desire ; johnten [ ✓ ]

FIVE

ten should be scared. but he wasn't.

he hadn't turned into a monster so he should be able to trust him, right? plus, the part of him with the desire to just simply be with someone, just anyone, fought against him ditching johnny simply because of this new discovery.

in the end, ten decided to stay.

he placed the first aid kit aside on the rug, no longer needing to use it. what's he to do now? perhaps cooking can take his mind off of what just happened and johnny could wake up to a nice, warm meal.

ten just had to see what he had, which he found out to not to be much, but it would do. he opened the door of the freezer, searching for something in there to eat.

his eyes trailed down the limited options, finally settling on pizza. removing the frozen pizza from the box, he placed it on top of what it was formerly in on the counter before searching for a pizza dish to place it on. eventually, he found one in the very much full sink. it had been recently used and not washed, but that wasn't a big problem to ten, only a minor annoyance. how could johnny let the dishes build up like this?

he grabbed the wash cloth that happened to be hanging on the faucet and wetted it, using it to scrub off the old pizza stains still on it. ten would use soap, but he didn't feel like searching for it in the cabinet under the sink, the storage space most likely also a huge mess.

since he was kind of living here now (well, the proper words would be "stuck here"), ten would definitely have to organise things around here if the original flat owner wasn't going to do it. he scrubbed hard on the final stain, the old cheese finally coming off onto the rag.

with a satisfied grin, ten dried off the now clean dish and placed the pizza on it. afterwards, he picked up the box to see how long to cook it for and what temperature to pre-heat the oven to.

soon enough, the pizza was in the oven. ten waited around while leaning against the counter, looking around and finally taking in the surroundings of the flat. it was fairly messy to some extent, clothes and other various things thrown around in the small space. it wasn't the worse he's seen, to be frank. the memories of the desk space littered with empty soda cans and chips bags still haunts him to this day.

ten was sort of surprised johnny still hadn't waken up yet. especially with all the ruckus he made earlier just to find the pizza dish hidden among the mountain of unwashed dishes and silverware. growing bored, he figured turning on the tv wouldn't hurt either.

ten headed back over to the couch, searching for where the remote had went the night before. thankfully, he found it on the floor right in front of it. he turned on the tv to live television, just happening to land on the news. the words of the reporter were loud over the soft snores of the sleeping male still out cold on the couch.

"—people are turning into monsters left and right," the reporter was saying, switching the papers around and quickly glancing at the new one. "no one knows exactly why. they suppose it's a curse, since it's only thing that make sense. it cannot be spread in any way illnesses are and it's stumping everyone.

"with more people turning into these hideous creatures, will we ever be able to live normal lives again?" the question lingered in the air for a moment, making ten glance back behind him. johnny looked so peaceful sleeping — in fact, he looked like any other human being. but then, aren't all monsters human first?

yet, johnny didn't seem like a human on the verge of turning into a monster who could easily snap and kill him right then. he saved ten's life and even let him stay, relieving him from the horrors of going back outside into the corridor just to find his way back home.

especially not with his injured foot. ten was already limping around everywhere he went and basically couldn't run properly anymore without slowing down or tripping. that almost got him crushed to death in the first place.

ten felt like trusting johnny was the best decision in this case. if he turns in the future... well, ten could always escape then. he just hoped it didn't have to come to that.

*****

hendery tapped the microphone, hearing the tapping noise made from his fingers echoing around the room. he had finally gotten it to work!

he opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself, thinking of what to say. hendery was really playing with fire here — making the announcement could bring other, alive, haven't-turned-yet humans to join him, but it could also attract monsters who had turned.

there was no one he could really be careful in this situation, but he has to take the chance... and if he was alright, he could see an old friend again. he eased back into the chair, letting out a deep breath.

"are you gonna finally do it?" came a voice from the doorway. hendery turned his head to the dark outside of the office, not seeing a visible person standing there. but due to the familiar voice, he already knew who it was.

hendery smiled. "yeah, i am, jun."

another male stepped into the dim light, revealing his appearance. his eyes were a completely lifeless black along with a bit of his arms faded into black as well, his fingers sharpened into knife-sharp claws. to finish it off, a tail poked itself out from behind him, it's pointy tip aimed at hendery.

dejun didn't put him off in the slightest. hendery was used to seeing him in his half-monster, half-human form a lot of the time.

"then go ahead and do it," dejun retorted in his echo-like voice. "i know there's more people like us. people who haven't given in."

"trust me, i hope there is," hendery responded, watching dejun change back fully into a human. "the more, the merrier."

he leaned forward again, his mouth not too far away from the silver and black microphone. hendery pressed onto the red button.

"hello. is there anyone else there?"

*****
i am considering publishing this to archive of our own. hmm...