Ashes (Tokyo Ghoul fanfic)(Boyxboy)

Chapter 5

Things settled into a more normal routine after Eyebrows visited me. He was very amusing. Easy to tease and startle, he had unknowingly become a new stress relief for me.

One would think I wouldn't have any stress, living in a room with everything provided for me, but no. This room is my stressor. I love it, but a bat still needs to fly, to go and hunt for its meal. But this Bat only gets to roost.

What a lazy bat.

Did that make Eyebrows lazy too? He was here with me again, and had been spending increasingly more and more time in here with me. Once again I was hanging upside down from the lowest bar, Eyebrows in his usual seat.

"You seem to like being in here."

He looks up at me, for once not startled or nervous by my sudden breaking of the calm silence.

"They said I should spend more time bonding with you."

"They want you to control me."

"I think so, yeah..."

"It's fine. I don't mind being controlled by one person. I just hate leashes and cages."

"Isn't this room a giant cage?"

"Oh, so you do pay attention. Of course this is a cage. But it's also a home."

My inner self squirms at the word 'home'. This is no home, just a prison. Of the very very few things I wish for, a home is one of them. A proper home. A place furnished normally, like where humans live. A place with favored company, a warm body to sleep next to.

A safe place.

The door opens, drawing Eyebrows' attention. He immediately stands up to salute or whatever, but I don't move. It's only Father. Father nods at Eyebrows but says nothing, just lays on the couch as usual and begins reading. It takes a little while for Eyebrows to sit back down, and he doesn't restart our conversation. Oddly, I find myself conflicted.

I prefer the safety of the lowest bar with Eyebrows, but I prefer to be down on my cushion with Father. So do I want to be cautious or expose a vulnerable side of me? Caution. I need caution. But... Father does not come by very often these days...

I drop down from the bars after another moment, laying a cushion on the floor and sitting by Father. As I did last time, I lay my head on my arms, though I keep my face turned the opposite direction from Eyebrows. As always, I start to drift off into sleep after a while of sitting there.

And once again I feel the hand on my head in slow, comforting movements.

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