by Lucian Bane
Check his profile.
Reginald hit the back button then clicked on Dr. Wolfbane Chason’s name. His spirits slowly rose as he read all the details. “Pretty sure this guy is legit, Bonesy.”
Oh, I don’t doubt he is fully legit.
“I mean legitimately a doctor, Bones. Look, says he works at Our Lady of Mercy. “Should be easy enough to verify.” Reginald clicked the link to the hospital. I mean if he put the link to his workplace, it must mean he has nothing to hide.”
Oh, I’m sure.
Reginald was nearly out of gas with Bones. He strived daily to undo the ingrained slant in his negative brain, pointing out the positives and the little joys life had to offer. And Bones had this knack for shooting it all down, one single shot, right between the eyes. And Reginald could tell he loved it. He figured it was his way of doing bad things without actually doing them and so he tolerated the torture. But God, how he tired of it.
“And there he is,” Reginald said happily, pointing at his name in the list of doctors. “Head psychiatrist. And I’m sure they know he’s at this site, working.”
I’m sure they do.
The persistent mock in his tone had Reginald looking for more evidence to put a rock between his eyes. “Says he’s been a doctor for fifteen years. A son of a doctor. Oh look, he’s from a very reputable lineage of them,” Reginald added.
Then it’s a decoy. Probably has two profiles on here. One to bait, one to play.
Reginald screwed his face up. “What? You don’t know that, how could you know that?!”
You don’t know he doesn’t.
“You can’t prove a negative with an assumption, Bones!”
And you can’t prove he doesn’t have a decoy.
“Bones, this is ridiculous.” Reginald got out a pad and paper for notes.
Why not copy and paste into a document.
“I like the old fashioned, thank you.”
Yes, Mr. Virtueson.
Reginald clicked his pen and nodded with a wry grin. “That’s right. And don’t you forget that. And FYI,” Reginald said, holding his pen up. “I’m not discrediting your concerns here. I’m merely not giving them merit until there is proper evidence.” He made notes and then paused, considering their subject. He really did need to get at her real story was on here. But how could they learn that? If Bones had his way, they’d be running down every person in there in search of the doctor’s diabolical decoy. There was no way of knowing, not if the man wanted to hide that.
“What if we compared IP addresses?” Reginald realized.
He’d use a scrambler.
Reginald considered. “They have that?” He really needed to get up to speed on all the current technological crap. “Wait a minute,” he whispered. “What if…”
No.
“I didn’t even say it yet!”
I see what you’re thinking, and no. We’re not doing that. We are not. Doing. That.
“You agreed to help.”
I am helping!
“You said it yourself. I’m not cut out for this. But you are. Just until we find out her angle. And if you’re right about her, we’re done.”
Reginald held his breath in the sudden silence.
“I’ll draw up a contract,” he added. “And sign it.”
When we find out I’m right, Bones said, then we give this a break. For a year.
“A year?!”
A year.
Reginald tapped his pen on the desk to the beat of his heart. “You got it,” he said, flipping the notebook to a clean sheet.
What are you doing?
“Drawing up a contract. No, no. Don’t smirk, I want this legitimate. And I want you to see I’m serious about honoring this agreement, as well as grateful for your cooperation.”
And?
Reginald realized Bones heard his thoughts. “You obviously already know.”
I do already know. I know I’ll be proving you wrong, Reggieboy. And make sure you don’t give me a pussified name.
“You can pick your own name.” Excitement made his blood race and Reginald was sure it wasn’t merely his own, judging by the way his heart pounded. So, Bones was excited. Reginald wouldn’t mention it though. He didn’t want to rock the boat and scare him back into his shadows.
Reginald couldn’t believe this was happening. So many years he’d imagined this moment, and here it suddenly was. Here he was in the position to finally help Bones. But he’d need to shore up his defenses. Because at the end of every long, exhausting day, Bones was like his little brother. And along the way, Reginald had become more than his protector and guardian. He’d become Bones’ only friend.
CHAPTER FIVE
Bones couldn’t remember the last time he had the urge to pace. He was pretty sure Reginald felt his need, they were finely tuned after being together for nearly a decade. But it was the kind of disharmony you never talked about, you only moved in it. Bones never minded their differences, he even liked them. He liked everything about Reginald. In fact, the man was tailored to compliment Bones’ every sick lack. Bones could be normal through Reginald but fuck how he hated that Reginald needed to make him be something he was not meant to be.
But the one major thing Bones couldn’t remember was now a big problem. When Reginald showed up in his life, he recalled being so fucking relieved. He remembered he’d needed him, but he could not, for the life of him, remember what happened to make him need him. Bones had figured it would eventually come to him, but it never did.
And now. Now, they were traipsing through humanity with a woman, and he damn well needed to remember whatever happened. Because he was sure if he remembered that, he’d figure out why this particular girl irked him so bad. He didn’t like women, but not like this. There was something about her he particularly hated and he couldn’t put his finger on it other than he wanted to take her apart. Literally.
