A/n: tysm for 1.1K views!!

Digorn continued to talk at Dot about Nimue and Cynthia, occasionally making creepy comments on their appearances. It was clear that he believed Nimue was better lookswise, but that if he had to choose between the two then he'd go with Cynthia.

It was a weird, uncomfortable speech to have to listen to.

All Dot wanted to do was go back to his room and curl up against Felix so he could fall asleep- and maybe get the man to tell him a story. A nice story, one that was fun to hear: not like the sorts of stories Digorn was telling him.

"And then she- Dot? Are you listening?" He broke off his speech to glare at the hybrid, who was staring mindlessly at the wall while trying to tune out his voice.

"Stupid thing." He spat, and smacked Dot in the head with the now empty glass of water to get his attention. "Hello? Are you listening?"

Blood pooled down the side of his face as Dot jumped and looked to the man in fear, now listening to him completely.

"Oh, I hit you a little too hard there. Crita! Come here!" He called for his assisstant who jogged over with a bandage, swiftly wrapping it around his head to stop the bleeding. It wasn't a deep wound, but head injuries tended to bleed a lot and so it was better to be safe than sorry.

"You alright?" He stroked a thin, pale finger over Dot's cheekbone in a way that made him squirm inside. "It doesn't hurt too much? I'm sorry for that. You should have been paying attention, then I wouldn't have had to do it." Digorn tilted his head to the side and offered a tight-lipped smile, one that looked forced, and fake. "Let's go back to your room now, alright?"

Leaving Crita behind to tidy up the glasses, he picked Dot up and carried the boy back down to his room, setting him down inside close to the door.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" Felix came rushing over to Dot, gathering him up in his arms and inspecting the small head wound, covered by a bandage.

While Tiro remained tucked against the wall on the opposite side of the room to keep away from him, Felix completely ignored the boss as he fussed over Dot, making sure he was okay and that he wasn't in too much pain.

The place where the glass had hit the side of his head didn't hurt too much, it just ached a little: Dot was sure he'd be fine. But what he wasn't fine about was the very fact that the experiments had begun again, and all the uncomfortable things Digorn had told him earlier.

He shuffled himself up close to Felix's chest and nuzzled his face into the crook of the man's neck like he used to, craving the comfort of a tight hug and the loving whispers that came with it.

Felix picked him up and took him over to the base of a cherry tree, where they sat for many minutes, ignoring how Digorn stared at them while Felix rubbed a hand down Dot's back and made sure he was okay.

Finally, Digorn decided to leave and closed the door behind him, meaning Tiro felt free enough to pick up the neon card and hand it to Dot.

"Here," he said, "I thought you might need this." And with that, he was gone: up and out of sight as he sloppily clambered up a nearby tree and sat there in boredom.

"Hey are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Felix allowed Dot to type on the card as he continued to gently stroke his back and his hair, ensuring the hybrid felt safe and loved.

'a litle trial but no pain and not bad'

"That's good, that's good." He spoke gently and kissed Dot's forehead, seeing that the boy was still scared. "What else happened?"

'he got mad and hit me but it dosent hert much'

"He hit you? Oh, sweetheart." Felix held him close again and hummed a soft tune, rocking back and forth in the most gentle way possible so as to make Dot feel better.

The hybrid typed again, looking a little grossed out again. 'he told me werd things about nimue and sister'

"He did? What sort of things?"

Dot frowned and puzzled over what to type next. If he was honest, he didn't entirely understand all the things Digorn had said, but he knew he found them uncomfortable. 'just werd things' he settled on saying, and plonked his head back down onto Felix's shoulder in defeat. He didn't want to think about the day anymore, and he certainly didn't want to think about what tomorrow could bring. He just wanted to lie down next to Felix and give him a great big hug, listening to his soothing voice as he fell asleep.

It was honestly only just past noon, but Dot was so exhausted already that it might as well have been midnight.

"Do you want to go to sleep?"

Dot nodded and curled up into a ball, yawning widely.

"Well, I'll tell you a story then."

Felix placed his hand on Dot's head and rested it there, stroking his hair as the hybrid let himself unwind and forget all about the experiments and his father.

"This is a nice story. And the best part is that it's true." He leant back against the bark of the cherry tree and began to tell the story, grinning as he did so.

"Once upon a time, there was a man called Felix and a hybrid called Dot."

Dot snorted at the cheesiness of being told a story about himself, but allowed Felix to continue nevertheless.

"They were kept in a nasty place by nasty people, and wanted to find a way out. They tried and they tried, making hundreds of plans, but nothing ever seemed to work."

"One day, when a very tall lady came in to give them food, they shoved the weird man that lived with them, called Tiro, into her face and made a break for it. Tiro died, but oh well. Everyone forgot about his existence within a week."

"Hey!" Tiro called from the nearby tree. "There are people that would miss me!"

"You sure? Who?" Felix jokingly returned.

"Yeah, like my girlfriend." He put a lot of emphasis on the last word, and was clearly very proud of this achievement.

"You have a girlfriend?" Felix snorted. "I feel sorry for her. Who is it?"

"Nimue."

"Oh my god- I was right! You two are dating!"

"Yeah!" He poked his head out from behind a nearby branch, inadvertently letting Felix see the blush that painted his cheeks. "She's lovely."

"I doubt that."

"She is, I promise." The man practically had heart eyes and wings, he was so smitten. "But go on with the story, I'm invested now." He darted back to his seat behind the branch and continued eavesdropping.

"So anyway, Tiro died and was missed by his weird girlfriend for a week, but then she realised he was a bit of a loser anyway and got over him." Felix could hear Tiro laughing from the tree next to him, but the man didn't say anything to stop the story, and so he went on.

"Dot and Felix manged to escape by using a combination of their super cool claw attacks and dashing good looks." He shot Tiro a joking smile and smoothed back his hair, making him howl with laughter and clap his hands together. "Go on, go on!" He begged.

Dot wasn't falling asleep to this story, but kept giggling and was clearly enjoying it, so Felix continued.

"Once they were out, they explored the world and everything in it. Dot wanted to see all he could, and Felix was just so perfectly amazing and handsome and cool that he could give him anything he asked for, just like that."

"They lived good, fun lives; exploring by day and sleeping surrounded by people they loved at night. They could go anywhere they wanted, see anything: and best of all, Felix didn't have to live off of bloody cereal."

Dot had calmed down now, breathing steadily in and out as he listened to Felix talk about the lives they were going to lead.

He just couldn't wait for the story to become reality.