Chapter Text
"Still can't find that Madagascar hissing cockroach?" Rex called out, his voice muffled by tall stacks of specimen jars.
Inse sighed, adjusting his thick glasses as he scanned the cluttered shelves of his Insectarium room. "Third time it escaped this week. Little Houdini. Hmm... well.. Maybe you shouldn't have named him that. He's clearly taking it literally." He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The humid air smelled of peat moss and formaldehyde. He had to keep this room a specific temperature for his Insect collection.
Rex shifted uneasily near the doorway, his long brown hair sticking to his neck from the humidity, violet bangs falling over eyes. "Your mom will flip if that thing hisses in her direction you know."
"Mom’s not here right now thankfully." Inse said absently, poking tweezers behind a terrarium.
Rex flinched as he bent down near the door to try and see under a shelf. A drop of sweat traced the bruise hidden beneath his sleeve, yesterday’s argument about his dinosaur books "cluttering" the hallway. It was only one magazine. The sharp scent of antiseptic from the cleaning supplies made his nose tickle, thinking about bloody bandages and alcohol. "Lemme help bet it’s hiding near warmth.”
He moved stiffly, scanning low shelves near the cables. As he knelt, his worn t-shirt rode up slightly. Inse’s gaze snagged on the mottled purple-green bloom just above Rex's waistline. It looked like a fossil impression pressed into living skin. Inse froze, tweezers hovering mid-air. His stomach lurched. It wasn't the first time he'd seen bruises of varying kinds marring the lightly tanned skin of his friend.
"You okay, Rex?" Inse’s voice was carefully neutral, but his eyes stayed locked on the bruise, tracing its angry edges.
Rex pulled his shirt down lightning-fast, plastering on a grin that didn't reach his violet-blue eyes. "Tripped on the stairs at school. No biggie." The lie tasted metallic. He busied himself with jars, fingers trembling slightly against cool glass.
Inse didn't buy it. Not for a second. He remembered Rex flinching last week when he’d playfully slapped his shoulder. The way Rex always wore long sleeves, even in the humid Insectarium heat, Hell even in the dead of summer while others were suffocating or melting from the temperature he would have long sleeves.
Over time the pieces clicked together with sickening clarity, the evasions, the jumpiness, the shadows under those once expressive eyes. The Madagascar hissing cockroach forgotten, Inse slowly knelt beside Rex. His own hands were shaking a bit now. He didn’t touch him. Not yet.
"Stairs don’t usually leave handprints," he murmured, the words barely audible over the frantic chirping of crickets. Rex froze, breath catching. The careful facade cracking, revealing pure, raw fear beneath before taking a deep breath and putting the walls back up.
A hiss sliced through the humid air. Both boys jerked toward the sound. The escape artist cockroach skittered across the floorboards near the baseboard, antennae twitching victoriously. Rex lunged for the jar, but Inse was faster, trapping the Insect smoothly with practiced hands.
As Inse screwed the lid tight Rex rubbed unconsciously at his hidden bruise. Inse stared at the contained cockroach, legs scrambling against the glass. "You know," he said quietly, "these guys hiss when they're scared. Or trapped." He finally turned, meeting Rex’s gaze directly. "Tell me who’s trapping you."
Rex’s throat worked soundlessly. "It's nothing I can't handle ok. Can we just not talk about it?" Rex was shutting down any conversation leading to where the bruises came from. He knew Inse wasn't stupid. Far from it. But he really didn't want to talk about his problems.
The cockroach hissed again, frantic legs scraping against glass, a trapped, desperate sound that echoed the tense energy from Rex. Inse set the jar down slowly before he put Little Houdini back in his tank, he'd have to make sure it was 'Houdini' proof.
He didn’t look away from Rex’s face, seeing the flicker of panic behind those violet-blue eyes. Rex looked away first ashamed. "Handle it?" Inse’s voice was low. "Rex...you should talk to someone... I'm here."
Outside, a car door slammed. Footsteps crunched on gravel, Mrs Underwood was home early. They had found the Insect just in time.
Rex jerked like a startled animal, eyes darting toward the door. "Please," he breathed, raw and ragged, "not now." But Inse didn’t move. Instead, he stepped closer, blocking Rex’s path to escape. He heard the shallow, panicked breaths. The realization felt like plunging into ice water. This wasn’t just about the bruise, it was about being found out and laid bare. Well if Rex wasn't ready to talk about it. That was fine. He'd be there when he was ready.
"Ok. Just don't....just be careful and I'm always here. Ok."
