𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

014

He picks up the airplane at his feet and unfolds the paper, only glancing at you once in the process. Ever so slightly, the corners of his lips upturn as he reads it. You release the breath you'd been holding.

He folds the paper, tightly in his grasp before making his way toward you. He sits beside you at the desk where 002 had just been previously and chuckles that breathy chuckle you'd been dying to hear.

"Alright," he says.

You tap your chin. "Alright, what?"

A scoff leaves his lips. "Alright, I forgive you."

"Oh, you do?" you smile.

He nods, rolling his eyes. "Yes."

"Well..." you sigh, shifting so you're facing him instead. "I forgive you too."

He raises an eyebrow as if the idea was ridiculous. "Forgive me for what?"

"You weren't exactly the nicest patient."

"It wasn't exactly the nicest situation." He bites his inner cheeks, taking a moment before he continues. "I'm more mad at Papa than at you."

"You're always mad at Papa," you chuckle. 

"Yeah," he nods, "but I really thought we'd make it out that time I just wanted to... just— I wanted to..." he gives up, throwing his head back. "Ugh, it's so annoying."

He moves his hands towards his head, seemingly to run his fingers through his hair. When he feels it much shorter than expected, he flinches and looks at his hand in shock.

"I dreamed it was back..." he murmurs. As if it had not been gone for years.

"You know," you say, squinting. "I wouldn't mind seeing those luscious locks of yours."

He smiles. "I wouldn't mind seeing yours. I bet I'd love them," he shrugs, "Long, short, medium. Curly, straight, kinky, whatever."

"Maybe one day..." you suggest.

"Anything to distract me from that peanut head of yours."

Your mouth drops, but it's soon followed by a burst of laughter. The two of you almost fall out of your chairs, wiping at non-existent tears. You think a silent "thank you" when the moment that follows isn't awkward or strained. It's just you and 001, normal as it always had been.

"If it only it weren't for Papa," 001 mumbles.

"001?"

"Hm?" he hums, glancing from his fidgeting fingers back up to your eyes.

The sudden eye contact sends a flutter to your stomach. "Oh," you force yourself to snap out of it, keeping your expression serious. "When I was... gone... what happened? Between you and Papa?"

He looks down again. "When you were in a coma?"

"Yes."

He fidgets with his fingers more adamantly, cracking the joints as he studies his thoughts. "Um..." he starts. "My parents..." he squints his eyes really hard and furrows his eyebrows as if trying to remember—or trying to forget.

"You don't have to—"

"No," he says. "I want to."

He continues slowly. "He kidnapped me after they died," he gulps. "Started experimenting on me."

You nod attentively, listening closely for the next sentence. His eyes flit away nervously as the words come out low and broken. "That's not the only thing he did to me."