==One==
[Zayn’s POV]
It’s been one year since I started working here. One year exactly. It’s taken one year but I’ve finally memorized every bend, twist, and turn of this building of science. I’ve become part of this organization – I live and breath this organization. When I’m not here within the darkened corridors, I’m either stuffed away in some lab conducting experiments, or I’m sitting at my desk in my spacious office. Either way, I’ve made it.
However, today wasn’t just my one year anniversary for working with Dr. Tomlinson, oh no, it was much more than that. Today also marks the sixth month of me being panic free. I’ve grown as a man and as a human being. I’ve learned to cope with my anxiety and with my algophobia. However, I do have some scares that occur as I work, but they don’t escalate into a panic.
I was working at my desk, typing the day’s results on the Hybrids. Each creature seemed to be doing fine. They were growing well. They weren’t showing signs of danger. They were eating and drinking regularly. And most importantly, they weren’t showing signs or characteristics of the animal they were generated with. That is a huge success on it’s own. This meant that each experiment was that much closer to being safe enough to be let out into the real human world to disguise themselves as humans and live a ‘normal’ life. I was finishing my daily report when Dr. Tomlinson walked into my office,
“Malik, I’d like to congratulate you on one full year at this establishment. I’m very proud of you in many ways.” I examined the features of Dr. Tomlinson’s face. It’s been a year since I’ve met the man and he still looks the same as he did back then. His face still appeared as soft as ever, except for when he didn’t shave, then the facial hair he proudly grew, grew in a nice chestnut brown colour, when most men his age already suffered from gray hair. The man’s lips still held their pink colour and never were chapped. And his face was wrinkle free. The blue in his eyes still held onto their shine and weren’t giving it up anytime soon. Dr. Louis Tomlinson was still an overall beautiful man.
“Thank you, Sir.” I gave him my gratitude as he complimented me. “Take a seat if you’d like.” I added as I noticed him eyeing the chair on the other side of my desk. He happily sat down and we discussed today’s results for a bit. He seemed pleased with how the Hybrids were developing. I too was very pleased. A few months back there was one Hybrid who didn’t react well with the cross species generation and it was a nasty sucker. It kept harassing the other experiments, nearly killing them. We had to get rid of it or all the hard work we put in to creating the other Hybrids would’ve been wasted.
“So, Zayn,” Dr. Tomlinson began, “Since you’ve been working here for a year, I have another proposal I’d like to give you.” I tilted my head in curiosity, parting my lips as I watched Dr. Tomlinson intently. He didn’t speak as he simply awaited a response from me.
“And what may that be?” I questioned as I prompted my elbows onto my desk and clasped my hands tightly together, growing more eager for the new proposal he had for me. Dr. Tomlinson stood up and asked me to follow him. We locked my office and headed down the cool hallway, towards the chamber where we keep the successful projects. As we walked, we heard the echo of our footsteps as it was already 7:48PM and no one else except for Hybrids were in the building. Once we approached the chamber, Dr. Tomlinson tapped in the code and the door unlocked. The two of us walked in and I watched as the Hybrids, behind the thick walls of glass, stood up straight and stopped speaking to each other.
“It’s alright everyone, you can continue talking.” Dr. Tomlinson chuckled, giving permission to the Hybrids to continue their conversations. We took a turn in the chamber and found a boy standing outside of the glass. As we walked up to the Hybrid, it turned around and looked at us, “Zayn, I want you to meet out first and most successful Hybrid known to date, Niall Horan.”
“Hi, Niall.” I said, extending my hand to shake its hand. Niall eyed my fingertips and scoffed, slapping my hand away in disgust. I shifted my weight and brought my hand back to my side, “Alright then… So, Dr. Tomlinson, what was it mixed with?”
“Mixed with?” Niall growled, “Did you just ask what I was mixed with?” This was the first time I heard his voice. He had an Irish dialect – the first time I’ve also seen an Irish Hybrid, “I wasn’t mixed with anything you fool. I was born, much like yourself. And for future reference, I’m not an it either, I’m a boy. Would you like me to prove myself?” Niall spat, already angry with me. I remained silent and he just let out a small laugh, “Pussy.”
“Now now, Niall, calm yourself. You’ll have to excuse Dr. Malik. He isn’t familiar with our old ways of cross generation, he was only brought on last year,” Dr. Tomlinson assured Niall, “Zayn, Niall here wasn’t created the way we create Hybrids now. He was physically born and we injected him with the DNA of a cheetah. He was the last successful Hybrid made from that method of cross species generation. But now we take a fertilized egg and mix it with the genetics of an animal.”
“I’m sorry, Niall.” I apologized, bowing my head in Niall’s direction, but he only rolled his eyes and waved me off. I swallowed the spit sitting in the back of my throat and told myself to relax. I was afraid of Niall, and I think both Niall and Dr. Tomlinson could tell. I began to feel anxious and scared that Niall may hurt me, but I wasn’t going to panic. Not after six months of no panics. Today wasn’t the day to panic, “So,” I choked out, “A cheetah? What characteristics do you have, Niall?”
