Hi, I'm Michaelangelo!/He/Him and They/Them/15/Icon by @taikochann/This blog is full of nonsense/Current hyperfixiations: Fnaf, Beetlejuice the Musical, HLVRAI
The amount of unease that can fit into Tommy's more-than-human-less-than-god body is honestly surprising.
Tommy paces back and forth on the floor of the Lambda lab, his Beyblade whirring between his fingers and his precious immortal dog following behind him with love.
They'd arrived at around half past midnight, but it's now early morning and there's been no sign of the other two members of the science team.
Bubby leans back in their chair, crossing his knee-high laced boots over their knee, and bounces the other one out of anxiety.
"Tommy," he barks; "you're scaring the other scientists."
Tommy glances down and realizes that the Beyblade is whizzing madly in the air around his hands, suspended from nothing.
"D-dammit," He mutters, snatching his toy back and returns it to his pocket.
"They sho-should have been back by now."
Tommy stops pacing for a second and stares down the Coomers with his father's intensity.
"Surely, Benrey could have used teleportation?" Harold chimes in, his knuckles bruised slightly from his repeated stims.
"I think that's what he meant, dear," Bubby replies, patting their husband's shoulder affectionately.
"Yes, exactly!"
Tommy throws his hands into his pockets, huffing out his frustration.
"The f-fact that they're not...back yet! Means something has gone-"
A enormous thud echoes from the the floor, a piece of tile juts out slightly and scatters the scientists nearby.
"Wrong," Tommy finishes miserably, drawing his gun and preparing for Xen's creatures.
Beside him, Sunkist snarls, her hackles raised in warning.
The tile cracks and shoots into the air, with accompanying gunfire from below, and a hatch busts open from the hole.
Tommy aims to shoot, but immediately lowers his gun upon seeing Mr. Freeman's tired but happy face, followed closely by Benrey, the bags under his eyes looking darker than usual.
"G-Gordon!!"
Tommy rushes forward, embracing them both, and the knots of tension unravel in his stomach.
Benrey snuggles just a little closer into Tommy's coat, and Tommy releases Gordon to pull Benrey into a full hug.
--
Tommy planned on never admitting it to himself, but these two were the people he loved the most.
Benrey..he'd known Benrey for years.
It started when Benrey was just out of training, and Tommy had completed his certification to become a top scientist.
Benrey was 19, maybe 20 at the oldest, his hair pulled into a ponytail that ran down his back.
They weren't close, then, Benrey had been assigned to guard the G-Man's adopted son.
Benrey couldn't die, and Tommy's line of work was dangerous enough to need protection.
So it all worked out.
They barely exchanged more than a few words to eachother until that one night, that one fucking night and Benrey is tripping over himself in tears, blood pouring from the wound on his back and he's clutching Tommy, pawing at his shoulders.
Benrey trembled like he's made from glass and will break if he falls, and Tommy gripped the back of the others security vest so tightly the kevlar nearly rips in half.
And that's saying something.
That night they sat together and they're closer in distance than they've ever been, Tommy's warm and gentle hands bandaged the wound above the numbers tattooed onto Benrey's tailbone and Benrey spilled everything.
Between sniffles and the occasional sob, Benrey confessed, about the tools that somehow hurt him beyond regeneration, leaving a scar, about the men and their evil sticks of lightning that would seep into his bones and fill him with pain so intense he felt like he would break in half.
Tommy nearly broke in half himself.
He felt helpless, and so he went to the only person he knew would make the ones who hurt his first and only friend pay dearly-
His father.
Oh, Tommy had never seen the G-man so angry.
Black Mesa was a research facility, for god's sake, dedicated to the study of alien life and the progression of the human body.
So when Tommy's dad realized that the prototype imprisonment he had resolved several years ago had resurfaced with an even uglier face, he sent scientists who had never experienced fear in their lives tripping for the door in yelps of terror.
And that had been the end of it.
Benrey continued his job as a security guard, people who had previously been made in the facility were hired back on as scientists in new departments such as mixology and cybernetics, and Black Mesa cut its ties with the military.
Black Mesa, Benrey explained later in his own broken way to Tommy in the quiet breakroom during lunch hour, had been trying to create the perfect human being.
There were thousands upon thousands of prototypes that had been created, and Benrey had been the last.
But there had always been something wrong with the ones they created, whether it was serious physical or mental deformities, or simply a sense of fucked up little creature that ended up resulting in the insane amount of scientists with the ability to grow in size, and the security guards that always had a few too many rows of teeth or glowing eyes and severe anger issues.
They weren't always grown in tubes, Tommy learned, but they were always branded with their serial number on the base of the spine.
The one before him, Benrey quipped with a mouthful of sandwich, had been born to a prototype and a normal human employee, before they stripped them out with a memory wipe and sent them into normal society.
