Once the boy had left, Aris finished showering quickly, taking a couple minutes to decently dry his hair before changing into a fresh uniform and heading out. Now that dinner was ending, a couple inmates were wandering the halls, flowing gradually from the cafeteria to the recreation rooms. He headed that way, too – the infirmary hall was in between, on the opposite side of the cells.

None of the healthy inmates had any reason to go down this narrow, dimly lit hallway – but he had no reason to fear it. It was a perfect hub of researcher gossip, as long as he put up with a bit of free service.

At the end of the narrow hall was a small metal gate leading to the grey zone, guarded by two guards on either side. Most of them were used to seeing him by now, and didn’t pay him much attention as he stopped to open the infirmary door on the right.

It had also been dinner time for the researchers and the room was quiet. As far as he knew, the inmates received meals at adjusted times of the day – usually an hour earlier, and they had all finished eating by now. Most of the patients were asleep, though a couple people were gathered around the television in the corner. In addition to the large, communal room with about fifteen beds, there was a small kitchen, a preparatory room, and five private rooms for inmates with particularly disturbing symptoms.

The people who worked here were a combination of researchers and nurses – about six of the latter, with one researcher whom they loosely called the “doctor.” The other researchers dropped in from time to time for various reasons. Most of them didn’t pay any attention to Aris – they had seen him before, and knew that he didn’t like to talk.

His jobs were simple – change the patient linens, refill water buckets, and perform general clean-up duties. Occasionally the nurses would ask him to distribute painkillers to patients, if he came at the right time. Although the inmates weren’t given any kinds of treatment – there weren’t any, for the flesh-eating virus – the researchers were at least generous enough to provide painkillers.

Though right now, he wasn’t here to volunteer. The reason he was here was the woman standing at the edge of the room, in front of the locked preparatory room door. Saram Lara noticed him almost immediately and straightened, placing one hand on the doorknob.

In a silent agreement, Aris followed her into the room. She shut the door, locked it, then hit the light switch. A small row of white lights flickered on overhead, illuminating a row of counters along one wall, and some tables and chairs along the other.

They took a seat. Saram was starting to get used to his glare of dislike, Aris noticed. The woman rarely displayed her previous jittery fidgeting anymore. If anything, Saram only seemed agitated because of a smile and an excited gleam in her eye.

“Alright, what is it?” Aris asked warily, seeing that she seemed to be waiting for his approval to speak.

Saram almost jumped up in her chair. Aris flinched back at the sharp movement, but she was just slamming a piece of paper on the table. “I’ve found it!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “Look at these electrophoresis results!”

After casting her a suspicious look, Aris looked down at the piece of paper. It was a print-out of a black and white image, with rows of small black rectangles in a larger white rectangle. He stared at it for a couple more seconds, giving her the benefit of the doubt, before he gave up and lifted his head with an impassive glare. “Okay?”

“Ah, sorry!” Seeming to realize, Saram pulled the piece of paper back with a flush and rolled it up in her hands. “I was so excited, I forgot that it doesn’t mean anything to a normal person.”

“And what’s so exciting?” Aris sighed, leaning back in his chair. What was he doing… sacrificing his recreational time to come see this woman, this researcher.

A smile back on her lips, Saram beamed back at him, and despite himself he felt a little bit of his irritation dissipate. “The detailed results of Rai’s blood analysis came in. I think I’ve determined why Rai is immune – the NF-I virus works by targeting CTLs, cytotoxic T-cells, and turning off the specificity mechanism. Normally our CTLs only attack sick cells, but when infected with the virus they start to attack any cell in the body. There’s a specific complex on the surface of cells involved in the specificity interaction, and we know the virus binds to a cofactor needed for that complex to work. Now normally, when that cofactor is compromised, the CTL doesn’t activate at all – it shouldn’t kill any cell, infected or not. But what the virus seems to do is it increases the affinity of that cofactor for the complex – it doesn’t compromise it, but improves it. Once the cofactor binds to the complex, the virus does something to the entire system that causes the CTL to recognize any cell as infected. But in my assays I noticed that Rai has an abnormality in that cofactor. He has a mutation.” Finishing with a triumphant flurry, Saram stared up at him with expectant, glistening eyes.

