The Silence Of Metawin.

A Little Less Sixteen Candles

He wanted to say that he was surprised to see Third's car parked outside his favorite cafe.

But he wasn't.

He knew that it was only a matter of time before he was confronted, and to be honest he was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier. Perhaps he had given Third's intellect a bit too much credit.

He strode over to the car and tapped on the driver's window. Third rolled the window down, face beet red and likely angry that he had been beaten in the element of surprise.

"Oh, pardon me, I thought Win was in there," he lied. Really, it was all too tempting to ruffle Third's feathers whenever he got the chance. And mentioning Win's name seemed to do the trick.

Third kept his composure for the most part though, managing not to clench his teeth when he talked. "Would you care to join me in my car, doctor?" He had no doubt in his mind that he referred to him as 'doctor' because he had forgotten his name.

He smiled. "Certainly."

"Whatever it is you're doing: stop."

Bright put on his best innocent face, which really wasn't all that convincing. "Stop what? Please elaborate, my dear Pattranite."

Third huffed and his car picked up speed. "Stop with the charm and the accents and the movie nights and the sleepovers and all of it. He won't stop talking about you and how much you've been helping him and it's driving me up the wall, honestly."

So Win had been talking about him? He didn't bother to mask how delighted he felt.

"Oh, that makes you happy, huh? I thought it would. That's why we will be terminating your services, effective immediately."

Bright's head whipped around so fast it looked almost inhuman. "What?"

Third looked at him and sped up just a bit more. "You heard me."

His mind thought about what was on his person, mentally searching to see if he currently had a weapon. Likewise his eyes were frantically looking about the car, looking for a potential makeshift weapon. "And you and Win came to this decision together? We have done nothing to spark such alarm."

"Oh, Win doesn't know about this yet," he should've guessed, "But no matter what he wants, this, thing between you two, ends now." His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "I'm the one who pays for these appointments, I'm the one who is going to end them."

"Win will still come," he said with a surety, "and I will still treat him."

"Well, if you do that, I believe there will be more than one friendly policeman who will be intrigued to find out how your psychiatric licence was suspended." Bright controlled his expression so his surprise wouldn't show. "That's right. I would've already gone to them, but the kindness in my heart was telling me that even scum like you deserve a second chance."

He screeched to a stop.

"Get out."

Bright didn't move but took in their surroundings.

"We're half an hour away from my house. Why did you drive me all this way?"

"Cause I knew you were wearing a new suit," he smiled viciously, "and I wanted to help you break it in. You'd better get a move on though, I heard it was going to start raining soon."

Bright looked at him, fire and brimstone burning behind his eyes. Venom pulsed through his veins, aching to get out and burn his miserable, miserable flesh.

"You don't want to do this," he said. "Win will resent you, and you certainly don't want to make an enemy out of me."

"Get out of the car right now or I call the police."