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There he was, hands pressed on the cold bathroom counter, mouth recently washed out, and half-lidded – and somewhat blank – eyes boring into the pitiful reflection staring back at him. Otto Mozer, a mid-thirties scientist, sighed to himself at the sight.
He never got like this before; however, ever since he had gotten an assistant for his scientific works, he had have the “””honor””” of going to such attractions like bars and dance clubs either on Friday, Saturday, or both days, late at night, downing drink after drink while his assistant, Dandy, danced and had a gay ol’ time. Otto wasn’t as enthusiastic, so he simply sat in a corner with a delicious drink, appetizing appetizers, and even both if the establishment was extra fancy – until Dandy would possibly drag him to the dance floor for a while…
But…
Another sigh came from Otto as he shut his eyes and placed a hand to his forehead. “That was hell.”
...but it was worth it. Dandy had been such a silly but much needed assistance, and it was only right to allow the man to do as he pleased on their days off. Sure, some would say Dandy was lucky enough to be given free housing, but to Otto, it was the least he could do, considering how he had lost his house in a fire and had to stay at a hotel in the meantime.
“Oh come on,” Dandy’s voice chimed from the other side of the door, “it wasn’t that bad, Otto.”
That was when Otto went to the door and pulled it open, meeting face-to-face with the sheepishly grinning gentleman. He took a breath, and then recalled, “You wanted me to try those darn strawberry daiquiris so badly, and then I became hooked on those stupid drinks while you danced to Hall and Oats until I was a loopy doofus and vomited in the bathroom for three minutes straight. I would have to say this was beyond bad.”
Dandy blinked as he whipped off his jacket and looped the heavy article over a folded arm. “Didn’t you only have three of those?”
“Three too many.”
“Oh yeah, alcohol isn’t really your thing, is it?”
“I’d say not.”
Otto expected Dandy to say something stupid like, “I guess that means we should start toughening your alcohol tolerance” or something similar in nature and meaning; however, to the surprise of the scientist, Dandy bowed his head a little and shrugged, darting his eye off to the side.
“I suppose this was a good lesson for both of us: you, to learn about when to stop drinking when you don’t feel well, and for me to not pressure you into drinking in the first place. Please accept my apology?”
He blinked. Well, true, he should’ve dropped drinking once he was struck with nausea, but Otto didn’t believe Dandy “pressured” him into doing anything; after all, he was a semi-independent adult, truthfully. “I...you don’t need to apologize, I guess. It’s fine. I shouldn’t have foolishly drank myself to the brink of...well, unloading my stomach contents.”
“True,” Dandy agreed with a nod, “but the thing is, Otto,” his eye returned to him whilst he stood up straight, “I’m a gentleman, as you’re well aware. A gentleman doesn’t peer pressure, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Not only that, you’re technically my boss which makes it especially heinous, wouldn’t you say?”
Otto frowned but then sighed once more and gave him a half grin, replying, “We’ve known each other for almost two years, and I still find the ‘gentleman’ thing corny, but I appreciate it.”
This made the silly steam-powered man beam whilst puffing his chest out. “Why, you’re quite welcome! Now, since it’s almost three in the morning and you’re all clean from our weekly trip,” he stuck out his free arm, bending it ever-so as if he expected Otto to link to him, “how about I escort you to your room?”
And Otto, silly Otto, gave into the gesture, one which Dandy used almost every time they returned home from an evening of fun. “Alright, alright, I’ll give into your offer. Let’s go, Dandy.”
Dandy widely grinned, and at that moment, Otto could feel something stir within his chest. Was it the arm-to-arm contact, his grin, or both? Whatever it was, he knew this reaction wasn’t normal of him. If this was a month ago, the short scientist would’ve simply rolled his eyes and complied, but that night...
that night...something felt off, as if he wanted this to happen.
Reactions such as these continued from here.
The door to the house slowly opened, and Otto – whose eyes were shielded by a pair of neon shutter shades – stepped into the house with a huff, and not long after, Dandy stumbled in, donning a pair of his own shutter shades with a grin.
