stared at the name.

He didn’t want to answer, but his finger moved anyway.

He got up, leaving the breakfast behind and walked toward his room.

Then he answered.

"Hello."

The woman’s voice came immediately.

"What was this about?"

She went straight to the point.

He looked down.

"I’m busy."

"You’re busy?"

"That’s all."

"You can never be that busy."

Blake’s fingers tightened around the phone.

"Just come."

Her voice remained firm.

"And don’t make a scene."

Blake stared at the floor.

"I have no time."

"You need to come."

"You don’t want me there anyway."

He swallowed.

"So what’s the point?"

There was a brief silence.

"Stop speaking nonsense."

Blake’s jaw tightened.

"If you don’t come, all financial aid will be cut."

His body went still.

"Your university costs included."

For a moment, Blake couldn’t breathe.

His stomach twisted violently, his hand tightening around the phone.

He suddenly felt nauseous, throat tightening.

The phone nearly slipped from his hand.

His mother continued speaking.

"I take it you understand."

Click.

Blake stared at the screen.

Nothing.

No sound.

No thoughts.

Then his breathing changed.

He inhaled too sharply.

But when he tried again, a little calmer, his chest began rising and falling faster.

"No..."

He placed one hand over his heart.

It was beating far too hard.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

He stumbled backward.

His other hand caught the edge of the bedside table.

Blake swallowed.

Something felt horribly wrong, and it wasn’t simply his heartbeat, but as though something was inside his chest.

Something pushing and clawing, as if trying to get out.

His fingers dug into his shirt.

"Stop..."

He breathed the word, but nothing stopped.

The pressure grew.

It felt like someone was stabbing their way through his heart from the inside.

Blake bent forward, his breathing became more ragged.

His vision blurred as he pressed harder against his chest.

"Just get out..."

He didn’t know what he was talking about.

He didn’t know what he wanted to get out.

He only knew that something inside him felt wrong.

His stomach twisted again.

’I have to throw up buckets...’

His knees nearly gave out.

Blake caught himself, his breathing became even heavier.

His eyes were wide, but he wasn’t really looking at anything anymore.

The room seemed too far away.

The walls.

The bed.

The desk.

His phone.

Everything seemed separated from him by something invisible.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

His fingers trembled.

"No..."

He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Please..."

He didn’t know what he was asking for.

He just knew he couldn’t make the feeling stop.

Something inside his chest seemed desperate to break free.

And Blake had no idea what it was.

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