Ludo sat up and shook his head. "They've tried picking fights with me before, but this is the first time it actually got physical. Usually someone would come and break it up before they even touched me…" he then sighed sadly. "I'm… I'm very aware that I'm weird, that my opinions are weird, that I probably am an actual... conspiracy freak, and I know that you probably think that too." The man looked down. "You… have no reason to be nice to me. I'm a terrible person, I'm almost as bad as these rebels.."
Pat could see tears form in his eyes again, his friend's voice shivering as he was talking, and his body shaking slightly. He sighed and placed a hand on Ludo's shoulder. "Look, it's true, you might have different opinions, but you're a good guy, I can see that. Just… don't harm anyone and we'll be all cool." He said, smiling softly and winking at him.
Ludo laughed softly. "Couldn't even if I tried. I'm not a very good fighter."
Pat grinned and stood up, extending his hand to help Ludo back up.
Pat's tablet buzzed, and he took it out of his pocket, checking the small side screen on the handle to look at his notification.
"It's done, please come back for the results." Was what he could see on the screen, and Pat sighed, looking back at the veterinarian office, before turning back to his tablet, sliding the handles apart and looking at the screen appearing in the middle, then sliding his finger up to make the keyboard appear, and type out "Ok, one second".
As soon as the message was sent, Pat closed his tablet and turned back to Ludo, who was staring at the clouds lazily floating in the darkening skies.
"So, uh, I have to go, my Gemoid's auscultation's over." Pat said. He gently tapped the smaller man's shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Ludo looked down, then smiled and nodded, and Pat walked away, back to the building.
****
Pat quickly came back in the room, panting softly from having ran a bit to get there, and sat down in his chair, the blue leather squeaking slightly under his weight. It felt colder than before, oddly enough, or maybe it was just his own stress making him feel that. He wasn't very sure.
The veterinarian came out of the other room, OB-7 on a leash, following him.
"So, what are the results?" Pat's mother asked, shooting a quick glance at Pat, who quickly looked away.
"He's perfectly healthy! No problem with any of his organs, his tail and wing scars are still completely intact."
The doctor paused and looked at the papers on his board. "Well.." he sighed. "There might be a small issue." He pointed to the Gemoid's antenna, poking it slightly with the tip of his ballpoint pen. OB didn't flinch or move when he did, and Pat frowned a little. "That's weird.." The Gemoid seemed.. overly anxious, more than usual. His posture was stiff, he was standing up straight, and not even looking down, rather staring intensely at the veterinarian. He looked… terrified.
"Your Gemoid is very chatty. Even when I told him to shut up he couldn't seem to stop making noises whenever I'd poke him a bit too hard or accidently hurt him." The man cleared his throat and flipped over a few pages. "I temporarily muted him, at least until you can teach him to properly shut up when you want him to." He then paused, scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing your boy lets him talk whenever?"
Patrick's mom nodded and glared at her son with a murderous look. "Yes. He does." She said dryly.
Pat wanted to disappear right now. He wanted to just slide off from his chair, and run away. Or maybe just melt into it, or hide under the tiles of the cabinet.
He felt ashamed. He had been disobeying his mother and father for that long, and yet he hadn't done a single thing to change that attitude. He knew letting his Gemoid talk whenever was a bad thing, he knew that he shouldn't have been doing that.
Why did he even do it in the first place..?
But suddenly, a few other questions flooded his mind.
Why did the veterinarian have to temporarily mute him? Couldn't he have just asked his mother to teach him to shut up without physically forcing him to?
It…
It made OB7 anxious, it was clear he wasn't comfortable with that.
Pat's eyes widened slightly at that thought, and he moved up in his chair nervously.
"What the hell was that?"
"I've prescribed some medicine. It'll incapacitate his vocal cords for a few hours. You can use it if he misbehaves too much."
The veterinarian's voice brought him back to the present, and Patrick looked up at OB-7. Meds… to remove his voice?
He didn't say anything. He didn't wanna start more conflicts. He pushed away all these problematic thoughts in the back of his mind, and kept on listening to what the doctor was saying.
"A good way to make him learn a lesson would be to raise your voice if he starts making noise. Maybe a little smack at the back of his head, if he keeps going." He gently smacked OB's head, and the Gemoid closed his eyes and made a scared submissive expression, still not uttering a single word, or even a sound. The vet continued "Like so.", he then smirked and titled his head a bit, raising an eyebrow "And, well, if he's really disobedient, simply flicking your thumb at the spot between his eyes, or pinching his antenna slightly could help, although this may damage him mentally a lot over time, so I'd recommend you only do this if you really need to."