“These...glasses look dumb, Dandy.”
“To be fair, my dear Otto...these glasses are all the rage right now!”
Shutter shades...Dandy had convinced him to temporarily ditch his regular pair of glasses for a pair of novelty ones for the outing that week. Thinking about how he wore those in public brought heat of embarrassment to his cheeks.
“I guess,” he turned to Dandy, poking his chest with an index finger, “and I do mean a pretty big if,” he told him, “I would’ve been a hundred percent alright with these if I didn’t really need my glasses, what with them being prescriptions.”
The grin on the gentleman’s face went away, once he heard the word “prescriptions” emerge from Otto’s mouth. “Oh yeah,” his shoulders slumped, “you...have mentioned that a few times, haven’t you?”
“Twice or three times, if my memory serves me right.”
“Oh drat, let me get your glasses for you, hang on.”
“Uh, okay...”
And as Dandy whipped Otto’s glasses from his coat pocket, keeping them safe from getting lost or damaged, and then gently removed the silly pair Otto donned; however, during the process of removing and replacing, Otto felt the gentleman’s long fingers ever-so-subtly brush his cheeks from both sides whenever Dandy reached towards his face. Despite them being gloved, the foreign contact of another person touching him felt unusual, but comforting due to it being somebody he knew. Dandy’s fingers felt so...so soothing against his skin. Why, though? Why did he like Dandy touching him so? He failed to comprehend the situation. It just didn’t make sense to him!
“Otto?” Dandy’s voice snapped him back to reality.
Otto stared forward and had to restrain from blushing or showing any signs of fluster, scrunching his brows a little. “...what is it?”
“You’re looking a mite flushed. Do you need to go to bed now?”
“...hm, maybe I will.”
“Wonderful! Maybe I’ll do the same; after all, it’s almost three in the morning…”
Otto gave a nod and took a few steps away from Dandy. “Exactly, we need our rest.”
The scientist paused.
“Dandy?”
“Hm?”
“This is going to sound sudden, but does tonight seem a little…?”
No, wait, stop. Keep it to yourself. Dandy was, for certain, going to be confused by the question, but Otto couldn’t help it. As much as a part of him enjoyed the attention given to him by Dandy, this event reminded him of another one; however, try as he might, his brain couldn’t retrieve the memory he was referring to. Otto hadn’t been physically doing well the past five months, so perhaps the faulty memory was an unfortunate side-effect.
“...never mind. Goodnight, Dandy.”
“Well, alright. Pleasant dreams, Otto! I hope you feel better!”
And off Otto went, after giving the gentleman a small wave and nod.
What was wrong with him?
...why did he feel like…?
Another Friday night, another trip out; however, this trip went a lot different. For one thing, Dandy offered to take Otto to the local park for a late night stroll, to get a glimpse of the lovely lights which hung on the park trees due to it being the beginning of the holiday season arriving soon. Otto was a little surprised but gladly accepted that over a trip to a dance hall or bar…
...or brothel like that one time which led to Dandy finding out that Otto, in fact, wasn’t interested in women, but rather men, and men only. Of course, with Dandy also liking the company of men, he had to try taking him to the males-only area of aforementioned brothel, much to the dismay and utter embarrassment of Otto.
...anyway…
Dandy, being Dandy, was a perfect gentleman the entire trip, only talking about innocent things, such as the park’s limited-time decorations, how well the experiments and inventions were doing thanks to their teamwork, and about each other.
This was nice, that was obvious for both members of that outing, but for Otto, this felt especially gratifying. Everything stayed close to quiet during their time together, giving Otto a chance to actually listen and even respond a few times while Dandy – for example – rambled on about love, due to this being a desire of his, that is, walking through the park with a loved one, his “daisy bell” as he put it.
His daisy.
Otto had stolen a few glances over at the man during his love talk, and a few times, he felt a flutter in his chest but refused to acknowledge them much further.
