Thaddeus

"Oh, I'm so grateful to the blessed Elders that our dear Thaddeus was lucky enough to be paired with someone so sweet and capable! I mean, just look at all of this, how did your tiny little self manage to make so much delicious food?!" My mother, Clementine, praised, reaching over the table for her third piece of salmon as she shook her head incredulously. 

She always did have a flair for the dramatic, and I guess today she decided to act as if she'd never had a basic fucking meal.

Meanwhile, Bug sat next to me at the table, nervously pushing his food into their own little pockets around the corners of his plate. The same food he had yet to take a bite of for the entirety of the night. His cheeks flared bright with the same, crimson blush that always seemed to stick to them, and I internally groaned at the sight. 

How could he be such a little pussy and not even have one? I swear, nothing about this kid added up to me. 

"Thank you very much, ma'am." He replied softly with a tiny smile, looking up nervously from underneath his wispy eyelashes as if my mom was some kind of higher being. 

He was obviously not used to receiving so much attention as he simultaneously attempted to shrink away behind his wavy curtain of hair that was currently being held back on one side by two small, light blue clips.

"Oh, don't you call me ma'am, that makes me feel like someone's grandmother!" My mother replied with an amused smile, waving her hand dismissively at Aria as if what he just said was absolutely ridiculous. "Plus, you're family now. Call me Clem, dear." 

My mother was obviously completely enamored with Aria, even though the Bug literally hadn't done a single damn thing to deserve it. The moment he answered the door to let them into our Pod, she was immediately cooing over how tiny and adorable and such an honorable gift from the elders he was, as if she were in some sort of personal Aria fetish club.

"Thank you very much, Miss Clem." Aria corrected himself, the humble smile never leaving his lips as he stared down at his salmon as if it was the most interesting artifact in the world. Meanwhile, my mother continued to stare across the table at him as if she was hooked on the sun and stars.

"Oh, you are just a little sweetheart!" My mother continued her gushing, her eyes crinkling at the sides with the force of her wide smile before she turned towards Aria's parents who sat beside her. 

"You both must be so proud of yours. I wish I could get mine to behave so well, but it seems like we lost that battle long ago." She placed a piece of salmon between her lips, covering her mouth with one hand while she chewed and using the other to point her fork between Bug's parents and me. "Maybe you two could whip up some kind of mutation for Thad too!" She added with a nonchalant chuckle, although I knew that she probably really wasn't kidding. 

"I'm not quite sure that even our technology is up for that challenge." Aria's mother, Bea, respectfully grinned back at my own, a kind and playful glint in her eyes as she spoke. 

Aria's mother was an alright-looking woman with mid-back length brown hair, thin, almond-shaped eyes, and glasses that sat atop her small nose, making her look just as smart as she apparently was. His dad, Milo, sat next to her, looking equally as nerdy with his round glasses and one of the ugliest Elder-approved cuts for men in The Society. 

Earlier on in the night, we had learned that Aria's own parents were actually the scientists that developed whatever fucked up mutation allowed Aria to have kids. Since then my mother fell even deeper in love with Aria's entire family, to my complete and utter disgust.

One of my favorite pastimes was regularly bullying all of the nerds back in Instructional, so you can imagine how humiliating it was for me to now have to suck up to them.

On one hand, I hated how damn happy my mom was was about this fucked up situation, but on the other she made it a lot easier to maintain our lie since she was so delusional. Hell, we barely had to talk to one another this entire time, instead my mom just blabbered off at the mouth for ninety-percent of dinner. 

I barely contained the automatic reflex to roll my eyes at my mom’s stupid joke, but I couldn't help the scoff that slipped through. 

"Listen woman, you and I both know that if you ran my genetics, you'll find that I was perfectly engineered." I gestured up and down my body, a cocky grin pulling at my lips as I confidently leaned back in my chair. "I mean, just look at the material."

My mother's gaze slowly shifted back to me, and I narrowed my eyes in irritation as she lifted her free hand to her mouth in the manner that she usually does when she is attempting to stifle a laugh. 

