desire ; johnten [ ✓ ]

SIX

johnny's eyes finally fluttered open, his mouth opening wide as he let out a yawn. that was a refreshing nap — how long had he been asleep for?

right then, the pleasant smell of fresh pizza filled his nose and he sat up straight, looking towards the kitchen from where he sat. he saw the sight of ten taking out a pizza out the oven and placing the delicious-smelling food on the counter. his face instantly broke out into a smile just by seeing it.

"perfect timing," ten spoke with a small laugh. "i made pizza."

"i see," the other retorted, sliding off the couch to go join him at the small dinner table. there was thankfully already two seats there, not that johnny ever used to second one other than to place random things there that would eventually start to stack up. he expected the pile of things to still be there, but it had been moved aside and neatly placed on his nightstand. no one else but ten could've done that.

"you've got a knife i can cut this with?" ten asked, gesturing a gloved hand to the steaming pizza.

"er..." johnny remembered where it had gone — left on the floor outside his flat, most likely broken to pieces because of hulk stepping on it. plus, the risk of going back outside to get it along with the other knife that got left behind is unnecessary, with monsters likely to pop out from anywhere. "i used it to fight against that monster to save you, so there's no chance i'm getting it back."

ten nodded slowly. "ah... unfortunate."

eventually, they decided on using another one which worked just as well. soon, there was a slice of pizza on both of their plates which they happily ate at the small dinner table. it was especially a relief for johnny, who hadn't eaten at all for a long time ever since he gladly gave his ramyeon to ten for him to eat. he hadn't felt hungry but rather full for the rest of that day, as if seeing ten eat was enough for him. it was, a voice in the back of head murmured.

halfway through their little lunch when the pizza only had two slices left for both of them, ten asked, "how are you feeling?"

"great," johnny answered cheerfully with a smile as he was lifting up his current half-eaten slice of pizza to his mouth. "why?"

"i was just checking," ten retorted, returning his smile. "since, y'know..."

"oh yeah," johnny nodded, glancing down at his torn shirt. there wasn't any bandaids, not there was need for any. the deep cuts that should've been there completely disappeared as if they never were there in the first place. he was suddenly reminded of his head injury that had gone away just the same — what the hell?

for all of his years alive on this earth, he's never been able to heal himself ever after getting hurt. it's only started to happen when he got his first nosebleed, since there was never any signs of him having one after he blacked out. but those didn't leave any signs of blood and his shirt was still stained with some... so those were still dreams or whatever the hell they are.

"are you okay?" ten questioned suddenly, sounding concerned. cut johnny from his thoughts, making them look at the other male across from him. "you seem off. i didn't say anything wrong, did i?"

as those words left his mouth, his tone rose a pitch or so, sounding more upset than concerned. something in johnny instantly felt the urge to comfort him that it wasn't his fault he was looking rather... like he just realised something pretty unsettling, if you ask him.

"no, no," johnny quickly said. "you're fine. you only asked a question."

the same monster in his chest from before purred it's approval at his response. at the same time, ten's panic calmed and he no longer looked so upset. but for the rest of the meal, neither spoke, preferring to eat in silence.

****

once more, someone was rushing into the bathroom late at night with a heavy, rushing nosebleed — but this time it was ten. though a situation like this could easily be handled by holding your head up and stuffing too torn pieces of paper towel up your nose, but his eyes were wide with obvious panic. it was bleeding way too much and he was surprised he wasn't already feeling awfully lightheaded.

he did the best he could, reaching for a piece of paper towel to wipe his nose, but it never seemed to come off, no matter how blood red it became.

"no..." his voice was nearly quiet. a chilling laugh, ringing in his ears loud as an echo followed afterwards, making ten look towards the mirror in the bathroom. right there where his reflection should be was a replica of himself, only with grey skin and lifeless black eyes, compete with a pleasure-filled expression.

"it's not gonna do anything," it said in his own voice, echoing around the small space of the bathroom. "you're the expert on this stuff. you know what's wrong with you."

"w-wrong with me?" ten asked in a small voice, now tasting the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. his reflection laughed again.

it leaned forward, it's entire body blurring before returning back to clear. "you're infected."

"infected?" ten repeated.

"yes, where do you think your little outburst from earlier came from?" the reflection nodded. "don't worry your pretty little head though, johnny will still love you. you're both monsters."

those words lingered in the air for a moment, chilling ten to the bone as realisation hit him. he was infected, he could turn into a monster.

"there's nothing you can do," the reflection spoke again, the corners of it's lips curled into a  sinister grin. "absolutely nothing."

with those words, ten blacked out completely, seeing nothing but pure darkness, the words "you're infected" repeating over and over again in a faint whisper.