THE BABY MILL [[{SHINee}]]

THE BABY MILL [[30]] CRABS

            For some reasonMinHocouldn’t fall into one of his routine naps. Every part of him, from his toe nails to the tip of his aching member, tingled with the prospect of what lingered in his future. There was not one second that his thoughts weren’t revolving around methods of escape. His inner tiger was scratching at the bars of his cage and biting until his gums bled. Nothing could soothe his anger save for the presence of JongHyun; not that he’d admit it to his roommate. Something about another person living and breathing in the same room as him calmed down the wild fires threatening to overpower him.

            He owed part of his unrest to the fact that JongHyun had been pulled out of the room for his time in the showers. The pink and blue badge had been the first thing he’d seen when he’d been rudely awoken. Fear had made him grip the sides of his shirt until he realized that the workers were reaching over him to his still snoozing roommate.

            If he played dead long enough there was a chance that they wouldn’t see him. His logic didn’t much work the more he thought about it because if they had a schedule for him they would yank him out of bed anyway. Still, there was always that reflex of precaution.

            JongHyun was pushed on the shoulder, rocking the whole bed with the rapid shifting of his weight. Knowing that he was always a bit on edge it came as no surprise to see that he jolted awake. His eyes adjusted quickly, sleep barely noticeable with the wild look restricted within his eyes.

           MinHofelt a hand grab his forearm. They were nearly as rigid as he was but they soon relaxed when they saw who was hovering above them. By then the floor manager already had that satisfied smirk on his face. Everything about his expression was meant to snub him; a mark of victory for having startled him.

Knocking them down another step in the ladder was all the floor manager’s did. Pride in degrading a person, and not in aiding them.MinHoalways wondered if they ever worked outside of the institution. The more he contemplated it the more improbably it seemed. Their lives most likely revolved around this place and the big, fat pay check that put the food on their tables and the diamonds on their fingers.

            JongHyun got up before anyone could touch him again. He ambled aroundMinHo, leaving him the wall side of the bed where he quickly scuttled over to. Unlike when he got taken away, the whole procedure was silent and uniform. No insults, no snarls, just a simple, “Time to wash up, twenty-seven.” The simplicity of it astoundedMinHo. He was never able to silence his sounds of protest when the workers came for him (blame the tiger). It wasn’t in his nature to be tossed around… Having been raised with a multitude of siblings he’d picked up a thing or two about defending what was dear to him. Like the snippets of pride he still had tethered to him. They could strip him of his dignity but he would never surrender all of his pride.

            This aspect of him is what explained the way his lip curled and how he snarled at even the lightest touch of a worker. Which is why he was always so startled when JongHyun kept his lips shut. He’d end up coming back in one piece, though, making it easier forMinHoto cope with his anxiety…

            He paced back and forth, from the toilet to the bed and back again. Occasionally he caught his over grown toenail on the sheet that hung off the corner of the bed and growled obscenities into the empty room. His striped blurred with the patches of orange fur that clung to his drooping frame. The tiles amplified the clicking of his claws as he bounced from wall to wall.

            A shower slot had always been precious time otMinHo, but he’d never hated it more than now. How long did it take to lather soap over a body? The worker must have been lazy…