… Now I know how Fang feels. Aris nodded slowly, still trying to process the information that Saram had just shot at him with lightning speed. Something about the virus screwing up the on-off switch of immune cells, and Rai having a weird on-off switch that wasn’t affected by the virus.

“Ah, well, I guess it doesn’t mean anything by itself…” Saram admitted with a sheepish chuckle, leaning back in her chair a little. “For almost every disease there are individuals with mutations that allow them to be immune. But that doesn’t really give us a way to treat the virus any better. However,” she continued in a brighter tone, holding up her rolled-up piece of paper. “I checked up on the mechanisms of the mutation and found that it’s actually a lucky misfolding of the protein – only a slight one, insignificant enough for the protein to work without allowing the NF-I to actually bind. So – if I can somehow induce that slight misfolding in someone with a normal protein, then they’d also become immune, and we’d have a cure! A permanent vaccine!”

“And how are you supposed to do that?” Aris said warily, shifting uncomfortably in the small, metal chair.

“Have you heard of a prion, Aris?” Saram asked, tilting her head curiously.

“Do I look like a scientist to you?” Aris growled, mimicking her head tilt with a glare and crossing his arms.

“Maybe,” Saram laughed, ignoring the irritation in his green eyes. “A prion is a type of infectious disease, but it’s caused by a protein. Mad cow disease is one example. A misfolded protein enters the body and induces misfolding in other proteins, leading to disease. I have a colleague who researches prions and he’s been designing ways of using prions as treatment for certain cancers to stop tumor growth. Although it’s still a bit too early to say, it’s our best lead for now, and I have Director Luey’s permission to bring that colleague here so we can continue our research.”

“Alright cool,” Aris said impatiently, getting out of his seat. “Congratulations. This all has nothing to do with me. Why don’t you go and tell Rai and Han?”

“Ah, but it does…” Saram’s enthusiasm trailed off, becoming tentative as she gazed at him. “I can’t generalize my findings until I prove that the same thing happened in the other immunes. Han’s results are still being generated and I have my fingers crossed, but even then that’s not enough. Also, I need a lot of mutated protein in conduct research, and it’s not very common unless the body is actively fighting infection. I’d need to inject a deactivated virus into your bodies, wait for an immune response, and then take blood samples. Having only Han and Rai isn’t enough. I need your help, Aris.”

“You’re going to what?” Aris growled, grabbing the doorknob. “Forget it. I’m not Rai or Han. I have no reason to care about what happens to people who aren’t immune. It’s the same as your colleagues, right? These people are just criminals. The world is better off without them.”

“Aris, please! I’m not like my colleagues, I’m not here to take the easy way out!” Saram’s pleading voice stopped him from opening the door. “I’m here to change things. We can’t keep going like this – and you know as well as I do that being a criminal means nothing to the virus. There are people here outside of the high-security wing, too. Normal people with families, children even. And even then so few people can even afford the vaccine. I’m not here to earn money like they are, Aris, I’m actually trying to do something good. I just want to help you – you have to trust me!”

“Trust you?” Aris murmured, glancing back at the woman and hating the desperation in her face. Why did they have to show him that kind of face – why was everybody giving him that kind of hopeful, pleading stare? He couldn’t do anything. He had never been taught how to help people. “Why should I trust you?” He was speaking quietly, but it was thick with bitter venom. “I’ve been sold, beaten, raped, tortured, and used as a killing machine by people who told me to trust them. Tell me why I should trust you.”

“… I…” Saram trailed off, taken-aback a she cast him a wide-eyed look suddenly brimming with pity. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry… b-but I’m not like them! I’m a good person, or at least, I’m trying to be –”

“Prove it,” Aris snarled, pulling the door open and turning his back to her. He glanced over his shoulder briefly, green eyes narrowed and glittering with contempt. “Prove to me that you’re different. Then I’ll consider helping you.”

He left the infirmary in an angry flurry and had to resist the urge to knock over every piece of equipment along the way. Stomping down the corridor back towards the main hall, Aris remained in his cloud of dark thoughts for a couple more seconds.

A cure? Why now? Why, after what’s important is already gone?!