Pat's mom smiled politely and nodded. "Got it."
The doctor handed her over the leash, and she stood up, signalling Pat to follow her. He did so, and they both walked out of the room, Pat uttering a barely perceptible "have a good day" as he took his last step out of the cabinet.
They made their way home rather quickly, and during the entire part there, Pat's mother stayed silent, not even looking at her son once. Patrick knew why she was acting like that, and already he could feel the nauseating ball of shame in the pit of his stomach take form and grow, his breathing and heartbeat getting faster as he saw their house appear in the distance.
He should never have said anything, he shouldn't have voiced his opinion, and he shouldn't have kept on arguing when his mother voiced her disapproval. He should have kept his mouth shut and not said anything. He knew these thoughts were wrong, and yet he took the stupid decision to say them.
The loud closing of the door made Pat flinch.
"Gemoid, go to your resting quarters, and don't bother us until I call you back. That's an order." His mother said in a harsh and dry tone. OB-7 nodded and silently ran to his room, leaving Pat and his mother alone.
"Young man, you've disobeyed me quite a bit today." She said, still not looking at him, as if she were just as ashamed as he was. Pat looked down, heart swelling up in fear and sadness. His hands made themselves into fists, tightening in anticipation.
"What's wrong with you, Patrick?" She then asked, in a more worried, yet still stern voice.
Pat stayed silent. He didn't know what to tell her. He could always tell her the truth, that the words just slipped out, and that he didn't know why these thoughts got into him. But would she actually believe him?
She'd probably start blaming his friends. His school. The Gemoid himself. Or maybe she'd blame herself for not being a good enough parent and letting her son get all these deviant thoughts get in his head.
Pat didn't even have time to say anything, however. His mother sighed loudly, her breath shaking ever so slightly with emotion, and she walked away from her son, towards the kitchen, while Pat looked at her go, slowly realizing that if she didn't punish him, that meant she'd let his father do it.
Fear became terror in his heart as the realization dawned upon him.
"No! Not that!"
He'd rather get actually scolded by his mother, than to have anything done to him by his father.
He hoped that maybe that wasn't her intention, that maybe she simply didn't care enough, or that maybe she would just scold him later, before his father arrived. He really hoped that.
Patrick shuddered, and slowly walked back to his room, shutting the door behind him. He sat on his bed and placed his head in between his hands, long fingers clutching at his blonde locks in terror. He wanted to just scream right now. He felt scared, ashamed, guilty, and sick. He couldn't believe himself right now. Why did he do that? It was wrong of him, he shouldn't have thought any of these things in the first place. What was happening to him??
His tablet buzzed, and he took it out slowly, trying to calm down. He looked at the screen of the handle. The text was from Jane "You wanna hang out? We're going t-" the text stopped there, and so Pat slid the two handles away to open up his tablet and read the full thing. The screen lit up, and the full text appeared in front of Pat's eyes. "You wanna hang out? We're going to the arcade together with a few friends! Thought you might wanna come :D"
Pat smiled softly, and started typing. "I'd love to! I'm not busy rn so I can come. Gimme a few minutes." He honestly really wanted to get out of the house, think about something else, all that. He assumed his mother wouldn't mind too much if he left for a few hours. She probably didn't want to see him for a while anyway. This was a perfect excuse to do all that.
He got up, walked to his dresser cabinet, and took his headphones, jacket and bus card. He then turned on his heels, walked down the stairs, and made a beeline to the door.
"Where are you going?"
His mother's voice made him stop, and he looked down. "M-my friend Jane invited me to the arcade with a few other friends." He answered, putting on his shoes.
"Come back before your father gets here." She simply said. And that was enough to stress him out. He definitely didn't want to come back late now. He opened the door, and turned to where his mother's voice was coming from. "I will. Bye."
He then quickly closed the door behind him, and headed for the bus stop. He sat down on the bench, and turned on his tablet. He first texted Jane, telling her he was on his way. She sent him the coordinates, and he thanked her, then went to the music app and scrolled through his playlist gallery, until he found what he was looking for. He pressed on the "calm music" playlist, a soft tic accompanying his action, and plugged his earbuds in his ears, letting De Factor's soft and mysterious electronic synth calm his mind. He closed his eyes, and moved his head back, closing his tablet and placing it in his jacket's pocket, as he sighed, trying to not think about anything.
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