Wip: The Bargain
Chrono | Non-chrono | Read on AO3
A knocking sound jolts him out of his thoughts.
“Bernard? Are you okay?”
He blinks, and suddenly becomes aware of the goosebumps on his skin and the coolness of the tiles under his feet. How long has he been sitting here?
“Bernard?” Superboy sounds worried. He can’t have that.
“I’m okay,” he calls back and reaches over to the taps, wincing at the cold spray that douses him. It warms up after a few seconds and he relaxes back in the chair, tilting his face into the spray. He’d never imagined that having shit water pressure would be reassuring, but every small difference from the cell is a balm on his nerves. Bernard scrubs himself down with soap that’s gone hard from disuse and washes his hair with the same shampoo he’s been using since he moved out of home, and when he emerges from the shower he almost feels like himself again.
His reflection catches his eye as he dries off and Bernard winces at what he sees. He looks awful. He’s lost weight since he last saw himself, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been so pale. There had been a mirror in his cell, but Dionysus had shattered it to create a kind of kaleidoscope that shone with rainbow colours and showed them moving it ways that defied biology. It reflected his face with expressions he’d never made, painted with symbols he’d never seen, and he felt Dionysus purr with satisfaction at the dread that bloomed in him. He almost thinks he preferred what he’d seen there to what he sees now.
He looks away, wrapping his towel around his waist and limp back to his bedroom. If Superboy is still here, that must mean he wants to talk. He shouldn’t make the man wait any longer.