...unfortunately, Otto knew very well at that point that he wanted to be Dandy’s “daisy”, he was certain that was the cause for his flushed face he’d make if Dandy got too close for comfort or even touched skin with him. This had been going on for a while, his developing feelings for the gentleman, and it seemed as though it had gotten worse. Did Dandy even feel the same way?
Dandy grunted as he turned the key to the front door with all of his might. “Drat, this key is being a pain,” he grumbled and then turned his head to give Otto an apologetic look. “Sorry, I should get this open soon. Don’t want you to get a cold.”
Otto refused to take note of how his ears burned at Dandy’s concerned comment about his well-being and, instead, shook his head and shut his eyes. “If anything, you should be worried about yourself with that massive steam tank you have, Dandy.”
“Oh come now, you can’t shrug that off, it’s almost thirty degrees out here, and you’re still in that button-up short-sleeve!”
“...still, I’ll be fine a little longer--”
“Oh bugger, hang on a moment.”
Dandy turned from the key momentarily to whip off his jacket, and Otto was struck with the realization what he was going to do, but did he ever (somewhat) hope that wasn’t the case--
the jacket was placed upon his shoulders with a friendly pat and a smile from the tall man, and then he returned to his pathetic attempt to unlock the door while Otto, glancing down at the long jacket, slowly lifted a hand and pulled the jacket closer to himself, cheeks red from the gesture.
“You seriously put your jacket on me?”
“It’s the least I could do until we get inside.”
“...you don’t have to worry about me, you know--”
“I know, but sometimes,” he grunted as he turned the key again, only for nothing to happen, “sometimes, I can’t help but feel as if you’re not taking care of yourself, that you’re too focused on other things troubling that genius brain of yours. I can’t let you get sick, you’re only human, and I care about your health.”
Whilst the gentleman went back to grunt, grumbling, and everything else as he dealt with a stubborn key, Otto stared at his back and then to himself, clutching the jacket as close to himself as possible, his eyes softening.
“...thank you,” the unusually gentle tone threw both men off, and Dandy had to stop and turn around to look at Otto, blinking. Otto’s face burned hotter and shot his eyes to the door in order to avoid the stare. “By the way, Dandy,” he spoke a bit louder, “which way are you turning the key?”
Dandy blinked. “The left?”
“What?!”
“...I guess that was the wrong way?”
Otto was at a loss of words, sputtering incoherent sounds. “H—how can you be such a knucklehead?”
“To be fair,” Dandy blushed in embarrassment while he scratched his cheek with an index finger, “I was in a hurry to get you inside, and—”
“It’s...it’s okay, just...I’ll do it. Scoot over.”
“Alright.”
Otto joined his side at the door with a shake of his head at his assistant’s silliness. He kept one hand against the jacket which kept him warm while his right reached out and turned the key in the correct direction, a “click” sounding to prove that it was open for them. He could hear a sheepish laugh of the gentleman beside him, so he glanced to Dandy, shooting him a small smile. “Well, I guess I should thank you for this relaxing trip out tonight. It was a nice change of pace from just bars and dance halls.”
Dandy looked as though he was taking in the words and his smile in until a smile appeared upon his own face. “Not a problem, Otto. How about we do something like that next week?”
‘I’d like that,’ his thoughts rung, but Otto chose to respond with, “I...I guess that’d be fine.”
Otto was prepared to open the door, but a hand made its way towards his cheek, cupping it. His heart skipped not just one beat, but perhaps two while his eyes slowly went over to Dandy, the culprit who was touching his face ever-so-tenderly. Otto’s mouth parted, puffing out cold air but words refusing to leave him as Dandy’s long fingers brushed his skin and a few strands of his hair.
He tried again to speak again, even though his voice was weak from shock, “...Dandy…?”
“If you don’t mind me saying,” Dandy said, “but you look cute like this.”
Otto could feel the back of his neck burning at the affectionate attention, but he’d be damned if he believed he didn’t like it. “Oh shut up…” He lifted his free hand to cover the hand caressing his face and then pressed his hand against the gentleman’s.