"Oh, sweetheart..." She replied dismissively, a rogue chuckle slipping through her lips as she swiftly shifted her attention to Aria who sat beside me. 

"...Anyways, how have you been adjusting to this pairing, dear?" Her voice immediately became softer, as if she were speaking to a skittish animal that could run away at any moment. "I hope that Thaddeus here hasn't been too difficult for you, I know firsthand how stressful and scary the first few weeks with your new SoulMate can be." 

The little Bug immediately began to squirm at the loaded question, uncomfortably shifting his weight around in his chair and slowly blinking his downcast eyes as he tried to decipher the best way to respond.

I stared at the side of the boy's face, my eyes burning with the heat of one-thousand suns as I tried to telepathically remind him of just what I would do to him if he didn't comply with our little deal. Bug clutched either side of his chair in terror, small knuckles turning a pale white from the tightness of his grip. 

It was obvious that he was struggling to keep up with the lie that we had planned, his far-away, zoned-out expression only confirming my suspicions. 

This kid was totally the type to tell an Instructional Instructor that they forgot to check our homework database for the day. 

AKA, one of the kids I fucking hated. 

The table was silent for a few moments longer than I was comfortable with as Bug took his sweet time battling his morals. So, as anyone else would do, I kicked his shin underneath the table with the toe of my Construction Unit uniform shoe. 

"It's certainly a real relationship!" Aria immediately squeaked out in a high-pitched voice, jumping in his seat like he had been electrocuted at the exact moment that the tip of my shoe made contact with his skin.

If I wasn't currently attempting to put on the best act of my entire fucking life, I would have face-planted right into the table. It was painfully obvious that Bug was the worst liar in the history of The Society, but I guess I shouldn't have expected more of a literal mutant.

The burden of being so much better than everyone else was a heavy one to bear.

"Sorry guys, Aria here has been so nervous about today for a while. Isn't that right, babe?" The words burned like vile vomit as I forced them out from between the spaces in my teeth, simultaneously wrapping my arm around Aria's shoulders for added effect in an effort to make up for his pitiful, pitiful lying abilities.

Aria just nodded his head quickly in response, as I'm sure that his ability to use his voice was long gone. 

"...But to answer your question, we are doing great, couldn't be happier. I'm so sorry for the scene that I caused at the Ceremony, I was so awestruck by this little Bug's beauty that I just became so... so... overwhelmed." My lips pulled into a tight smile while I shoved an almost catatonic Aria further into my side.

Holding him like this made made the tips of my fingers itch with the urge to push his unnaturally soft body away as far as I could manage, but I somehow managed to power through the torture.

"Oh, I could just cry! You even have a nickname for him already?! The elders have truly blessed us with this pairing, I can't believe my baby is all grown up!" My mother made a squeaking noise and her chair slid across the polished floors as she jumped up from it, practically ripping her travel tablet out of her pocket in the process.

"Okay, can't resist anymore, I just have to get a picture or else I think I might die!" She said as she tapped frantically on the glass screen, holding it up towards us when she finally opened the camera application. "What the heck, don't just sit there! Kiss, kiss!"

My blood instantly ran cold in my veins at her last words, my body involuntarily tensing in disgust as I tried to figure out a way to get out of this one.

"Mom, will you just stop? You're literally being so extra right now." I pressed, rolling my eyes at her advances as I tried to hide my panic beneath a faux sarcastic exterior.

No matter how committed I was to our act, I wouldn't be caught dead kissing this little freak. There was no way. 

Best case scenario, my mom would just ease up like she usually does when I tell her off.

But of course, nothing seemed to be going my way these days.

"Now Thaddeus," My mom's eyes narrowed as she glared daggers across the table at me.

"I cleaned your diapers, fed you, and took care of you tirelessly every day for the last eighteen years of your life. The very least you can do is give me a cute picture of you and your SoulMate in return, a peck on the lips never hurt anyone!" Her free hand rested firmly against her hip in the way she only does whenever she’s serious about something. "Don't you dareembarrass me in front of these fine people! Now kiss! Chop chop!" 