The anxious feeling that haunted Tommy in the years that followed had something to do with that piece of information in particular.
Something told him that the military and the alien planet they were studying wouldn't let go of Black Mesa kindly.
Mr. Freeman confirmed that.
He's in the hallway, on his way to get a soda, when he's met with a newer employee, only worked here about 4 or so years.
He seemed kind enough, if a little loud and stubborn. And alright, maybe it hurt Tommy's feelings when Gordon called him a freak, but that was pushed aside with the Resonance Cascade.
Tommy knew that this was it, this was the boot boys' revenge for cutting them out of the picture, but there was something else, distinctly and unsettlingly alien about the Cascade.
The whole of Black Mesa fell into shambles, with creatures of Xen integrating into their carefully built walls and lives, and Tommy kinda freaked, okay?
He'd seen Dr. Coomer around, always greeting him with a wonderful "Hello!!", and was met with a thrill in his stomach when he introduced another prototype as his husband.
Those two had been with him, in the observation room when the project exploded around Gordon and Benrey-
he wasn't supposed to be in the test chamber, what if it seriously hurt him?-
And maybe that was when Tommy realized he was in love with Benrey.
Over time, he felt a sense of conflict slowly building as he made friends with Mr. Freeman.
He seemed to hate Benrey, they hated eachother, but Tommy liked one and loved the other so he became their middle ground.
He was convinced to himself that Benrey liked him as well, until that room, that dark, dark room, and suddenly Benrey is kneeling in a puddle of Gordon's blood and Bubby is screaming, sobbing, blubbering his apologies to anyone who is listening as the soldiers drag them away and Benrey-
He says it, he says those words and it breaks Tommy's heart into a billion pieces-
"Because I love him, okay?! I'm fucking- whoop-de-doo, in love with Gordon god. G-goddamn Freeman, okay?..."
And then Benrey teleports, and he's gone, and Bubby is gone and Dr. Coomer leaves him in the cold dark sewer by himself.
Tommy cried.
Burying his head in his coat, he cried hard and long, alone on the rocky floor.
And then Mr. Freeman crawls out of the pipe, and Tommy can't help it, he holds him.
Gordon reeks of sewage and his bloody hand smells of copper but Tommy doesn't care, and alright, maybe that's when Tommy realized he's in love with Gordon too.
Alright, Tommy can deal with that.
Something Tommy can't deal with is the fact that his instincts are going fucking haywire.
Tommy's always been very perceptive when it comes to time, maybe he can't stop time like his father can, but he's definitely got a certain sense of time and reality as it surrounds him.
Being able to reach out and touch and feel certain areas, but not control them, and all of time is wrapped around him like a blanket.
So when the floor crumbles away below them and Benrey and Gordon fall deep into the recesses of Black Mesa's hellscape, Tommy freaks the fuck out.
A deep, inherent concern lays nested in the pit of his mind like a pile of cottonmouth snakes, hissing madly and snarling that something, something, is absolutely wrong with how this is supposed to go.
Tommy has a sinking feeling that something terrible is going to happen.
--
Man, Benrey really hates this place.
The scientists of the Lambda lab asked a simple request of the Science Team- go through the portal to Xen, get rid of the Nihilanth, bring back some weird space shit.
Easy as pie.
Right?
Wrong.
Benrey feels sick, feverish on this planet.
As he follows behind the group, his legs feel leaden and heavy, and he tugs at the collar of his uniform, which feels uncomfortably tight around his neck.
He's sweating, unusually warm beneath his helmet, but shivering as though chilled to his bones.
There's a tug, deep in his torso, pulling him along, but it's a nasty, oppressive feeling that makes his limbs feel like noodles.
He swallows nervously, eyes darting across the fetid, blood colored planet of Xen.
The sour smell clogs his senses, and as they trudge deeper and deeper through the portals, away from the floating rocks with little gravity and past strange barrels of highly toxic looking liquid, the heavy pull in Benrey's chest only grows stronger and more sickly.
They push through a final, puke-green portal, and the feeling inside of Benrey swells to near explosion.
A cave, with jagged and dark stone running up the walls in wicked cracks, a deep red flush to the area.
Water is flooding Benrey's boots, a putrid and decaying smell to the liquid, and it only adds to Benrey's fatigue.
The creature before them could only be the Nihilanth itself, and the very sight sends such a fucking shudder down Benrey's spine.
It's disgusting, twisted and pulsating flesh running down what must be its face, beady eyes in a cadaverous socket.
It looks like a fetus, a failed attempt of termination long after the allotted time.
It speaks, and the chorus of voices that accompanies it gives away the fact that Xen isn't just the planet-
It's the entire race.
"So. The humans have finally decided to be rid of us."
Gordon looks tired, beaten, but pulls himself upward and grunts through the pain of his broken shin.