He felt like he was melting, it was ridiculous! How could Dandy make him feel so...so warm?
Something wasn’t right.
As much as he loved – nay, savored-- the attention, his subconscious was nagging him about how something felt off about this scenario.
Dandy’s smile softened. “I love you, Otto.”
Love…? Dandy...loved him?
…
Otto’s mouth slightly gaped, and his hands dropped to his side, the jacket refused to release its hold on him, which his body was thankful for; meanwhile, Otto quietly stared up at Dandy as his eyes began to sting, burn from...from something troubling the scientist.
This is why something wasn’t right – that “something” was everything that happened.
“I knew it,” a choked sob escaped him, and he hurriedly shot a hand underneath his glasses to wipe off tears threatening to slip from his burning eyes. “This isn’t how it happened,” it sounded confusing to those unaware about the situation at hand, but regardless Otto continued, “I unlocked the door, we both went inside, and then went to bed. You and Bert went out the following day where...you met a woman, a woman who you claimed you saw in your dreams a few times, your…” his voice was growing weak by the second as the tears spilled nonstop, “your, as you called it...your ‘daisy bell’.”
His eyes, those pathetic, failing eyes were filling with tears to where he couldn’t even see Dandy’s face, but just enough to see the outline of his body, because of that, a part of Otto felt thankful for that. He darn well knew he couldn’t face Dandy in such a state.
Otto let out a shuttering laugh, “God, no wonder these few days felt like déjà vu…! It’s a fucking dream, a dream, fabricated by my stupid conscious!”
Things were spiraling, and they were spiraling at such a dramatic rate, Otto couldn’t stand it, especially with “Dandy” not making a peep, just standing there, his hand still on Otto’s wet cheek. Otto knew his body was failing him, he was aware he was being eaten from the inside out from some underlying disease which had a horrific hold on him, but at that moment, even his heart wasn’t safe from the sensation of being mangled away by the shitty pest that lingered inside of humans called “emotions”.
He shook his head, trying to feebly get the fabrication of his handsome, moronic assistant to remove his hand, but of course the hand remained, as if comforting him during his emotional breakdown. “Never, would you say that you loved me,” he admitted to the fake Dandy. “You don’t even live here anymore, you live with her on the other side of town, away from me,” his voice crackled, and boy, did he mentally cringe at the pitiful tone.
He felt like his death was coming sooner than expected; however, as his frantic thoughts strangled him, the sensation of waking up made itself known by the area, the world, everything becoming enveloped in a bright light. Otto realized what was now happening, and even though his words started to fail once more while hot tears drenched his face, he choked out a shaky sigh.
“...th—this is my last chance to say it,” Otto knew his time was almost up, and despite how tired he sounded and the fact that this was only a dream, he said, hardly above a whisper, “I love you too, Dandy. I love you so, so much.”
It felt like slow-motion when Otto woke up with a gasp. There he was, lying on his stomach on the chilly laboratory floor with a pool of blood forming from where his mouth had been. Shakily, he forced his arms to push himself up to his knees through the loud pounding erupting in his head. Rightfully so, he had the urge to vomit beyond stomach contents; however, with a couple of gulps of fresh air, Otto was able to force it back in place. He wasn’t certain how much he could take this illness--
“Otto?”
In a normal situation, Otto would’ve jumped and glared at Spencer materializing a feet or two in front of him, but instead, the scientist struggled to his feet and tossed his useless glasses to the side, panting.
Spencer tilted his head and floated closer to the man. “Otto, are you alright? Your vitals seem--”
Another voice spoke, “Don’t mind him, Spencer, it looks like he had a less-than-pleasant nap while we were out.”
His breathing was just as weak as his legs, but Otto found enough strength to turn around to see Lady Parsec standing at the lab entrance. The galactic being gave him a wave, and Otto’s mouth formed a straight, thin line, his unsteady breathing continuing through his nostrils. God, how he didn’t want Her to see him like that, because he darn well knew She would say something that would annoy him, and he was in no mood to deal with it.
