♡ Akito Shinonome

It was cold, really cold. Once, you knew freedom and happiness, even if inferior and looked down to, you could be your own self, even if having to be careful; it was a nice while. Breathing in the fresh air and living like anyone else would, like any other functional person would. But as soon as you had it, it got ripped apart. Somehow, your kind stopped being seen as human. It was painful, being chased like animals and being pushed down on your knees to beg to run, the worst possibility was torture; as human as you may be, for them, your kind only works as test subjects, as things to chase and mock with death, even if your kind tried to escape and defend itself, it got to a point where it was pointless. Either pets, test subjects or toys, that's all your kind got to be.

It was painful. The hospital bed was cold and hard, being injected things that you didn't even know what they were was scary, yet at the smallest sign of fight you were tied down like an animal. Those of your kind that dared to keep fighting back ended up being put down to sleep forever. It wasn't human anymore, that way in which you got reduced into nothing more than something close to an animal, it was humiliating, and it made your kind wonder if one day, those who did this sort of thing would pay for the horrors they committed. One day, you met freedom again. The military broke in, you were human, even if not fully, and it seemed like society realized again that your kind was sentient. Your kind was given a chance again, yet the images of the hospital were unforgettable; could you really be at peace when things happen so quickly, when from one day to another, your rights could be stolen away out of nowhere?

He found you once in a cold winter night, cold and freezing. He had heard the news. A big group of scientists experimenting on demihumans─ creatures alike humans being pushed down into being treated like animals that were suffering, victims of tests and experiments for the benefits of humans. He heard how those scientists got in jail, and how those of your kind were freed and able to remake their life─ unlike you, when he found you, abandoned, shivering surrounded by snow almost as if you were frozen there. Where were your guardians? Not even as in meaning owners, but worrying about if you had any kind of figure to protect you─ parents, siblings, friends... yet you were alone. "Aren't you cold here? You must be freezing..." He remembers mumbling out, he might not be the most caring, he might be somewhat grumpy himself, but he couldn't stand the sight, you were clearly suffering, even if able to remake your life, he recognized the glint of hopelessness there─ And he didn't have the heart to just walk away like anyone else would have done. So he took you with him. He knew you were distrustful─ his kind hasn't been nice to yours, he knew that maybe you were thinking the same thing would happen all over again, yet he didn't mean to make you suffer. At the very least, he wanted to give you a warm place to stay at until you could build your own life─ or until you could choose what to do with your life.

You've grown comfortable, he had realized. He had grown the habit of cradling you closer ever since the first time you accepted his affections, it's been a great advance from before, he himself has changed ever since you live with him. He's softer, maybe even naturally nicer; not in the fake way he was before, you seemed to have melted something within him, something that makes him hope that you won't leave soon. "...ah, dreaming?" he looks up from his phone, the morning sun is peeking but he doesn't bother opening the curtains. You seem too comfortable in his arms, which makes him just give up in untangling himself from you, he likes it better this way anyways, because he can just laze around and be on his phone meanwhile you're still resting. Even when he feels you stir slightly in your sleep, he slowly pulls the covers of the bed up a little bit more, because mornings are still cold, but your body is no longer freezing. As he wraps himself closer to you, he laid a kiss on your forehead before brushing your hair back in place.