"Get your video game dialogue out of the way," he says, with a dismissive wave of his gun-hand.
"I'm about done with this alien shit."
The Nihilanth laughs, a hideous and painful sound, and tilts its head in curiosity towards the little group of vagabonds.
"But you have brought us the very thing we need, Mr. Freeman."
Gordon groans in frustration, turning back to his friends with his teeth grinding against eachother.
"Why does it know my name?"
Xens' audience shrieks with delight, and the Nihilanth's barely feasible mouth twists into what can only be guessed as a grin.
"Xen knows everything about you, Mr. Freeman."
Benrey sways on the spot, his boots splashing the strange water, and the scene before him blurs.
"Whadda....what the hell are you..talking about, man?"
Xen's creatures seem to roar with laughter, and beside Benrey, Dr. Coomer throws up his fists protestingly.
"Xen has been all knowing, all seeing since time begun. As we grow, so do our minds, until we are forced to repopulate. Regrow."
Beneath their feet, headcrabs scuttle ominously, causing Tommy to jump backward with surprise.
"But human beings became a problem for Xen. Their flimsy bodies failed, burst open upon integration."
Benrey is only just awake enough to process this.
"The scientists of Black Mesa were so eager to learn of a new planet. So Xen took influence, and under the guise of building a perfect human being, created what Xen needed."
Gordon scoffs, his shoulders shaking as he laughs scornfully.
Xen reacts strongly, a collective hiss rising around them.
"Do not laugh at us, human."
The headcrabs stay at a distance, but raise their pincers and click them menacingly as the Nihilanth's speech continues.
"Xen required a human being who could withstand radiation, a being who could lose blood en mass and not perish."
A sense of dread washes over the Science Team, and Tommy instinctively puts himself in front of Gordon.
Bubby ignites his arms protectively.
"Let me guess," Gordon growls, revving up his minigun limb; "you needed me?"
Xen's creatures wail in joy, and Benrey takes that as a yes, and reaches for his gun, when something big and poisonous and slimy wraps around his ankle.
"Xen requires Benrey."
Benrey yelps as the Nihilanth drags him underneath the water, bubbles of Sweet Voice trailing from his mouth as his back bounces on the cragged floor beneath the surface.
The Nihilanth swings him into the air, and Benrey splutters, ears waterlogged under his helmet, which slips from his head and falls to the ground with a splash, Benrey's short black hair now dripping wet.
"Look at you, our once perfect vessel- a mewling, pathetic dog."
Hung upside down by his ankle, Benrey gasps in pain as Xen shakes him repeatedly, and for a brief, sickening moment, Benrey is forcibly reminded of the Finding Nemo movie Tommy showed him-
He feels like a fish in Darla's little bag.
"Bark, bark, bark but no bite. You were made with Xen's own blood and yet you cannot even protect those you are infatuated with."
With that, the Nihilanth throws him to the far wall, and his skull cracks on the rock.
It doesn't heal, and Benrey slumps down, struggling to stand, his eyesight swimming with tears.
"You think the Freeman human loves you? You cost him a limb. You would be perfect save for your one flaw- you kneel before a man you could kill with no effort, and you beg him to love you as you love him."
Benrey shakes, kneeling, and whimpers as he chokes out a sob, not trying to disguise his tears.
"You truly are nothing."
"No."
The word is tiny, barely audible.
Then again, louder, with a crack of his voice but more than enough power-
"No. You're wrong."
Gordon pulls himself to full height, scowling so deeply the age shows on his face.
"Benrey is everything to us. To all of us, but especially me."
"Y-yeah! We're not afraid of you!" Tommy chimes, and Sunkist howls with approval.
"If you or your alien bitches thought we'd just leave him here, you're just as stupid as you look."
Bubby grins wildly, cracking their neck from side to side, his bright and eager eyes flashing beneath their glasses.
"Don't fuck with the Science Team!" Coomer bellows, and Bubby cheers beside him.
"Now I'm only gonna tell you once," Gordon beams, turning away from his family to draw his gun-hand and point it at Xen's Nihilanth.
"Piss off."
Gordon fires, and the accompanying screams of headcrabs and peeper puppies echo across the cave, and Benrey is overtaken with an aching, sweet feeling he usually associates with Gordon.
It's love.
Benrey smiles fondly as his knees buckle and he falls to the ground and submerges in the murky waters.
--
Benrey wakes up and immediately is struck with a massive goddamn headache.
He closes his eyes and pulls the pillow over his ears, but the pain is there and clearly is not going anywhere, so he's going to have to ask for an aspirin or some shit.
Sitting up makes him so nauseous it's not even funny, so he decides it's not worth it to stand.
A loud snore startles Benrey enough to yelp, and he glances around for the source of the noise.
