Happy Pills - The Story of Kevin Free

Medicine

A/N: In this chapter I start to play with the "relationship" between Kevin and Diego. This is intended to be a toxic relationship, and I'm not trying to romanticize it or anything, it's just how I imagine them being. I know it's incredibly toxic, and am trying to portray it as such while remaining accurate to the characters. From here on, TW for dub con.

  Kevin had noticed that he was beginning to have trouble with his memory, and he didn't like it.   No, disliking it was an understatement. There was a cold, hollow terror that crept its way through his stomach whenever he noticed the gaps. The gaps that appeared with increasing frequency in his mind whenever he was aware enough to try to count the days since he had been taken to this awful place.
  Yesterday, the day before, the day before that... daydaydaydaydayday how many days had it been? He no longer remembered. He could have been here for weeks. Months. It all seemed to blur at the edges.
  Of course, none of that mattered. Not when the doctor came. That same doctor with the grey eyes. She had done something to him, Kevin was sure of that, but what? That was another gap.   Regardless, he feared her.
  But it still didn't matter, because the doctor brought him his medicine. 
  They had only started giving Kevin medicine recently. Or... it seemed recent? Again, when Kevin tried to think about the number of days, they all seemed to blend together into a fog of indeterminable time. Thinking about it made his neck itch, and it was hard not to touch the collar that, it seemed, had been there so long that it was beginning to feel like a part of him.
  The medicine was good. That was what they told him, and he had no reason not to believe it.   When the days got foggy and Kevin started to feel scared and confused, they brought him his medicine, and it all went away. All the confusion, all of the fear and uncertainty, it all went away, and then he was left only with facts.
  And what were the facts? As he took today's dose with a smile on his face, they solidified for him.
  His name was Kevin.
  He was the Voice of Strexcorp.
  He was safe here. Happy here.
  Always happy.
  And the Smiling God was watching over him.
  It all made sense now, and he felt so very silly for not understanding it before. Before what?   That didn't matter. He understood now, though, and that was important.

  Diego smiled to himself as he read the progress report on the latest attempt to get the rebellious Voice under control. After months of failed attempts and repeated re-education, they had finally found a way to keep the host complacent. Every few days, he would be given pills containing the same drugs used in re-education, and that alone seemed to be enough to keep Kevin's head out of the past.
  Occasionally, Diego found his mind drifting to the Voice. He had been cute before, but the cut-and-stitched smile seemed to make him even more endearing. And now that the drugs were keeping him calm, he was so much more obedient, taking orders without any of the fuss he'd made previously.
  He considered that perhaps it was time to test the limits of this new complacency. After all, it had been so very long since Diego had something to play with.
  It was this exact consideration that led him to Kevin's room after the end of a radio broadcast that had followed the script to perfection. Currently, Kevin was still being held in the cell he'd originally been taken to, and was not allowed to roam the building as freely as most other Strexcorp employees, but Diego had a feeling that might change soon. If Kevin had really become less problematic, as he'd hoped.
  Kevin stood as Diego entered the room, his eyes bright with a flash of fear. Diego hadn't visited Kevin in person for quite some time.
  "Hello sir!"
  "Hello, Kevin." Diego's voice wasn't as cold as usual. Or maybe Kevin had imagined that. "The doctor tells me you've been doing better since we started giving you medicine."
  Kevin grinned. "Oh, yes! The medicine is great! It makes everything less scary."
  "Scary? Were you scared before, Kevin?"
  Kevin tensed, unease pricking at his spine. Had he said something wrong? He decided to answer truthfully. "Yes, but only because I didn't understand."
  "I see. And do you understand now?"
  "Yes sir! I understand! Everything that happens here happens to make Strexcorp better, for The Smiling God."
  "That's right. Good job, Kevin. I knew you had potential. Maybe if you continue to behave, I'll consider taking your collar off."
  "My collar?" Kevin's hand went to his throat as he considered the possibility. No more collar. No more shocks. Wouldn't that be nice?
  "Yes, I can take it off if you're good." Diego had no intention of taking Kevin's collar off, but Kevin didn't need to know that. That particular freedom could be dangled over his head like a dog treat, and from Kevin's reaction alone, Diego knew that he would do anything for it.
  "I can be good! I promise! I'll do anything!"
  That was exactly what Diego wanted to hear. "Anything, Kevin?"
  "Anything, sir! Anything!"
  "I'm going to give you another job, Kevin. One that you can do when you're not on the radio. Do you think you could handle that?"
  "Of course, sir! What is it?"
  Diego smiled. It was a clean, straight, cruel smile. The smile of a man who felt as if he had the world at his fingertips. "You're going to be my pet."
  "Your pet?" Kevin didn't quite frown, since he couldn't really do that anymore, but the confusion did show in his expression. "Like a dog?"
  "Yes. Almost exactly. You will be expected to do absolutely anything I ask of you, with a smile on your face." This wasn't strictly something that Diego needed per se, but his position did allow for certain privileges, and even power hungry monsters occasionally desire affection. It didn't have to be genuine.
  Kevin swallowed. Even with the medicine holding back most of his fear and apprehension, he wasn't sure how he felt about this. Diego's offer prodded at the back of his mind. He could take the collar off. That would be good. He could behave for that.
  "Okay, sir. I can do it."
  "Good boy, Kevin. I knew you would agree. Now, give me a kiss."