Wednesday 8/13/25

I woke in a fit, the sun was in my eyes, and the sheets were drenched in the collective sweat of two people. Sleep had not been kind to me, and it was evidently not kind to Harley as well. We had both spent the night in absolute shambles, in and out of slumber, with our minds fighting their nature and keeping is tied to this mortal coil for little reason but for our unconscious anxieties. Fortunately, the morning was here, and the day would proceed whether we were ready for it or not. Relaxation could come later, for now, we had to be adults and take care of our responsibilities.

I had awoken first as usual, and I spent the morning going about my typical routine, breakfast was prepared for the two of us, and coffee was brewed. Before I knew it, I was ready to head over to work, and Harley was getting up, preparing for her day as well. Alton would be expecting me today after work, and there was no way I would let him down again, especially after the events of the past week. I had decided that working for home was not working for me, so I opted to go back into the office and resume my life as normal. Fuck letting my brain rest in the comforts of familiarity, it was about time I fought it and pushed myself out of my comfort zone. It was time I got back to my normal life.

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Work went by easily and without trouble, the drama of the prior week was far beyond us, and the company quickly settled back into its normal rhythm. Tasks were assigned, and the newly diminished work force spread them out among themselves as best they could. Assignments would still be completed, sure they would take longer, but at the end of the day, everything would still get done, and life would continue. It was sad, don't get me wrong, it was highly upsetting to see the team and vibe so reduced, but there was nothing I could do to help the situation beside consoling my departed colleagues and helping them find new work as best I could. At the end of the day, capitalism has no love for anybody, profit was the only driving force.

The day passed before I knew it, and I was soon at Alton's house, he greeted me at the door and I effortlessly made my way into the lab, letting my mind focus on the day's experiments. He had been busy whilst I was gone, synthesizing the DNA from the experimental cells we had prepared in the past and confirming their verity. The genes had been adopted as expected, and the cell lines were exhibiting the expected traits. All that was left was to culture them into organelles. So we got to work on that task.

Three cell lines were to be bred and developed into facsimiles of eyes. One with no changes, just a control group based on my current genome, another with the instructed changes as agreed upon, and lastly, another to develop for future experiments, again with the agreed upon changes. The three cell lines would be allowed to grow and develop into prototype eyes as instructed by their built-in coding, and within a few days we would be left with a small set of organs, grown in a dish, to our desired specifications. The whole process was nothing short of magical, and I would be lying If I said I wasn't beyond excited to see the outcome. The fruits of my labor coming to life before my very eyes. Science was truly incredible.

Alton helped the whole time of course, I had done my research, but I very much appreciated his tutelage on these more advanced aspects of biology. He had come down shortly after I arrived with a bottle of wine and poured us both large glasses to sip on as we worked. It was oddly comforting, the whole vibe. One would think unethical genetic engineering in a basement laboratory would be a sleazy endeavor, but something about the warmth of Alton's home, mixed with the wine, and the presence of the man I was slowly getting to know combined well. It felt like we were two college students in our dorm room late at night working on a class project. None of it felt that real, at that moment it was all just a quirky hobby that we were engaged in, and I held on to that feeling as best I could. I did not want to think about the nature of what I was getting myself into, the thought that I would shortly be injecting myself with this drug we were concocting was nothing short of terrifying. So I pushed it down as best I could. I would not consider it until I had to.

With the day's work complete and a glass or two of wine in our systems, we adjourned up to the ground floor. Alton had ordered dinner as usual, and I found the food carefully laid out on the dining room table. The calamari, bolognese, and tiramisu from his favorite local Italian spot were each in their own separate containers accompanied by a bottle of champagne, and a lit candle.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Champagne? What's the occasion?" I asked as I gingerly took my spot at the table and started at my dinner.

He offered me a kind smile at the question and followed suit. "We're making good progress, and I think we both need it."

"Oh, and why is that?" I spoke between mouthfuls of calamari, shit was damned good, and I was beyond starving.

"You seem... distant." He replied, refilling both our glasses. "You're usually a bit more jovial, especially after a big update. I, personally, have had a long day and need a pick-me-up anyway."

The comment took me a tad by surprise, we've only hung out a few times, and he presumed to know me so well? He wasn't wrong, of course, but still, I felt seen. "Yeah, you could say I am, I've had a rough week, what happened to you?"