And of course, of course he had to be right.
“Pretty sure, for a human,” She spoke, “sleeping on the floor in your own blood isn’t ideal.”
“…”
“How did this happen, anyway? When Spencer and I left to talk to Terminal, you were your usual, cranky self in the kitchen.”
“...you know well why I’m like this, Highness. I am literally dying, as we speak.”
Spencer, in the meantime, hovered to the discarded glasses, picked them up, and examined its state while he listened to the two with open ears.
Lady Parsec hummed at that. “Suppose you are. That’s a shame, I thought it would’ve been a lot less messier than this,” She waved a hand, gesturing at Otto’s quivering legs and then to the puddle of blood.
Otto sucked in some air through his nostrils and then exhaled through his parted lips, his faltering eyes never leaving Lady Parsec, not even for a second. “Does it look like I care about how I look? Be honest.”
“...well, that’s true. I can even see how puffy your eyes are. Were you crying?”
Otto froze as much as his weakening body could, eyes widening upon the call out.
Crying?
The dream he had woken up from...damn it! He was crying in his sleep? How embarrassing, how...how absolutely, positively
disgusting.
Otto’s eyes went downcast as Spencer worriedly glanced to the scientist from afar. “I had an accident in the lab, alright? I had some last minute adjustments, forgot to put some goggles on, and some chemicals splashed in my eyes. I am fine.”
Lady Parsec gave him a look before slowly approaching the man. Once She reached a few feet from him, She mentioned, “Oh, alright. I could’ve sworn you would’ve been torn up over Dandy and Bert moving to live with – what was her name, I’m struggling to remember – Daisy, I think. I would think it would hurt knowing those two chose her over staying here just because Dandy thinks a dream of his is true enough to hook-up with a woman he just met not too long ago.”
“…”
“It must especially hurt, considering how Bert not only called the two of you his ‘dads’ on accident several times, but also how...well, Dandy was with you when it was just the two of you. But, what do I know? The silly man probably thought of you no more than simply a friend and nothing else.”
That damn--…!
In a surprise move, he gritted his teeth at the otherworldly being and, with as much strength as he could summon, turned and stormed over to the other end of the lab with laboring breaths to check his large desktop computer. He did his best to ignore the blood that escaped his mouth with each cough that wanted to occur. It hurt, remembering how Dandy chose to move out because the literal woman in his dreams came to him at an outing with Bert and not questioning how unusual that all seemed. Dandy having Bert go with him stung.
The realization that Dandy fell in love with somebody else caused a twisting sensation to arouse in his chest.
As soon as he reached his computer, Otto shuddered a gasp, smacking his hands on either side of the keyboard. He could read most of the words on the screen, but try as he might, he couldn’t ignore the ugly reflection of himself in the background.
Spencer spoke up, almost quiet in volume, “Your Highness, I’m sorry for saying this, but Your words are making his vitals worse. It’d be a good idea to let him do what he needs to, if You want him to join our group; otherwise, he could die before he can finish…”
Lady Parsec snorted and then crossed Her arms. “If that’s the case, then he needs to get going and finalize this ‘body transfer’ he was going on about so he can stop taking so long--”
BLAM!
Those hands which had been resting on the counter for support had slammed loud enough to interrupt the conversation. Right as Spencer and Lady Parsec turned to the scientist to see what was going on, Otto spun on his heels and was storming towards Lady Parsec, fire alight in his eyes. He stopped a foot in front of the much taller being and let Her have it.
“Does it look like I’m screwing around? Why do you think I was on the floor just a minute ago? It was because I was trying to hurry in here and do the same stupid thing you’re nagging me about until my heart gave out mid-walk. I am dying, Your Assholeness, of course I’m not going to take my time getting this situated. Do me a favor, please...shut the hell up and let me transfer my body. As soon as I do that, you can do whatever you want with me. I’m yours, like I promised.”
Spencer worriedly fidgeted the useless glasses while Lady Parsec simply stared at the fuming, dying man before Her with a quirked brow.