Sitting hand in hand on the floor, against the wall opposite his bed, are Gordon and Tommy, both bearing signs of wear and both dead asleep.
Gordon is clutching Benrey's helmet so tightly to his shirt it looks uncomfortable, and Tommy is curled protectively around Gordon's shoulders.
They're half dressed, like Black Mesa decided that the HEV suit and a bloody lab coat was not appropriate clothing but also did not have a whole lot of options for back up wear.
Benrey guesses this based on the fact that Gordon's not really wearing pants and Tommy's wearing a t-shirt that says "Birthday Girl".
Something about the fact that they're holding hands hurts Benrey, just a little.
His heart aches for a moment as he remembers the warmth of Gordon's hand and the feeling of a hug from the Beyblade enthusiast who was his best and only friend for a very long time.
Benrey shakes his head, decides he's going to repress it, and yawns.
God, his head hurts.
Benrey figures that if he stands, he's going to trip and probably break something, and since he doesn't trust his regeneration ability right now, he's not risking it.
Instead, he picks up his pillow and heaves it at the two scientists as hard as he can.
Tommy jolts awake, blinking, then smiles widely upon sighting the guard.
"Benrey!!"
Tommy shoots upward, and makes the distance between the wall and the hospital bed in one step, leaving Gordon to slump over and yell in surprise as he hits the floor.
Benrey's pulled into a crushing hug, and he wheezes for Tommy to be gentle.
"S-sorry!" Tommy cries happily, pulling back to take in Benrey's face.
"It's..it's g-good to see you awake."
Gordon stands, still holding the helmet, and wanders over to where Tommy is perched on the edge of the bed.
"You've been out for hours," Gordon adds, gently reaching out with his left hand to ruffle Benrey's hair.
"We were starting to get worried."
Benrey swallows his funny retort for once, instead choosing to spit out some clear blue song in response.
Tommy reads it almost immediately, and excuses himself to get medicine.
Gordon takes his spot on the bed, and just looks over Benrey.
Benrey feels like he's being scrutinized, with Gordon's soft green eyes just roaming over his face.
"Alright. Fucking. Get the questions outta the way," Benrey mumbles irritably, sticking out his tongue.
"I know you're fuckin. Curious about the shit Xen said."
Gordon laughs sweetly, setting the helmet down on the bed next to him and runs his fingers over it fondly.
Benrey takes a note of his new right hand, a grey-black prosthetic that clicks when Gordon moves his knuckles.
"I don't really have any questions," Gordon grins, adjusting his shirt.
"Other than, are you okay?"
Benrey's taken back by this one.
Not only did he cost Gordon his hand and almost his life about thirty billion times, but everyone (including him!) also just found out that Benrey was made with Xen DNA.
He's essentially Gordon's enemy in every sense of the word, and Gordon is asking if he's okay?
"....did the Nihilanth hit your head or somethin', man?? What the hell kinda. Question is that one??"
Gordon's smile softens massively, and it makes Benrey's heart melt into a little puddle in his stomach.
"Benrey, you saved my life a whole shit ton of times back there."
"Yeah, I also almost got you killed," Benrey interrupts, but Gordon doesn't pause.
"I've been thinking about a lot of things while you've been asleep, and I've been talking with Tommy a lot too."
Benrey's happy puddle evaporates into a heavy leaden ball inside of his chest.
"I don't need to hear this, dude."
Gordon looks a little confused, so Benrey keeps going.
"You're. I know you heard the shit Xen said about...."
Benrey pauses, unsure if he wants to say it out loud.
That'll finalize it, forever.
He takes a breath, then with a great effort, says it out loud.
"I love you. Have since we were kids, have since I first met you. Xen was...right. They were fucking right, you're happier with Tommy because he's never hurt you or..fuck. Fuck, man, you don't feel the same and I'm done pushin' it on you. We uhh, clear?"
Gordon covers his mouth with his hand, and for a split second Benrey thinks he's made him cry, but Gordon bursts out laughing, clutching his stomach and snorting in between giggles.
"B-Benny, you idiot, I am in love with you."
Maybe it's the sudden affectionate nickname, or the fact that Gordon said he loves him.
But Benrey blushes, hard, and pink-to-blue sweet voice bubbles out of his mouth in surprise.
"Whuh?"
Tommy walks back into the room, bottle in hand, and pauses at the sight in front of him.
"Oh, are w-we doing conf-confessions now?!"
Before Benrey can even speak, Tommy drops down beside him and kisses him on the cheek, putting him and Gordon's hands in his own.
Tommy doesn't say it, but Benrey gets the point.
"Fucking- FINALLY!!"
Benrey just might die for real.
Bubby leans in the doorway, a smug grin on his face, elbow resting on Dr. Coomer's shoulder.
"Ah, young love is beautiful!"
Tommy and Gordon laugh cheerfully at Dr. Coomer, and Benrey buries his face sheepishly in the blankets.