But as he started heading back to his cell, the air conditioned hallways cooled his head and Aris took a deep breath. Well… whatever, that woman already had Rai and Han’s cooperation. He didn’t see                                                                                                                                          how one person would make a difference. Even without his help, she should be able to finish her research anyway – the whole desperate act was just to lure him in. But no – no more, he wasn’t going to let himself become a tool again. Not for those researchers.

As he turned into the cell area, he had to pause at the corner to let two men out and caught a glimpse of their conversation.

“Rai’s cell is complete chaos right now, they turned those AVs up to max volume.” One man was laughing. “I saw him drag the new kid inside, too.”

“Eh? The one with the bleached bangs? I thought he was Aris’s woman. Tao was spreading it everywhere,” the other man said, before noticing that Aris was standing there glaring at them and looking away quickly with an embarrassed laugh. “Ah! Speaking of Tao, where is he? Haven’t seen him all day, not even at the market…”

Right, it was market day. He’d been so busy avoiding the recreational area lately that he had completely forgotten. And he was supposed to pick up that book from Rai’s vendor buddy, too…

Maybe he gave them to Rai. Reaching the front of his cell, Aris paused, hesitating as he considered paying them a visit. From the sounds of it they were having an AV party – something he didn’t want to be involved in again, but at the very least he could drop by and ask Han. Anyway, knowing that Fang was there was bad news. The boy probably didn’t understand what Rai’s definition of a party was, and he didn’t want Fang to return at night stinking of semen.

Making up his mind, Aris turned away from his cell and headed back up the hallway, to Rai’s cell. Though the thick cement walls kept most of the noise inside, he could hear the faint echo of laughter and a hoarse shout. Gritting his teeth slightly, Aris knocked on the metal door.

It took a couple minutes but Rai eventually opened it for him.

“Well hey, look who’s come to join the fun!” Rai grinned, grabbing the front of his uniform and pulling him in. The door shut behind them, leaving Aris feeling trapped in the small space with the other seven men. Han was sitting on his bunk – Fang was, for some reason, kneeling in front of him. He was staring at Aris with wide eyes. The other four men, Aris recognized vaguely as Rai’s buddies. Two of them were leaning over the table, around the old computer, and the other two were standing. At the moment, everybody was still mostly clothed.

“No, I’m here to ask if you got my book,” Aris grunted, taking a shallow breath of the sweaty-smelling air in distaste. He’d never managed to understand why Rai thought it was fun watching other guys jerk off…

“Oh, actually, we did!” Sounding immensely proud of himself, Rai went over to the table and reached up to retrieve a small plastic bag from an upper shelf. He turned and tossed it to Aris with a dark grin. “How’re you gonna pay me back huh? How about sucking me off? I’ll even let you listen to porn while you’re doing it.”

“No, thanks, I’d rather not,” Aris said warily, glancing furtively over at Fang. The boy was still staring at him – it was subtle, but there was a faintly pleading glimmer in his dark eyes. It made him want to chuckle. Rai had probably failed to mention that he’d invited other guys to the party, too. “And… I’m taking the brat back,” he said after a moment, gesturing with a finger for Fang to come.

Looking relieved, Fang made to get up, but in an instant Rai was by his side and shoving him back down.

“Whoah, hold it, first you interrupt the party now you’re screwing up the game?” Rai said indignantly, placing his hand on Fang’s head and ruffling the boy’s hair furiously. “Fang owes Han a blowjob. He can leave afterwards.”

“… This game, again?” Aris sighed, edging himself into a less-cluttered corner and setting his book down. Rai’s favourite game was a parody of spin-the-bottle. A bottle was spun twice and whichever two people were selected had to play a second game – sometimes it was arm wrestling, sometimes just a simple rock-paper-scissors battle. The loser had to give the winner a blowjob. Apparently that made it more entertaining to the others, and the winner could concentrate on the porn without having to do any work himself – or at least, that was Rai’s logic. Right now, he could spot the plastic water bottle that they usually used for the game sitting next to the computer. The AV was paused with the camera focused on the woman’s massive breasts.

“Ehh, do I have to?” Fang sounded anxious, his face flushed as he placed both hands gingerly on Han’s thighs. Han’s face was completely devoid of expression, but Aris could see just how tense the man was.

“Yup, because those are the rules, and you’re the one who lost.” Rai smirked, nodding at one of the men beside the computer. They un-paused the video, filling the room with a spurt of high-pitched moaning. Aris felt something near his temple throb in annoyance. “Besides, Han treated all your injuries today right? Just think of it as a thank-you for his services!”