Maybe Reggie was right. Maybe he was being over paranoid, over cynical. But Reginald was clueless about women. Sure they were good. They all had a sweet, beautiful, good side, and they had a wicked side. They used the good to get you in and then you were done, you belonged to them. You did what they told you no matter how much you might beg not to, you did it because they owned you with a ruthless fucking glee.
But not Bones. Bones didn’t play those fucking games. Bones didn’t let anybody hurt him.
Reginald on the other hand… he was a real problem. He needed to send Reginald back to wherever the hell he’d come from because Bones was fine now. He didn’t need him. Every day with Reginald found him feeling, thinking, and doing shit that was leading down the wrong path. Bones was losing control of the parts of himself that grounded him. Reginald was bored, Reginald was curious, Reginald was too goddamn smart for his own good. But his biggest weakness with Reginald was his wanting to oblige him. Why did he have to do that? Why not deny the little shit? Why did he want to give Reginald anything at all? Probably because he couldn’t stand the idea of Reginald having the same existence as Bones. He didn’t deserve that. He was too good for that. Whatever it was, he needed to decide what the hell he was doing with Reginald. Shit or get off the pot because the screen before them demanded a once and for all decision. If he was going to oblige Reginald, he needed to do that and deal with the consequences. If he wasn’t, then he needed to end it. He’d have to find a way to exist without Reginald is all.
Even as Bones debated it, a plan formulated in his mind. He wanted to oblige Reginald but he needed that obligation to result in shutting this shit down. And this site most certainly fucking provided that, thank you miss Sin-a-men-roll. Reginald was sharp. He’d see the truth about the human condition—women especially—and back the fuck off on his neeeeeed to touch all the pretty things. He just hoped to God he didn’t get hurt in that process. Bones couldn’t stand the thought of anybody hurting Reginald in the slightest way, and he was so damn sure vengeance would become imminent if they did.
It would be a delicate dance for sur
e. One that needed to be ended quickly. The biggest obstacle was Reginald’s endless optimism. Some days it was like a supernova in his eyeballs and sent Bones hiding in the shadows. Their universal opposites kept them in a constant struggle, like yin and yang, both nearly as powerful as the other. He had no desire to strive against Reginald or fight him. Except to annoy the shit out of him, in return for having to endure his pesky habits. Despite Reginald denying it, he was one OCD fucker. Bones figured his own sickness was causing it. With Reginald’s virtuous nature came certain vulnerabilities. He was a wide open book and well, that left him wide open to being used.
“What about Axel. Or Ajax.”
Right. A name. Showtime. It needs to fit the world we’re entering.
“What about Knuckles. Or Razor,” Reginald hissed.
Dragon.
“Dragon?”
Dragon Bones.
“Ohhhh,” he said, his fast fingers clickity clacking on the keys. “That’s perfect. Very strong. Dragon Bones,” he repeated in his deepest voice. “Age? Profession, Mr. Bones?”
Thirty-seven. Grave keeper.
“You want to be honest?”
Why not?
“Well… she comes here.”
So what.
“So what if she makes a connection or-or an assumption?
Say I live in Turkey.
“Can’t she find out otherwise?”
Not if we scramble IP’s.
“Ahhhh, yes. You’ll have to help with that one, I have no idea how.”
Bones kept his thoughts close to his chest. He didn’t want Reginald realizing his plan and trying to counter it. We’ll have to check into it. I’m not sure what they have. It was true enough.
“So you’re from Turkey? What about Russia,” he whispered. “Oh, or Ireland! The luck of the Irish,” he said in a heavy accent like they were shopping for Halloween personas.
Maybe we should stick with the US. Just far from here.
“So, like… Florida?”
That works.
He went back to typing. “What part?”
You pick.
Reginald smiled, like it was a shopping date. “I piiiiick Orlando. No, Miami. On the beach. Ohhhh, that would be nice, wouldn’t it Bones? We should really take that vacation we earned and go there soon.”
That Reginald earned. Bones didn’t earn shit. Reginald was being nice, acting like him owning the body that did good things actually counted for something. You brought me here. That’s what counts, is what Reggie would say.
“What about a photo?”
No faces.
“Duh.”
And nothing around here.
“Should we find one online to borrow from somebody?”
Too easy to find out.
“I saw a lot of headless shots in the list of members. We could do one of those.” He went back to clattering on the keyboard. “And the tattoos will fit right in, Bonesy. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad you’re covered in them.”
****
Reginald busied himself getting Dragon Bones all set up and ready to go. He’d expected Bones to slink back into the shadows, but he didn’t. He sat right there in the front, watching. It made it extra hard for Reginald to hide his excitement. He was pretty good at holding his cards close to his chest due to Bones’ various triggers, but he wasn’t accustomed to having him this close and breathing down his neck.
But Bones wasn’t the only one with triggers, and Reginald couldn’t stand when he watched him this close in anything. It made him nervous, and when he was nervous, it brought that need to do other things to keep the nervous from dominating everything.
It was two years since the nervous habits got to the point of noticeable. Reginald knew because they’d become so obvious he’d paused life to self-diagnose the annoying disturbance. He concluded it was Bones’ fault. Bones and his need to hide everything from Reginald is what caused the nervous habits. It wore on Reginald’s psyche like a rash. Bones constantly required Reginald to look at him and when he did, Bones covered certain parts of him, things he found too vile to expose. The look-but-don’t-see- dance was pure stress.
