Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

56. Reject

Sheldon

It really has come to this. I was now trapped in Haresa's home and there was no say against it.

I shouldn't have been tempted by their offer of food. Why did they have to open their big mouth and tell their dad about my living situation?

It seemed that they didn't expect that to happen either as their face was drained of all colour by the end of the conversation. If they hadn't looked so shocked, I would've assumed it was a trap to experiment on me again.

They obviously weren't okay and I was even less okay with whatever the hell was going on.

"That's all your stuff?" Haresa's dad asked me.

I looked down at my two boxes of items and nodded. I had ended up selling the majority of my stuff in hopes of buying a place but it didn't really help.

He clucked his tongue. "We buy new stuff this week. I pay."

I shifted my weight on my feet uncomfortably. "No, I'm okay, Mr. Saenin. I'm fine with just having a room."

It had only taken me a couple of hours to scrounge up all my stuff and bring it to Haresa's home. Their dad was insistent that I moved in immediately and I found myself unable to say no.

I looked at the empty room in front of me and it felt weird. The room wasn't any nicer than my old apartment but it didn't look like a tornado ran through it. It felt a hell of a lot emptier than I was used to. It doesn't help that I now had to face the fact that I will have to see Haresa every day which included weekends if I planned to take a step out of this room.

There was a lone bed pushed up to the wall and the window had mesh wiring over it so it looked like there wasn't any easy access going in and out of the room unless I wanted to damage some property.

"Haresa's room just across from here. If you need help, Haresa right there." Mr. Saenin pointed to the box on the ground. "Need help?"

I shook my head and crossed my arms. I could feel myself shrinking into myself. "No, I just... where's the closest public bathroom?"

"Public... Why?" He looked confused which only confused me.

"My old place didn't have one. Since this is your house, I thought that the bathroom would be off—"

"No. Too far. Stay in house is easy."

"I don't want to disrupt your home." I could easily just use my watch once I put in the coordinates of the room.

"You no walk to public bathroom. Too much trouble. Bathroom perfectly fine here. We have one upstair and one downstair so you can use either."

I bobbed my head awkwardly and my eyes wandered over the room.

"Also, you use testosterone?" He asked. "Have to know how often you go see doctor."

"I don't," I said.

"You don't what?"

"I don't see any doctors."

He let out a string of unrecognizable words under his breath. "What you do then? Binder?"

"No," I paused. "Puberty blockers."

"How long?"

"Um..." I shifted uncomfortably on my feet once more. "I think... four years?"

"What's your plan?"

The question caught me off guard. "Huh?"

"Puberty blocker safe but not good for long time. Bone go weak," Mr. Saenin took out his phone and began to scroll through it. My eyes locked on the device and I felt a small pool of dread form in my stomach. "I'll call friend and we can make appointment to doctor soon. Can talk about what should do next."

I don't bother to argue with the older man as I realized I didn't have time to think about my transition as I was just trying to survive the past few years. Did that mean I would go on testosterone?

I was lost in my thoughts for a moment but a gentle pat on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

"This your home now," Mr. Saenin said. "Play nice and live happy. That all I want."

Live happy.

Villains didn't get to live happily ever after yet Mr. Saenin wanted me to.

I don't know if I was an idiot or if it was because he berated Haresa when we were kids when he found out they had locked me up for their poorly executed experiment but I felt like I could at least believe he was being genuine.

"How's the moving in?" Haresa asked.

They stood awkwardly at the door entrance and I instinctively took a step back.

Mr. Saenin glanced at me before looking back to his kid. "Sheldon not have many thing so it very fast."

"Think you'll be redecorating the room anytime soon?" They asked me this but they averted their eyes and looked just as uncomfortable as me.

"Pa, can I talk to Sheldon? Since we go to the same school, I thought we could... discuss how we're both going to commute to school," Haresa said.

Their dad nodded. "Okay, want something special for dinner?"

They shrugged. "I'm okay. You want anything?"

It took me a moment to realize that they were talking to me and I rolled my shoulders back as I thought.

"I'll eat about anything," I said.

"Spice okay?"

My blank expression must've tipped off Haresa as they rephrased their dad's question. "Are you okay with spice?"

"Yeah, I suppose." I thought back to the meal from earlier.

"Okay." Mr. Saenin made an okay sign with his fingers before turning to leave. "Let me know if need anything."

"Will do, Pa," Haresa said and they shut the door behind him.

"You're not going to convince me to join the show off still, are you?"

"No, I don't really care for it either," Haresa sighed. "I just need to lay boundaries with you."

"Like what?"

"No going into my room unless I let you, is one thing."

"If you don't come into my room then I won't go into yours." I looked over them from head to toe and tilted my head to the side. "So, that would mean you're violating whatever agreement you're trying to create right now."

"It'll be put into action once we're done this talk, okay?" They scrunched up their nose. "As I was saying, I also don't want you hogging up the bathroom."

"Don't you guys have two?"

"Yeah, but there's only one good bathroom. The downstairs one is cold and the light switch doesn't work properly."

"So, I can hog the downstairs one all I want then?" I asked.

They squinted their eyes at me. "Why would you want to hog that one?"

"Why would I want to hog the upstairs one?"

They sighed. "Okay, fine. I see your point."

"I don't know what kind of life you think I had while I was away but it's not one of luxury like you're thinking."

It seemed like I towered over them at the moment despite us being nearly the same height. Their eyes were wide and pressed together in thought as seconds passed by.

They straightened their posture and cleared their throat. "Sheldon, accessing a bathroom isn't a luxury. It's a basic human necessity."

I averted my gaze and found myself staring at the ground. No words could describe what I was even thinking at the moment but Haresa seemed to have backed down from whatever hostility they had when coming into the conversation.

"I think that was everything, just... don't be inconsiderate or whatever."

They left the room and I found myself alone again.

I should get started on rebuilding my lair.