“But I’ve never done this before…” Fang mumbled, seeming to resign himself to his fate as he started rolling down the elastic of Han’s orange uniform pants. He glanced back up at Rai for a moment, eyes glistening in confusion. “Can you teach me…?”

Rai’s laugh mixed in with the other four men’s chuckling. Aris’s fists clenched unconsciously as he noticed delighted flushes appearing on their cheeks.

Damnit, brat, just hurry up…

“Sure! First you gotta take his dick out –” Rai leaned over, helping Fang’s clumsy hands. “Hey, look, Han is hard already, good for you!” He laughed, stepping back to give Fang some room. “Now you just put it in your mouth and pretend it’s a popsicle. Lick it up and down and make it sound yummy.”

“Ah, okay,” Fang said uncertainly, glancing up briefly and meeting Han’s gaze. Both of them promptly looked away, and with a furiously red face Fang closed his eyes and sank his lips around the half-hard organ wrapped tentatively in his hand.  

“Attaboy!” Rai laughed triumphantly, grabbing Fang’s head and shoving it forward.

“Mmnf!” The boy let out a muffled, startled cry and Han winced, grabbing his hair.

“Hey, watch the teeth…”

“Nn… s-sorry…” Fang panted, pulling back for a moment and licking the side of his lips. “This feels… really weird…” he said breathlessly, as in the background the porn actress let out a magnificent moan.

“Weird, eh?” Rai smirked, leaning rudely close and watching intently as Fang tried again. “That’s not what I usually hear from a guy sucking another man’s dick.”

“Leave him alone, Rai,” Han muttered, a pained sort of grimace on his face as he kept his hand on Fang’s head. “Ow – ow, hey, wait…” he grunted, pushing Fang away with a flinch. “It’s alright, let’s just… continue with the next round,” Han sighed.

“S-Sorry…” Fang said abashedly, wiping the glistening fluid off the side of his lips. Aris, realizing that he’d been holding his breath, sighed faintly and turned away.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Aris announced gruffly. He was a man, after all – if he stayed here too long he was probably going to end up with an erection, too. From listening to the AVs… not from staring at Fang’s piqued expressions, or anything.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Rai complained, grabbing Fang by the back of his shirt. “You can’t just skip out on your turn because you suck at it! Hey Aris, come and play a round with us as compensation.”

“Do you want to die?” Aris said warily, uncrossing his arms threateningly.

Unperturbed, Rai just laughed boisterously. “Oh come on! Otherwise Fang’s gonna have to pay for his lack of skills with his ass – and I’ll make sure all of us get a turn with it,” he added, wrapping both arms around Fang’s waist from behind.

“H-Huh?!” Alarmed, Fang tried to twist out of the boy’s grip, but a flinch crossed his expression and Aris remembered that the boy was injured.

“… Or is it okay if we return him crying and smelling like slut?” Rai said darkly, baring his teeth in a venomous smirk.

“Rai –” Han began, but Aris interrupted him.

“Alright.” He wouldn’t put it past Rai to be serious about something like that. Ignoring their faint looks of surprise, Aris pointed at the bottle and growled. “Let’s go, hurry up.”

“Awesome! Hey, heads up everybody.” Rai laughed as the closest man grabbed the bottle and set it on the floor between all of them. He followed up on it, bending down in preparation to give it a spin. “Aris has never lost.”

“What’s the game?” Aris asked, as Rai gave the bottle a firm twist and stepped back to watch it spin.

“How about rock-paper-scissors?” Rai suggested. “Since Aris can’t cheat his way out of that one.” As if on cue, the bottle slowed to a stop with its white cap pointed straight at Aris. Rai let out a guffaw and pointed at the man. “Hah! Serves you right! Now you have to spin it to select your victim – er, opponent.”

Sighing, Aris bent down over the bottle and gave it a spin. He was acutely aware of their stares – Fang, in particular, had a mixture of horror and excitement swirling in his dark brown irises. It spun for about ten seconds before slowing to a stop, pointing straight away from Aris.