But the longer he was with Bones, the more Reginald wanted to see what he was hiding and so the nervous twitches grew worse. The need to perform the various habits were greatest when Reginald fought Bones to see what he hid.
And then it hit him that Bones was aware of all of it, and even causing his habits to get to the consuming point. Bones poked at the triggers that forced Reginald to leave his issues alone. At first, the idea he’d use those measures irked him. Then he considered how he came to be with Bones and that put it all back into perspective.
In response to Bones’ response, Reginald developed a few distractions himself. And since Bones was too smart to be played, Reginald used what he knew best—logic and reasoning. They were the only things he could use directly with Bones, straight out honesty and old fashioned logic. The gamble was taken, and won.
Well, Reginald had won a foot in the door and now he needed to not drop the ball—which was Bones’ cooperation in this case.
He still couldn’t believe he’d succeeded this far. The man was as impossible as a five hundred year old dinosaur, and yet… Reginald did not miss for one second as he finalized the Dragon Bones alias and uploaded an image of a ferocious dragon, the cold trickle along his mind. If he played his cards perfectly, he was about to finally see Bones. And maybe… just maybe… he was a tad scared shitless at what might be there. The shadows that had always lurked, now loomed bigger, badder, and more brutal than ever before. And Reginald was feeling a lot like David might have before Goliath.
David and Goliath? Where did that story come from?
The Bible.
Reginald jumped at the sudden thought. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me,” he whispered.
You forgot I was here?
The amusement in Bones’ tone said he’d not heard the rest of his inner thoughts. “I forgot you were breathing down my neck.” Totally true. “And I sure didn’t know you were a religious man.”
Bones snorted, indicating one didn’t need to be religious to know of religious things.
A sudden awkward silence settled in, bringing an irresistible urge to tidy the desk. Not wanting to appear rattled or give away cues that he had something to be rattled about, he opened his notebook to a clean sheet and began recording all the personal details. “Just so we don’t forget any of this,” Reginald mumbled to Bones. “You need to memorize them too,” he added, requiring his participation. It was a big part of this whole plan working. The worst that could happen would be Bones realizing that normal wasn’t as hard as he thought. Bones would argue of course with the worst case scenario ending in both of them in the electric chair.
Mr. Dramatic.
Go to her profile again.
Adrenalin rushed in at the request but Reginald took his time getting to it. He needed to hide his excitement in connection to her. He was under no delusions about his sweet Cinnamon Wrolls. She captivated him. But it was the kind of captivating that you didn’t know exactly why or what captivated you, and getting at those answers became necessary.
Bones acted like she wasn’t pretty, but he was a blind fool if he truly thought that. She wasn’t beautiful in the perfect way, but in a something special way. She was a tad on the chunky side, but that only seemed to add another layer of appeal to him. Of course Bones found it weird how she came and did her routine of staring for such a short time at her brother’s grave, crying and then leaving. He said she was punching a time card after guilt duty. Reginald only burned to know what she was thinking? Feeling? Was she praying? Talking to him? Spending time with him because she missed him?
Look at her age again, Bones said when he’d made his way to her page.
Reginald clicked the about button, already knowing it from the first time he’d looked. “Do you think she’d give the truth of that?”
Of course.
&n
bsp; That didn’t seem prudent. But Reginald wasn’t as convinced that she would give that information. She was smarter than that. But then…giving age didn’t really endanger your life. “Are we ready to friend request?”
A heavy silence hovered between them and Reginald suddenly felt the heavy weight in Bones. To him, the decision was one of life and death. “It’s just a virtual reality,” Reginald reminded him, lightly. You can’t kill anybody through the screen, he wanted to say too.
You friend her first.
Another surge of adrenalin hit Reginald. Bones’ obstinacy had returned. To gain that kind of participation was miraculous and the giddy produced was torture to hide. “Fair enough. I need to set up my own account. I should probably have an alias too.”
Probably.
He ignored the sarcasm in his tone. Poor stupid Reginald. The dense and untrained seducer of innocence. “How about something simple, like Chris.”
Something safe. Like Christopher.
“Christopher works.” He quickly typed in the name. “Christopher what? Wilkes? Stroganoff?”
Knight.
Knight?” Reginald smiled, liking that. He liked that a lot. “Sounds very noble. And I live in…”
Not near me.
“How about New York?” He always had fancy dreams of that place. But they were all set in the 1960’s.
Yes.
Reginald typed quickly. “And my age?”
He waited in the silence, curious with the delay.
Forty-two.
“Forty-two? Why so old?”
It’s not so old. Only five years older than me.
“What about thirty-nine?”
Reginald felt the eyeroll urge just before Bones gave his fine.
He typed that in and wondered over his birthdate. “I gave you December 12 for a birthday, I guess it doesn’t matter for mine.”
Do April.
Reginald paused, mostly curious.
Most minds interpret it as a month of rebirth, he explained.