The footsteps grew louder, the clicking of heels echoing down the hallway outside Inse’s Insectarium. Rex instinctively shrunk back against the nearest terrarium cabinet, his knuckles pressing white against the glass containing a few silk worms. Inse placed the jar on the shelf next to the escape artist's original terrarium just as the door handle turned. The sweet scent of Mrs. Underwood's gardenia perfume cut through the humid, earthy air before she even entered.
"Inse Haga Underwood!? Where have you been! I've called your phone several times! And no answer! You never called to tell me if you got home safe from school! How many times do I have to ...... oh never mind..." His mother’s voice was sweet but exasperated by her Insect loving son. To her credit Inse HAD forgotten to call her and left his phone in his jacket pocket in the bedroom.
“Sorry mom I.. kinda just….forgot?” He gives her his best whoopsie look combined with a goofy grin until she rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
“What am I going to do with you, my little bumblebee?”
She surveyed the room, her gaze lingering on Rex pressed against the cabinet, then on Inse standing protectively near him. "Rexy, dear, are you feeling alright? You look pale." Her tone softened slightly, her eyes were worried and warm. Rex coughs and stands up more and smiles.
"Just...warm, Mrs. Underwood," Rex managed. He focused on the intricate pattern of veins in a mounted butterfly wing beside him, anything to avoid her seemingly all knowing stare.
Inse smoothly stepped forward. "Madagascar hissing cockroach escaped again. We just caught him." He motions towards the hidden jar with said hissing cockroach.
Mrs. Underwood shudders, the very name 'cockroach' was enough but the added hissing...no. "Well... that's what happens when you name it... Houdini." She sighs and shakes her head. "Well, dinner’s in twenty minutes." Her eyes flickered back to Rex. "I take it you'll be joining us for dinner again dear?"
Rex nods. "Yeah... if it's not too much trouble?"
"None at all Rexy dear! It's always a pleasure having you over." She smiles and with a final nod she leaves the room with a click.
Rex sighs. "Think she'll cook up some veggie burgers?"
Inse chuckles softly. "Probably." He picks up a terrarium lid, twisting it, opening it to start misting. The cricket’s chirps fill the silence once more as he starts to go from terrarium to terrarium and feeds or mists the enclosures.
Rex shifts his weight, eyes fixed on the floorboards. He could hear Mrs. Underwood clinking pots and pants out in the kitchen and the radio playing some light music. "Thanks Inse... I promise if things get too much I'll tell you. For now let's just leave it alone ok."
Inse didn't like it but just nodded. "Ok. But if you don't hold onto that promise.. I'm sicking Little Houdini on you."
Rex can't help the light laugh that pulled from him. "Yeah no thanks. Hearing the hiss come from that thing... It's terrifying." He helps Inse around the room for a bit until they hear the call to dinner.
As Rex follows Inse out to the dining room he helps to set the table then sits just as Mrs. Underwood brings out the, as he had hoped, Veggie burgers.
As Rex eats and chats with Inse and Mrs. Underwood about one of the regional tournaments. He'd placed fifth so only got a small money prize. Yugi or as they had found out Atem had placed first as always, Mr. King of Games. Seto Kaiba the ever present runner up, then Joey Wheeler took third though this time he nearly had Kaiba on the run. Inse took fourth respectively and then himself, Mako was sixth. Hey at least they were all in the top ten. And it wasn't in every dueling circuit. Some circuits where the top three were barred from competing in. Hell even he and Inse were barred from some circuits because they placed too high in the score boards.
The prize money was still good. It wasn't anything like the first and second place prize money but it still wasn't anything to turn your nose up at. He tries to ignore the dull ache around his ribs where his father had kicked him yesterday after another loss at the regional tournament. Apparently fifth place prize money wasn't good enough. He focuses instead on the warm steam rising from his plate, mixing with the sharp scent of roasted peppers and the vegetable wonton soup and it was delicious. So much better than cheap TV dinners at his own home.
Inse keeps nudging Rex’s foot under the table, a silent check-in that Rex answers with a quick, forced smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
The conversation shifts to Mrs. Underwood’s latest gardening project, carnivorous plants, and she enthusiastically describes repotting her Venus flytrap she had in her office earlier that day. "Its roots were tangled in a ball, it's now in a bigger pot so plenty more room to grow." she says, scooping more soup into Rex’s bowl without asking, her fingers brushing his bruised wrist lightly.
Rex hides the flinch at the contact, throat tightening as he remembers his father’s grip wrenching that same arm yesterday before the kick to the ribs. "Rexy dear, eat up. You're so thin, there's more than enough. Don't be shy now dear."
Rex smiles at her. "Right. Yeah I've been so busy running around sometimes I just forget to eat hehe."