“I’m fast.” Niall said, almost immediately after I asked my question. I nodded once and looked down at my feet, a sudden rush of awkwardness overflowing inside of me, “And I have sharp teeth.” Niall continued, biting down heavily. I only nodded once more.
“So, Zayn, the proposal I have for you. If you decide to accept it, which I hope you do, you will be given a generous raise along with a bonus.” Dr. Tomlinson spoke, “So, I am ready to release Niall into the world outside of this laboratory and I need a place for him to live.”
“You want me to let him live with me?” I spoke out, the fear apparent in my voice.
“Not only live with, but you’re going to have to fend for him, show him the basics we couldn’t show him in here, and help him grow as a person.” Dr. Tomlinson smiled at me, and then at Niall. I turned to face Niall; the expression on his face was unreadable.
“Well, ask Niall.” I said, dumping the decision onto the boy Hybrid. I saw him swallow as he looked at me. The blue in his eyes were scanning my body as if he was determining whether or not I was fit to have him live with me. He crossed his arms and I noted the flex in his biceps. His arms looked huge. This triggered my eyes to look down his body. He was wearing a tank top that sat above his washed out skinny jeans and a pair of white shoes – Supras – I believe. His frame was small, yet muscular. He seemed dainty, but powerful. This Hybrid, Niall, was hard to read.
“Sure. I’ll live with him.” Niall finally spoke out, “Just don’t piss me off.” He warned, uncrossing his arms and placing his hands on his hips. I wanted to know why he warned me, but I didn’t trust my voice to ask in a confident tone, so I remained silent, once again.
“Great. Thank you so much, Zayn. Niall, you’ll leave with Zayn at the end of his shift at 9:00PM tonight. If you want, Niall, you can be excused with Zayn into his office and wait in there while he finishes up today’s report.” Dr. Tomlinson suggested, to which Niall grinned and nodded, starting to walk around the bend and to the exit of the chamber. I followed Niall, leaving Dr. Tomlinson and tapped in the code for the door, opening it when I heard the unlocking ‘click’. Niall followed beside me in silence as I directed him to my office.
When we got to my office door, I opened it and Niall took a seat in the chair Dr. Tomlinson sat in, and I sat in my own. I lifted up my laptop and picked up typing from where I left off at. I was typing for about ten minutes and I felt Niall’s gaze on me. It made me feel uncomfortable to be so close to a Hybrid, who if got angry, could cause me such pain. I shuddered at the thought of pain, something the old me would scream and cry at.
“What are you typing?” Niall asked calmly. When he was calm he was less fearful and more enjoyable. I liked the calm and collected Niall. I smiled at him as I looked away from my laptop’s screen and told him what I was typing, “Sounds boring.” He chuckled.
“It is.” I agreed with a nod and laughed myself, “So, Niall, I take it you’ve never had a cell phone before?”
“No. Why would I? I’ve been trapped in this place for my entire life.” Niall groaned. I chuckled at his response, to which he narrowed his eyes, “Why?”
“I’m going to have to get you a phone then, Niall.” I answered, looking back down at my laptop. I heard Niall gasp a little, but I didn’t acknowledge it.
“You’d do that?” He asked but I didn’t respond, only because I needed to finish my report before we left. I typed for what felt like forever, but eventually finished my report and sent it to Dr. Tomlinson’s e-mail address.
“Ready to leave, Niall?” I asked as I turned my laptop off and packed it into my briefcase. Niall nodded and we left the building. Once in the car Niall seemed a bit confused. He opened and got into the seat perfectly fine, but when he glanced over to the buttons displayed on the dashboard, the confidence he had been wearing the entire evening vanished. I quickly explained what each button did and he nodded.
“Niall, put your seatbelt on.”
“My what?” I looked over to the boy and he gave me a confused look, honestly clueless about what a seatbelt was. I chuckled and leaned over him, grabbing onto the seatbelt and buckling him in, “Oh…” I heard him mumble as I turned the key in the car’s ignition and brought the car roaring to life.
Niall seemed amused as I started driving. It was actually really cute watching him get excited as I drove down the highway. Eventually when we got home, I told him I’d explain to him what every was in the morning, but now we had to go to bed, “Where will I sleep?” I heard Niall ask as I walked into my bedroom. I had completely forgot that I had nowhere for him to sleep.
“If you don’t mind, you can sleep either on the couch or in my bed with me?” Niall pondered the options and smiled weakly, a hint of read forming on his cheeks as he spoke,
“Can I sleep with you?”
“Of course.” I returned the smile and we both crawled into bed, “Oh and Zayn?”
“Yes, Niall?”
“Thank you so much for this.”
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So, I said once I hit 200 followers I'd start updating this beauty, so here it is! I'm really excited for this. I have the total idea planned. I'm going to try to write this one a bit differently. So, that's it for me now. Did you all like this? Let me know. Please? Okay? Okay.
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