“Hey, hey, this bottle really likes you,” Rai said, though his voice was thickly pleased as he stepped over and gave Fang a shove. The boy was still staring at the bottle, stunned. “I did say I wanted to see you and Aris have a go, didn’t I? Maybe we should change it to arm wrestling instead.”

“Can’t change the game rules after you’ve decided,” one of the men rumbled, also looking deeply pleased by the match-up. No doubt he’d also heard the rumor about the two of them.

Ignoring the others, Aris straightened and held out his fist towards the boy. Fang stared at it for a couple confused seconds before lifting his gaze and staring at Aris instead.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to play rock-paper-scissors,” Aris said wearily, reaching forward and grabbing the boy’s right hand. “Come on. Best out of three.” In the background, the AV’s volume had been lowered, but the lusty sounds were still distracting.

Fang bit his lip and nodded as he raised his fist tentatively. Aris frowned, suppressing the sudden thought – fuck, what’s with that cute act? You’re just a loud-mouthed, violent brat. Annoyed, he threw out a scissors without thinking. A loud oooh immediately rose around the room as Fang withdrew his rock, smiling a little abashedly.

But Aris won the next round, and by the third round Fang was looking calmer. Either way, they’d have to do something weird together – Aris knew that already, and it looked like the boy was starting to accept it, too. Even so, when Fang won the last one, Rai and the others leapt up in a boisterous cheer and grabbed boy, shaking his shoulders like he’d just done something amazing.

Amused despite himself, Aris stepped back and exchanged a brief glance with Han. The dark-haired man shrugged, a faint smile on his face. Probably for the best, the man seemed to be saying, if he didn’t want teeth grating all over it.

“Yes!” Rai shouted, fist-pumping the air and nearly smacking a man in the face. “I finally get to see Emperor Aris on his knees! What a day to be alive! I owe you one, Fangie!”

“Let’s get this over with.” Wearily, Aris walked over to the boy, grabbing the front of his uniform. The dumb smile on Fang’s dazed lips faltered as their faces came close, but Aris didn’t kiss him. He just gave the boy a thick glare, making sure that Fang understood – this doesn’t mean anything, got it? Then lowered himself to his knees in front of the boy.

“Ah – wait –” Fang spluttered, placing his hands on Aris’s head only to jerk them away nervously as the man glanced up threateningly. “H-Here? In front of everyone?”

Exasperated, Aris ignored him and swiftly pulled both his pants and underwear down. He was faintly surprised to find the boy’s organ already up and twitching in his face.

What the… he already looks like he’s going to come any second.

Fang squeaked, hands instinctively moving to hide himself, but Aris reached up and grabbed his wrists. Beside them, Rai giggled in delight.

“Where else, Fangie? Did you want to be alone with Aris?”

“A-Alone? N-No, I guess n-not – ah… ahh, wait…” Fang trailed off in a panicked moan as Aris leaned in, fingers twining through Aris’s hair and pulling. “T-That… feels… good…”

“So this is the power of a virgin.” Rai sighed contently as a stream of breathless, half-heartedly muffled whimpers escaped from Fang’s lips. “You make it sound like it feels so good! Hey Aris, you’re pretty good at this huh?”

Pausing for a moment, Aris pulled slightly and returned the brown-haired boy’s smirk with a murderous glare. “So what if I am?” he muttered, rubbing his hand against the boy’s slick base while he spoke. Fang shuddered, his fingers scraping a little helplessly against Aris’s scalp.

“Haha! But it was a rhetorical question, get back to work,” Rai added in a more serious voice, looking like he was thoroughly enjoying the situation. “Heck, we don’t even need the AV, Fang’s moans are so cute.”

… Yeah, damnit. Aris thought to himself, sinking the hard, hot thing as deep into his throat as he could and feeling it swell. Fang’s hands jerked, pulling on a couple strands of his hair as the boy let out another shaky whimper. Shut up a little, even I’ll get hard listening to that voice… He tightened his lips and closed his eyes, sliding his lips back slowly and then going in again, slowly. Fang’s body gave an involuntary twitch and he cried out.

“Ah – A-Aris wait – nngh –!”

The boy’s hands stiffened against his head, holding him in place as Fang jerked back and came. Aris grimaced, surprised, as thick globs of hot liquid spurt over his face and dribbled off his tongue. In the sudden silence, Fang’s exhausted gasps were the only sound for a while.

