Donald fell to his knees and Kingsley continued to hug him close. Gray was confused by Donald's behavior and meowed. Donald let out a quiet chuff to reassure Gray that they were safe and that these people were safe.
Although Gray trusted Donald, he still was reluctant to trust these new humans. Rather than approaching them or letting them near him, he decided to just play with Sprite instead. Sprite happily played with his friend.
"Why can Donald recognize Kingsley but Gray can't recognize us?" Rowan asked.
"Cub's mind...is broken..." Donald's voice was raspy and strained. "Cub...can't cope..."
"Cub?" Jake questioned.
"Cub..." Donald pointed at Gray. "My brother...mine to protect..."
"Brothers? You two aren't brother," Alex said.
Those words angered Donald and he roared at them. "Cub is my brother! Cub is mine to protect!"
"Okay, okay!" Ben protectively stood in front of Alex and tried to diffuse the situation. "Gray is your brother!"
"Do not take away my brother!" Donald snarled at them. "I kill to protect my brother!"
"We won't take Gray away," Ben quickly told him. "We won't take him away,"
Gray stomach growled loudly despite having eaten a few cans of cat food earlier. When Eugene tried to give him the bags of food, Donald growled at him. Kingsley took the bags from Eugene since Donald seemed to only trust him. He opened the bag to reveal the multitude of convenience store snacks that the Eungang had bought.
Gray grabbed a triangle gimbap and tried to bite through the plastic. Donald gently took it from him and opened it for his little brother to eat. Gray happily ate the gimbap and then asked for Donald to open another one. Donald did so and Gray quickly ate that one up too.
"You can eat some of the snacks too," Ben said, noticing that Donald wasn't eating.
"Cub eats first," Donald simply said as he opened a bag of chips and a boxed lunch for Gray.
After Gray devoured the chips and boxed lunch, he was finally full. Due to his belly being filled, he was also a bit sleepy. He curled up beside Donald like a house cat and began to sleep. Donald took out another boxed lunch but rather than shoving his face into it like Gray had done, he attempted to use the provided chopsticks to eat, although it proved quite difficult with his hands being lion paws so he opted to just eat with his paws instead.
"I brought some bread from your favorite bakery," Kingsley handed the loaf over to Donald. "I bought a loaf everyday because I knew you'd one day return,"
Donald split the loaf into two and handed half to Kingsley. The two boyfriends ate the bread together. Once Donald had finished the boxed lunch, Kingsley opened up a container of sushi from the bag and fed it to Donald. At first Donald hesitated because he thought he'd accidentally injure Kingsley with his fangs, but he slowly and gently ate the pieces of sushi.
"It's getting pretty dark," Teddy noted. "I gotta bring Sprite home,"
The other boys also needed to get home too but they were all reluctant to leave Gray and Donald alone in the abandoned building. "Donald, I'll come back," Kingsley told his boyfriend. "I'll grab us some blankets and pillows from my apartment but I'll come right back here, okay?"
Donald really didn't want Kingsley to leave but he nodded. "Okay..."
XXX
Rowan:
It's so weird hearing Donald say
he's Gray's brother and him
being protective of Gray
Gerard:
Yeah, what's that all about?
Kingsley:
I think Donald's mind convinced
itself that he is Gray's brother in
order to motivate him to survive
by giving him a purpose
Alex:
I don't completely trust Donald
after all the shit his Union has
done to us but I'm only letting
him stay around Gray because
Gray trusts him
Alex:
I don't completely trust Donald so
the moment he becomes hostile
towards Gray I'm ready to fight him
Ben:
I don't think Donald will ever hurt
Gray as long as he's convinced that
they're brothers
Jake:
What about when Donald recovers
enough to realize that he and Gray
aren't brothers but instead they're
enemies?
Ben:
Let's worry about that when the
day comes
Ben:
For now let's worry about trying
to get them comfortable with us
Eugene:
Shouldn't we take them to the
hospital?
Teddy:
Yeah
Teddy:
They were experimented on so
it's best they get medical
treatment as soon as possible
Kingsley:
I think we need to regain their
trust first. Donald recognizes me
but I can tell he still doesn't trust
me as much as he did before.
Kingsley:
They're most likely terrified of
hospitals and doctors.
Gerard:
They're terrified of everyone
XXX
Kingsley kept his word and returned to the abandoned building with multiple blankets and a few pillows. Donald placed a blanket over Gray first before settling down beside him. Donald still kept an eye on Kingsley as the latter also laid down beside Donald and threw a blanket over them to keep warm for the night.
"Is this enough?" Kingsley asked. "Or should I bring out more blankets?"
Donald glanced over at Gray who wasn't shivering at all. Even if it were a cold night, Gray would probably be able to handle colder temperatures due to the snow leopard DNA he had been infused with. "It's fine..."
Donald hugged Kingsley close but made sure to keep his claws retracted so as to not accidentally scratch him. Kingsley gently traced with his finger the area where the lion traits and human traits met at Donald's forearms. Fresh tears began to well up again, but he did his best to hold them back.
"How long?" Donald asked quietly. "How long...were we missing?"
"A year," Kingsley answered. "You and...your brother...were missing for a year," He did his best to keep his voice steady but it began to break near the end. "I searched for you, Donald...I even reported you missing to the police..." He took a deep breath. "But after the police found out you were kidnapped by Mad Dog Arena..."
Donald flinched upon hearing that place's name.
"They said that the chances of your being found alive were close to zero..." Kingsley shifted closer to Donald. "They said that Mad Dog Arena operates several bases around the entire world...and that all governments still struggle to deal with them..."
Donald carefully and gently wiped Kingsley's tears away.
"You must think I'm pathetic, right Donald?" Kingsley chuckled hollowly. "You're the one that suffered...yet I'm the one that's crying,"
Donald stayed silent and hugged Kingsley closer. He didn't think Kingsley was pathetic. In fact, he was still rather touched that someone was willing to cry for him.
Word Count: 1066
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|Weak Hero| Of Fangs and Claws
FantasiDonald Na and Gray Yeon were both kidnapped. For a long time, the police searched but the case went cold and everyone lost hope. A year later, they were found. They had suffered severe abuse, including human experimentation, in the hellhole known as...