Fuck. My. Life. 

"Fine, damn!" I groaned aloud, unable to keep my frustration at bay as the words bubbled across my lips. I turned toward Bug, knowing in the deepest, darkest pits of my soul that there was no way in hell that my mom was going to back down now. 

At this point, Bug's fingers were frantically trembling in his lap as he stared up at me with wide, panicked eyes. I could tell that his little pea brain had reached its boiling point, his level of stress probably extraordinarily beyond its limit and impairing his ability to comprehend what to do next.

Therefore - as usual - I had no choice left but to use my perfectly genetically engineered brain to come up with a solution.

I quickly pondered my very limited options.

My first option: I could just tell my mom to fuck off, but that might cause an unwanted chain reaction from Aria's parents, who might go to the Elders with concerns about my conduct. 

...And then there was option two. My entire body felt like it was vibrating with utter disgust as I finally steeled my resolve.

 If there was one thing that Thaddeus Axon is not, it's a pussy. 

So – before I could second guess myself and end up vomiting all over the kid at the mere thought... 

I did it.

…

…

Hold up…

Bug's lips were… soft?...

A little bit too soft, actually...

Soft as in, made of the softest cotton that the Farming Unit grew every season to make new sets of the Elders’ robes.

But even that wasn't soft enough. 

They felt like the silk fabric that my mother spent all of our Spending Credits on one month, the same fabric that I slept with every night for years because it helped me through my night terrors.

The shutter click of my mother's travel tablet taking our photo was lost to my consciousness as I remained, frozen in my spot, combing desperately through my brain in an effort to figure out how?

How they felt... so... 

... so -

Luckily, in what was probably no less than a second later (but felt like an entire day), the soft whimper that escaped Bug's throat snapped me out of whatever fucked up stupor I had somehow been manipulated into.

Goddammit, his fuckin’ Mutant toxins were definitely the blame for making my brain short the hell out. That was literally the only reasonable explanation. 

My fingers curled into the thin, brown hair at the nape of Bug’s neck, gripping it tightly and yanking to rip our lips apart.

But even then, our eyes remained locked, a distinct cloudiness behind Aria's irises indicating that he was just as entranced as I was.

But, I didn’t have time to dwell on it.

The PA system crackled to life just in time, saving me from having to deal with any more confusing thoughts. As The Elders always said, ‘rogue emotions are always better left in their place, unspoken and unrecognized..’

"Attention, Society members; Introduction Day period will be terminated in T-minus ten minutes. Visiting families, please return to your Housing Pods at this time. Those found out after curfew will be punished as Society laws regulate. Goodnight, and remember, long live The Society of the People." 

"Well, our time is up! It was great to meet you both. I really am such a stickler for the rules. Better safe than sorry, you know?" I flashed a plastic-y smile as I stood up in my spot, heaving a heavy inward sigh of relief as I was able to find an excuse to finally release the Mutant from my arms. 

We said quick goodbyes to both my mother and Aria's parents, practically shoving them out of the door as quickly as we could before my mom could ask us to send a kissing picture to her travel tablet every day. 

“I love you sweetheart! Take good care of each other now, oh I just know the Elders are so proud of you two! I can’t wait for your father to meet Aria as well, working overtime is stressful but at least he is doing it for the best of our Society!” My mom practically sobbed, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. “I know that you will make me proud and be just like him one day, oh my bab-”

At that point, I was so damn burnt out from faking nice that I couldn’t bother to formulate a response. So, instead I just tapped the control panel that slid our Pod door closed, leaving my mother to talk to herself out in the hallway. 

It was then, and only then, that I whirled back around to face the source of all of my current problems. 

Bug remained seated quietly at his spot at the table, staring at his lap as my pressurized anger finally bubbled over from the dangerous place that I'd repeatedly pushed it into throughout the night. 

This kid really needed to be taught a lesson.

 __

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