--
It takes a few days, but Benrey recovers pretty well from the Nihilanth.
He's thought a lot about what Xen said.
And he's decided that they were very wrong about him.
His love for other people isn't a flaw, it's his best quality.
He can and will protect the people he loves with his life, no matter what.
And he knows that the people he loves will do the same for him.
With time, Gordon learns not to flinch at the sight of his right hand, or gag when he drinks a soda.
Benrey learns to accept hugs and snuggles from Tommy, and figures out the jokes that Gordon likes and doesn't like.
Tommy is always there to patch up Benrey's injuries, and learns better responses that don't involve soda when Gordon needs to vent.
So Benrey feels safe, and knows that he's not the only one who's trying to be better.
nigel, out of nowhere: oh yeah before i showed up here i took over the position of leader and organized an entire revolt against the government and the remaining members of the brigade because all my loved ones died and also i killed someone with my bare hands
Benrey's been looking for the opportunity to apologize for...quite some time now, in fact.
Just looking at Gordon and his dripping stump he now has instead of a hand causes his stomach to churn with intense discomfort.
It doesn't help with the nightmares, either.
As if the abuse of the soldiers and the military of Black Mesa constantly swimming in and out of his dreams wasn't bad enough, now they're coupled together with the deep black room where the horror occurred.
They're standing in the mixology lab, Darnold is explaining something to Gordon, when the flashbacks are triggered heavily by a loud bang and mechanical shock from one of the many computers.
Sharp, angry metal poles stick deep into Benrey's neck and fill him with electricity, drawing a long, piercing shriek from his throat that melts into Gordon's rapid wailing.
And then Benrey is crouching on the ground, and the soldier's boot is slamming into his side, crushing and breaking his ribs, and Benrey tastes blood.
He's kneeling in it, the blood pours out from his lips and covers the floor, a massive pool of Gordon's life fluid.
The world is spinning, and Benrey faces Gordon again, and watches as the scientist raises his bloody stump, now transformed into a gun, makes a fist and shoots.
The bullets strike a numbing pain into Benrey's brain, and as Gordon shoves past him, not even sparing him a glance, he expects the daytime nightmare to end.
It doesn't.
Benrey presses his hand to his forehead, the only place the shots entered, and it comes away shaky and covered in wet, sticky red liquid.
Guess that part of it was real.
It doesn't take more than a few seconds out of the lab before the bullets clatter onto the ground and the wound heals.
--
They're barely a few hours out from the Lambda lab when opportunity strikes.
The ground shakes beneath their feet, and Dr. Coomer lets out a little yelp and latches onto Bubby's arm, who grabs onto Tommy's collar as the floor begins to break apart.
Bubby realizes with a horrible jolt that they only have two hands.
The tiles shatter and crumble beneath Gordon's boots, and he grabs at the closest person next to him, which is unfortunately Benrey.
As the hole expands, Benrey catches ahold of the edge of it, and stops himself from falling through, but as Gordon wraps himself around Benrey's pants leg, the combined weight of the man and his HEV suit is too much for one-handed hanging.
They fall.
It's deep, and Benrey tenses as his torso hits the concrete below with a breathtaking amount of force.
Definitely half a dozen broken ribs, a fractured shoulderblade and his spinal cord snaps.
Whatever.
He'll recover.
But Gordon lands feet first, with a sickening crack that causes him to scream and tumble over onto his side.
Benrey heals as quickly as he can, feeling his nerves re-attatch as he forces himself to stand, eyes peering up at the hole they came from.
Tommy's color-splotched face peeks over the edge, so far away that Benrey just barely can make out his features.
"Are you tw-two okay, Mr. Freeman!?" Tommy has to shout the question down at them.
It had to have been a 40, maybe 50 foot drop.
"We're...we'll be fine!" Gordon shouts back upward, his leg clutched between his hands.
"I'll circle around until we find a way back up. Keep...just keep heading to the lab and I'll c-catch up."
"Alrighty, M-Mr. Freeman!"
Tommy's head disappears, and distantly Benrey hears their retreating footsteps.
Gordon winces as he stands and tests his leg, which sticks out at a slightly bent angle near the middle of his shin.
"Dude, it's definitely broken," Benrey notes, and Gordon tenses before making a face of annoyance.
"Right," he groans, "I forgot you're with me."
And Gordon stomps off, far harder than he really should on his leg, and leaves Benrey standing beneath the light shining through the hole.
Sighing, Benrey makes a decision.
He follows, jogging to catch up to Gordon's pace before trailing slightly behind.
--
Gordon is very clearly not doing so hot.
He's limping, and sweating like a stuck pig to the point it's dripping off his nose onto the ground.
Benrey's been watching him carefully, and Gordon....hasn't said a word to him since the beginning.