Slowly, Aris got to his feet, wiping some of the semen off his nose with a furious huff. … This brat… I’m going to kill him, I really will –

Then a sudden explosive peal of laughter interrupted his thoughts and Aris turned to see Rai’s finger pointed at him. The boy was doubled over, his mouth stretched in exhilaration, tears in his eyes as he giggled his heart out. Beside him, the other guys let out hesitant chuckles. Even Han was wearing a musing smile. “All… All over your face! Hahaha!”

Irritated, Aris gathered up some of the thick stuff left on his tongue and spat at the boy. It landed cleanly on Rai’s cheek, immediately cutting off his gloating laugh. Feeling a little better, Aris turned around, fists raised and intending to give Fang a good smack in the face when he realized the boy had collapsed to his knees on the floor.

“… Oi, what’s wrong with you? Get up so I can punch you,” Aris grunted, nudging the boy’s thigh with his feet. In the background, he could hear Rai complaining to Han.

“Eww! Aris is such a meanie!” Rai whined.

“No, you deserved it,” Han replied matter-of-factly.

Exasperated, Aris bent over, sliding his hand under the boy’s cheek and lifting his face. “Hey, seriously, get up –” He broke off, something dark and massive crashing into his conscience when he saw beads of glimmering clear liquid on the boy’s lashes.

“A… Aris…” Fang mewled, glancing up with moisture sparkling in his misty irises and a rosy flush over his cheeks.

Something came over him. In the next moment, Aris had the boy’s limp body in his arms and was walking towards the door.

“We’re leaving,” he growled, prying the door open with his foot and ignoring their surprised gazes.

Although Fang was pretty quiet, his voice kept echoing over and over again in Aris’s head. His name – had that really been his name? He’d never heard such a stirring sound before. And that expression – what the hell was that? Was he… sick?

As soon as the thought manifested itself, Aris felt a jolt of dread. Shoving the door of his own cell open, he hurried inside and set Fang down on his bed. The boy sat up, moisture gone from his eyes now as he returned Aris’s grim stare with an innocent look. His face was still flushed, his lips moist and red-looking.

“… Are you alright?” Aris managed to bring himself to ask huskily, eyes flickering distractedly to the boy’s lips.

“Huh…?” Fang’s breathless voice was hazy – his lids drooped, dark irises clouding over as he leaned forward.

“Are you… unwell, or anything,” Aris explained gruffly, twitching backwards slightly as their noses brushed. Is he going to faint? What is he doing?

“No…” Fang mumbled, his head falling forward and coming to a rest instead against the man’s shoulder. A slight, bewildered laugh puffed out of his lips. “I feel great… that was amazing…”

Aris blinked, realizing with a surge of irritation that the boy had just been exaggeratedly bathing in the aftermath of an orgasm. Annoyed, he pushed Fang’s head away and got up, running a hand through his hair with a heavy, bothered sigh. Damn, he’d reacted so quickly… and here he’d thought he wouldn’t care if anything happened to the brat. So much for that.

Why is it you? Aris thought, scowling perplexedly at the boy’s sparkling, naïve gaze. Out of all my other cellmates, why are you the one who catches everybody’s attention? Why couldn’t they decide to fall for the pitiful grandpa, or the kind gentleman, or the charismatic aspiring singer? Why Fang, the boy whose every little aspect ticked him off, or turned him on, or both… This brat, with the same eyes as Yuya…?

“Hey… Aris…?” Fang’s tentative voice snapped him out of the grey smog coating his vision. Blinking again, Aris met the boy’s glistening eyes and lifted an eyebrow dubiously.

“What,” he said gruffly, averting his gaze. After hearing Fang moaning like that, every sound that he saw coming from the boy’s lips reminded him of something else.

“I’m sorry for… c-coming over your face…” Fang mumbled, hands fidgeting with Aris’s bedsheets.

Right, he needed to wash his face. Aris had just turned towards the sink when he became distracted when Fang piped up hopefully.

“Can… Can I do it again sometime?”

He felt something inside his temple pop. Turning slowly, Aris lifted his fists and rubbed his knuckles together as he returned Fang’s clueless grin. A snarl rumbled from deep within his chest.

“Yue Shantao… grit your teeth.”