He thought for a while as he chewed before responding. "Nothing serious, but I've been getting a lot of phishing attempts and multiple people have tried sending me malware, feels like someone is after me. So I've had to beef up my security a bit. What's on your mind?"

Why would someone be after Alton? Sure, he had some specific niche data, but who would even know about that? Out of all the people I knew, he was clearly the best at protecting his privacy. I locked that question in my mind to revisit later, and carried on eating as I thought about how to answer him. Surely, he was a safe person to speak to, right? It's not like he didn't know much worse things about me regardless.

"My...ughh...partner, and I had our apartment broken into the other day, while we were home. I ended up taking a guy down with a dull battleaxe, and using his gun to scare away the other. We weren't hurt, but it's all still playing through my mind."

He just...stared at me, for a solid minute before taking a deep breath and speaking. "Wow, yeah, I get why you're in your head now. I really don't know what to say. Did they catch the second guy?"

"Not yet." I replied curtly, taking a sip of my champagne and continuing to dig into my food.

"Well, have hope, I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of this. I'm glad you're not hurt."

"Yeah, same, we got lucky."

He sighed. "Well on a brighter note, now you know what it feels like to smash a bloke in with a battleaxe. I'm sure that was satisfying."

"Oh yeah, it was." I chuckled, "Should've heard how the other guy yelped when I fired the warning shot too, it was kind of funny."

"Was it just a warning shot?" He asked while looking deeply into my eyes.

"Oh my god, yeah Alton, of course, I'm not that kind of person, even if they deserve it."

His question had me stunned, did he really think I was the kind of person who could do that? Am I that kind of person? I don't think I am, but recent events were certainly providing plenty of contrary evidence.

"Good." He replied while sipping his bubbly. "The last thing you need is a charge right now, it would be self-defense, but best not to take chances on a couple of idiots. I'm glad you're okay, Vivienne." His tone dipped significantly with the last sentence, indicating the sincerity in the statement.

"Don't start catching feelings now, Alton." I chuckled. "For all we know, this whole experiment is going to go tits up, and I'll end up with super eyeball cancer." I was deflecting, of course, but I wasn't ready to really put myself out there that much.

"Or maybe you'll gain the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes!" He said with a smile and a shrug.

"Knowing my luck, they'll shoot out backwards and give me an impromptu lobotomy." I downed the rest of my glass and made to refill it, but was stopped by his hand as he picked up the bottle and filled it himself.

"Relax, you deserve it, enjoy your meal."

"Wow, what a gentleman, did they teach you that in that fancy British college?" I mused, accepting the filled glass and returning to my meal.

"No, I learned it from my father." His smile dipped ever so slightly. "He taught me how not to treat the people I care about."

His abrupt honestly startled me for a moment, I could only imagine how he learned that lesson, but best not to pry. "I'm sorry to hear that, you deserve better."

He simply shrugged and refilled his own glass before motioning for a toast with a grim smile. "To educative childhoods."

I replied by dinging my glass against his. "And the complex adults they breed."

We sat in silence for a while after, finishing our meals, clearing the table, and adjourning to the couch. The bottle of champagne had been finished with ease, and we resumed drinking with a new bottle of red he had just opened.

The house was pleasant in its relative stillness. It was warm, cozy, and a fireplace video was crackling on the tv. It all set a mood of peace and serenity, and had the effect of making me feel much more human than I had felt in the last week or so. It was centering and assuring, and I damn well needed that tonight. I opted to break the silence first after a while.

"Do you mind if I spend the night? It's getting late, and the pasta has damn near immobilized me."

"Of course, love, the guest room is always available should you require it. Do you want to go up now, or will you keep me company for a while?"

I smiled gently and replied. "I'll stay a while longer. Let me just text Harley and let her know. I appreciate it." I shot the text off quickly and laid deeper into the overstuffed couch as he put a show on the tv. It was a sci-fi number about a couple of android colonists who'd just landed on an exoplanet. He'd been trying to get me to watch it for a week or so, and was clearly more than happy to use the opportunity of my company to push it on me. I chose not to protest, simply letting myself enjoy the moment.

Spending the night at Chloe's tonight, I'll see you tomorrow baby.

11:42 PM

No worries! Don't spoon her too much! Love you!

11:44 PM

Love you too <3

11:44PM

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I woke up the next morning, with a raging headache, in bed, next to Alton.