He's leaned up against Benrey a few times on accident, but not a single sound has been in his general direction.
It's when Gordon stumbles over a fallen chair and whimpers from the pain that Benrey breaks the silence.
"Dammit, man. Alright. Sit down, dude, please?"
Gordon turns, scowling, but the exhaustion on his face is showing.
"Why do you care?"
Benrey pauses.
He could lie, of course, make something up or tell a joke to get Gordon to sit.
But he wants to apologize, and starting it out with a lie isn't..something Benrey wants to do.
So he tells the truth, even if it is hard for him to say it.
"Because I care about you, and we're friends, man. Sit down?"
Gordon scoffs, turning around all the way, and slipping slightly with his broken shin.
"We are not friends, not after you so-sold me out to the fuckin. Boot boys, the soldiers!"
He's not thinking straight, the pain alone is causing Gordon to reach incoherence.
"Yeah, well you led the soldiers to us!"
Gordon opens his mouth to retort, but Benrey cuts him off, barreling onward.
"I wasn't fucking. Angry, like Bubby was, but the dude doesn't know his damn limits, 'aight? So. Had to jump in, you know? Thought it'd be uhhh, funny little prank. Like all, surprise!"
Benrey waves his hands in place, stopping only to take a breath before continuing.
"Well, it didn't work how either of us wanted. They. They uhh."
Blood, his blood is on Benrey's hands and knees.
"They cut your damn hand off. It just..just...they cut it off like butter! Ha, ha haha, butter...and it-it was so much blood and..."
Benrey gulps, and he almost chokes as he loudly mutters the next few words.
"I thought. Thought I'd killed you, you know? Gordo, I th-thought you were dead."
He struggles, and a high pitch of navy blue sweet voice hangs in the air for a second before Benrey goes on, after another deep breath.
"Gordon, I'm really sorry. I know that. That I'm not always your gamer buddy, but I'm sorry. So if you could just fucking sit down, so I can stop watching you die, that'd be fantastic."
Gordon stares, his mouth open just a little, before he sits down, a small groan escaping him as the pressure comes off his leg.
Benrey lets out a sigh of relief, before heading back a little ways to grab the bandages from the medkit on the wall.
Crouching around the chair Gordon stumbled over, he snaps off the middle support piece and tests the sturdiness.
Gordon glances up as Benrey steps over to him, the sweat wiped away and his eyes a more gentle gaze than before.
Benrey kneels, and gingerly works off the protective plate of Gordon's boot before he looks up again, the chair beam in his left hand and the bandages in the other.
"I'm gonna uh. Set the bone. Homemade splint, you know? Tommy. Tommy, he taught me how to do this a long time ago."
Benrey pushes the beam gently against the other's shin, wrapping it down with the bandage near the bottom.
"It's. Gonna hurt, but uhh. S'gonna feel better and you'll be able to put p-pressure on it again."
Gordon takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes as Benrey pushes down hard.
The bone snaps back into place, and Gordon cries out through gritted teeth, but it's over quick and the pain is lessened by a great amount as the security guard before him wraps the entirety of his leg up to his knee.
"There. You should still uh. Rest a bit. Imma lay down."
Benrey gets to his feet, and starts to walk away, but Gordon reaches out and grabs ahold of his pants, stopping him for a second.
".....Thank you."
Gordon lets go, and leans back against the wall and closes his eyes.
Benrey stays in place, watching him carefully until he falls asleep, before sidling down a little ways off to keep watch.
--
Things are definitely better between the two of them after that.
When Gordon wakes up, he's much friendlier to Benrey, without any real hostility.
Honestly? Gordon's glad.
His relationship with Benrey had always been a bit complicated.
Sure, before, Benrey was annoying as hell, but he always made Gordon laugh.
He was nice, someone Gordon's own age for once, and if not someone who he could confide in, a friend.
But then, the soldiers have him, and the pain in his arm is excruciating, and everything Benrey did or does suddenly isn't so comforting.
Convinced Benrey's jokes were meant to demean him, his casual touches and close contact deception, Gordon turned and just kinda.
Let Benrey have the short end of the stick.
But earlier...Benrey tells him he cares, that Gordon's life was always in his best interests, and that they were and still are, friends.
So, it feels good to no longer make Benrey the target of his affliction.
Gordon's about to suggest looking for a vending machine, for some food, when creatures round the corner and attack.
Gordon whips out his gun hand and fires, and vaguely to his right, pistol shots ring off the walls.
The peeper puppies, as Dr. Coomer had called them, bound away from the bullets and circle the pair, releasing their sonic barks and baring their open mouths filled with jagged teeth.
Gordon steps backward, holding his gun hand close to his face to blow cool air on the barrel, the metal radiating pure heat.
Benrey bumps against Gordon's back, hastily re-loading his gun, his face screwed up in careful precision.