“Well now,” She admitted, “you have guts to yell at Me in such a manner; however, instead of striking you where you stand, I will make a promise to you as well, since you’re such a huge asset for My domination plan: Dandy is involved with us, as you can tell, so you’ll be able to see him again after this--
“I don’t care.”
“...do you? Be honest with yourself.”
“I don’t care about Dandy! I’m through with him like how he’s through with me!”
And before Lady Parsec could respond to another outburst from the scientist, he stomped back to his computer with a shaky sigh while his hands returned to the counter, weakly clutching at nothing to support him.
Her lips quirked a smirk as She watched the hilariously sad scene before Her while Spencer joined Her side. His fingers, once steady and strong, were now clumsy as they scattered about the keyboard, earning faint curses from the scientist but didn’t deter him from continuing.
At first, She didn’t think Her ability to manipulate dreams were available to Her anymore ever since moving to this planet, but luck was on Her side, and She knew She had to use that power wisely, for She had quite a limited amount of stamina for it and would’ve hated to waste it on something which didn’t have a chance at benefitting Her.
One time would be to manipulate Dandy’s dreams to create his dream “Daisy Bell” that he had mentioned about wanting to woo for the many years She had to hear him talk about it. That stupid man was so obsessed with the thought of “sharing a bicycle for two” with his very own “Daisy Bell”, that he was willingly open to throwing himself in the most outrageous way just to get to her. As for the woman known as “Daisy Bell”, she was indeed real, once simply a dream figure manifested within Dandy’s brain soon created by sheer shenanigans by Parsec, Herself.
The other dream manipulation went to Otto, who was still emotionally vulnerable after a man who he had fallen for let him go so easily to pursue his desired “Daisy Bell”. Otto was much, much more easier to work with; after all, since Dandy left him, he had become even more neurotic than he originally was, unable to figure out what to do, besides give into the obnoxious demands of Her in a state of grief and acceptance. Parsec could tell by how the two interacted fairly recently that Dandy was also developing feelings for Otto, though a little more slow in development in comparison to the scientist.
Those strings did their job and pulled the foolish men who innocently starved for love every which way She commanded them.
Otto buckled and collapsed to his knees, causing Spencer to shoot up straight in surprise. “Otto?!”
The scientist rose with the help of using the counter as support yet again whilst he blinked a handful of times to clear his vision. Otto had to swallow more unpleasant contents from spilling out as he pressed one last button on his computer and then licked his drying lips. His time was just about up, he could tell. It was time for the machines to start the transfer--
“And, this orb-like pod…” Lady Parsec spoke as She prodded a large pod which was currently attached to a machine beside the computer Otto used, “is where you’ll be going into?”
Otto restrained the bubbling in his throat by biting into his lip, hard enough to draw blood as he gave only a nod in reply.
“Hm...it’s...interesting, but won’t you miss the rest of your body?”
“...no.”
A spot in the ceiling above Otto’s form opened, and out came an open clamp. Like a snake, the clamp slithered down and wrapped itself loosely around his neck, Otto remained focused on gazing at the computer screen. Spencer, not in the know about how this “body transfer” was to happen, stared at the device in confusion, especially when he spotted faint sparks emitting from the part which had wrapped around Otto.
“No? I don’t see why not,” Parsec replied to the simple response She received.
Otto’s ears perked when the faint whining which only he alone could hear at first grew louder in volume by the second until it was almost earsplitting. His frail body tensed, but ever so calmly, as if he didn’t know was about to happen, turned his head to look at the duo, specifically Lady Parsec with dull, tired eyes. “As long as I can speak and use my brain, I couldn’t care less about the rest of me. I won’t be needing them anymore.”
His brain gave him one last assuring thought in his body.
Even though it hurt his heart, knowing he was with somebody else...as long as Dandy was happy, perhaps he should be happy too.
...right? Wouldn’t that make sense? After all, he loved Dandy, and he hated seeing the man sad, so…
He was ready to let go of pointless emotions.
Everything went black.