But then he turns, and gives Gordon a strained little smile.
A little puddle of happiness forms in Gordon's stomach before the soldiers kick open the underground doors and shoot before they aim.
Gordon finishes off the peeper puppy, then stumbles and shifts his line of fire towards the soldiers.
It's a messy fight, with Gordon constantly limping on his wounded leg, and both sides being attacked by alien creatures.
Gordon's never really seen Benrey fight before, so watching him is definitely an experience.
The way he acts is familiar.
Gordon glances between the reloading gunman ahead of him and Benrey behind him.
The way their hands move over the bullet cartridges, the way both of them hit the side of it with their palm when they're about to reload.
Benrey was trained by the same soldiers shooting at him now.
But the way that they handle guns is the only similarity, because while the military of Black Mesa are ruthless and cruel, Benrey is his own, merciful person.
Gordon fires the last few rounds of his hand before it has to cool down, and thankfully the last soldier drops to the floor.
Benrey is breathing heavily, wiping sweat from underneath his helmet visor, when he pales.
Gordon glances down as something rolls from the soldiers hand to his feet.
A grenade.
Gordon doesn't even have time to react before Benrey lunges, scooping the explosive into his hands and clutching it close to his chest, practically rolling across the ground until he's a good twenty or so feet from Gordon.
He looks back, catching Gordon's eye, and explodes.
Shrapnel bursts from the walls and cracks the paint, debris scatters all around the site and lands in the scientists' hair, who is kneeled over coughing from the dust, his eyes searching the room.
Gordon doesn't want to be alone again, he hates being alone, he hates it.
He turns, ready to head back, and then Gordon wants to vomit.
Benrey staggers, halfway through the revival-respawning process, clearly not wanting to leave Gordon too long.
But dear god.
Half of his body is still skeletal, his entire left side is just an open orifice of bones and muscle.
The bones in Benrey's legs snap together, muscle forming overtop them, before flesh and clothing crawl down to form a whole.
His leg hits solid ground, and it has to be partially startling because Benrey lurches forward, and brain matter slops out of the empty eye socket onto the floor before it vanishes.
His neck cracks, and his head moves jerkily as skin reforms over his jaw and teeth, Benrey's one green eye spinning wildly in place before the tired lid creeps back to hold it still.
A few more disgusting crunches and Benrey is back to normal, passing Gordon now, casually placing his gun back into its holster and moving on.
Gordon blinks a few times, holding back his revulsion for a moment, before chasing after him, through the doorframe into a poorly lit hallway.
"Woah, woah woah man, slow down."
Benrey stops, turning and raising an eyebrow.
Gordon points through the doorframe they came through, gesturing helplessly.
"What. What the actual hell, was that?? You...just, what??"
Benrey blinks, as though he is completely clueless.
He just might be.
"You...you died for me," Gordon finishes, a little quieter than he meant to.
"Uhhh, yeah? Isn't that what friends do?"
Benrey grins as if it's a joke, and Gordon feels the surge of irritation, but also something else he can't quite put his finger on.
"No, it is not something friends do. We do not die randomly for people."
"Yeah. Uh, you do if one of em' can't die. Then it doesn't count, idiot," Benrey says all this casually, in his own, joking around style, but Gordon pauses.
He leans forward, and adopts his casually pleasant expression, but delivers his next question with the tone one would use for a ceremony or a funeral.
"So what happens when I decide to die for you, huh?"
Benrey turns, the smirk still on his face, and opens his mouth to respond with another joke when he stops, eyes wide.
Gordon's....entirely serious.
It surprised him too, but. After the leg wrapping and the grenade stunt, Gordon is. Plenty shocked but pleasantly surprised at how willing he'd be to die for Benrey.
He expects some kind of rebuke, but instead Benrey.
Blushes?
A deep flush goes across his cheeks and his eyes dart away from Gordon's, mumbling under his breath all the while.
Gordon wonders for a second if maybe Benrey's previously irritating teasing had been something else, before he sets off after the guard, a warming smile on his face.
--
Tommy had lied- of course he lied, he had to lie- when he told Mr. Freeman that he couldn't handle a gun.
How else was he supposed to explain without melting the poor man's brain that he was actually an incredibly talented shot, not because of military training, but because he could control the metal?
How was he supposed to explain that through sheer mental prowess, he could morph and create the bullets to go in any direction he wished, never running out of ammo because he could simply will the ammunition into existence?
He didn't want to scare Mr. Freeman away.
Tommy hurries after the Coomers, his long legs easily making distance across the lit hallways of Black Mesa.
Having just emerged from a scuffle with aliens, they were all on edge, wary.
The three hadn't been traveling long, only a couple hours, but worry had already crept down their throats.
Surprisingly, Bubby voices his concern first.
"Do you think they'll get along all right?" They quip, mostly to Harold and himself but to Tommy as well.
"Oh, I'm certain Gordon will make it out just fine," Dr. Coomer replies, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly as a stim.
"And Benrey certainly has always survived whatever Death's thrown his way!"
Bubby nods, but the ends of their mouth turn down with a crease, and he turns to Tommy, who understands their message perfectly.
"Y-yes, Mr. Coomer but! Gordon and Ben-Benrey don't get along together very well."
Anxious, Tommy absentmindedly pulls a spare Beyblade from his pocket and fiddles with the wheels, the soft whir of the toy is calming.
"I'm worried, um, I'm worried! A-about whether they'll m-manage to...to cooperate long enough to survive together."
Dr. Coomer chortles, but the nervous look behind his eyes betrays him.
Bubby shrugs, airing out his still heated hands before speaking.
"Who knows? Maybe they'll work it out and that dumbass will finally tell Gordon how he feels."
Tommy pauses, his mouth puckered.
"Y-you know about Benrey and-and Mr. Freeman?"
"Of course I know, everyone with a damn brain knows," Bubby snorts, then falls short noticing the look on Tommy's face.
"Then you know the kind of trouble th-they're going to walk into."
"Yes," Dr. Coomer sighs, taking Bubby's hand tenderly; "we unfortunately do."
--
Benrey's gotta get those feelings under some goddamn control, because if he doesn't, then.
Game over, you know?
Gordon doesn't seem to understand what he does to Benrey, but it's driving him crazy.
That little thing he pulled back there?
It doesn't help, idiot. Only makes him fall for him more.
But they're both in a good mood, making some distance between them and the last time they saw the soldiers.
It's around midnight by now, and Benrey is ready to go back to sleep.
"Hey, come check this thing out!"
Gordon's excited yell shakes Benrey out of his sleepy stupor, and he hurries over to where Gordon is poking around inside of a barely-lit room, the door frame busted off its hinges in order to access the inside.
Benrey pokes his head in, and his heart slides all the way into his stomach with a horrendous lurch.
This is the room.
He hasn't been here in maybe six, seven or so years, but everything is the same as he left it.
The tube shattered, still connected to the ceiling and floor, the plaque bearing his subject number stubbornly.
The tables, bolted to the floor.
The papers, scattered and ripped, the shelves tipped over and splintered beyond saving.
"What do you think happened here?" Gordon asks, kneeling by the tube in examination of something long discarded on the floor.
Running his hands over the metal table, fingers brushing the shackles, the memories return to Benrey.
Shock collars. Sweet voice tests, hours or days or weeks locked in his tube, sick of breathing the containment fluid.
"I...I know what happened here."
"Er, what? I'm sorry?"
Gordon looks heavily confused, and reluctantly, as if this place will never let him go, Benrey lets go of the chains and shuffles over to the tube.
Taking off his badge, he holds it up to the tube plaque, both bearing the same text.
B3_NY
#7037
Gordon stares, his eyes wide, before turning to the guard.
"I thought that was like, your serial number. They...they made you here?"
Benrey swallows his anger, tossing the badge to the ground and going through the next door.
"They did more than just make me."
It's all still there.
The room is lit only from above, with a dim lightbulb buzzing meekly in its socket.
The long metal bed sits in the center, almost beckoning to Benrey with omnicity.
One of the only scars Benrey has, the precise incision made jagged by struggle, prickles on his back at the sight of it.
He just stands, biting back tears as Gordon goes around the room, looking through boxes, his scientific curiosity never satisfied, until he finds something.
He's not looking, Benrey is not looking at whatever Gordon has clutched in his fist.
In his hurry to get out of this awful room, he slams into the metal table, pushing it into the wall with a reverberating crash.
Benrey drops to the ground outside, shaking and clutching his helmet, with shuddery sobs echoing around him.
He's trying to shut out the memories, but the knives are in his back and Gordon's blood is on his hands and the lightning is in his skull and it's all so terrifyingly loud.
It's a few minutes before Gordon comes back out into the hall.
Benrey goes rigid as Gordon sits down beside him, but he makes no effort to push the subject.
Benrey relaxes, just a little, lowering his hands and leaning against the wall.
A heavy warmth wraps around his hand, and as the guard looks down, he realizes Gordon's hand is on top of his right.
Gordon is purposefully not looking at him.
Heart in his throat, Benrey slowly turns his hand palm upward, and Gordon laces their fingers together.
They're holding hands.
They're holding hands and Gordon looks a little sheepish, but he's smiling fondly and his cheeks are flushed.
Benrey stares, and then cautiously leans into Gordon's shoulder, his helmet clunking quietly against the plate of the HEV suit.
Gordon doesn't let go, and Benrey falls asleep tucked close to his warmth and their hands clasped together.