"Well we can't have that. A growing young man like you needs plenty of food to grow big and strong. Have as much as you like dear."
“Big and strong? So what's Inse's excuse?”
“I beg your pardon Dino Breath?”
He grins at his tiny boyfriend a spark of his normal impish self slipping through as Mrs. Underwood giggles at their antics.
The rest of dinner goes by without incident as he finishes three more bowls of soup until his belly is nice, warm and full.
Inse launches into a story about stumbling upon rare stag beetles during a rainy duelist meetup in Okinawa last month. His leg trembles against Inse’s comforting nudge. He remembered that meet up. He wasn't feeling well and his head wasn't in the game. He didn't place in the top ten so didn't get any prize money that day. He can't stop picturing his father’s face scowling over empty prize envelopes, voice dripping venom: *"Fourteenth!? Worthless! YOUR WORTHLESS!"*
Mrs. Underwood sets down her spoon with a soft *clink*, her gaze lingering on Rex as he goes silent and zoned out. Her eyes flicker to the fading yellow-green bruises peeking from beneath his sleeve cuff, bruises shaped like fingerprints. She had noticed them and many others before but she didn't pry even though she wanted to. Rex was a sweet boy and she knew he wasn't being well cared for at home. Her job was finding signs like this, of abuse but also knew Rex was easily spooked. He would turn tail and run the moment anyone would pry. She also knew that if she interfered Rex would be put in the system. And while it would free him of the abuse it would open a whole new world of terror on the already tortured boy. She had to take it slow. Ease him into getting his freedom. Possibly work on the inside for a placement that would be suitable.
"Rexy?" she murmurs, voice soft and gentle. Rex blinks out of his zonked out state and looks at her. Into her eyes that were like windows. Cold dread washes through him. Did he eat too much? Did he do something wrong? Is she going to ask? Does she know?! Oh God she knows! How would she not know! This was her job! His stomach churns then rolls.
*Too full. Shit!* Rex pushes his chair back abruptly, the legs screeching against the tiled floor. "'Scuse me," he mutters, voice strangled and rough. He doesn't meet Inse’s worried glance or Mrs. Underwood's concerned frown. He bolts down the hallway, slipping into the small bathroom. The familiar scent of lavender potpourri usually calms him, but now it only amplifies the nausea.
He fumbles with the lock, before giving up as his stomach rolls violently again, and lunges toward the toilet. The porcelain feels cool against his forehead, but doesn't stop the violent heave that rips through him nor the pain in his ribs and stomach as he's violently ill. The acidic tang fills his nose and burns his throat as hot tears fall down his cheeks. What a waste of good food. *YOUR SUCH A USELESS WASTE OF SPACE!* Rex flinches again at the phantom memory of his father.
The nausea subsides after a while, leaving him trembling and sweating against the cool porcelain. Through the door, muffled murmurs drift from the kitchen, Inse’s anxious tone, Mrs. Underwood’s softer response. Rex presses a shaking hand over his mouth, biting down on his knuckle to stifle a sob. *"No money! Pathetic! YOU BRING ME NOTHING!"* The voice echoed in his skull, a sickening prelude to the kick to his ribs.
After a while he'd collected himself enough to stand flushing the bile and washing his mouth out in the sink and splashing cool water on his face before heading back out to the dining room.
Twin minty green heads look up at his re-entry.
"Rexy dear... are you alright?"
Rex bites his lip ashamed. "I'm sorry.. I guess I ate too much and... I wasted it all getting sick.."
"Oh you poor thing... Don't you worry about that. I'm the one that pushed you to eat more. Here.. why don't you and Inse go and get ready for bed hmm... You can spend the night here and head to school together. Just set out your school uniform and I'll get it all washed up ok. You get ready and I'll make you some warm milk with honey that will help soothe your stomach ok dear."
Rex blinks in awe of her kindness and understanding as he nods. Inse was already tugging Rex gently down the hallway towards his room, his touch feather-light against Rex’s elbow.
Inse’s room smelled of mint and pine, a sanctuary Rex always craved. Yet tonight he just felt raw and on edge.
"I feel like shit," Rex whispered hoarsely, staring at a poster of Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth as he pulled his shirt over his head and trying to ignore the light gasp from Inse at the sight of the bruises he knew were there. He quickly pulls on the borrowed PJs and sits on the edge of the bed.
"Fourteenth place... wasted dinner... no prize envelope...I just.... " The sentence died as his fingers brushed the tender bruise beneath his ribcage. Inse’s hands stilled Rex’s trembling ones, pressing a cold washcloth to his sweat-damp forehead. At some point he'd gone to the connected bathroom and got the cold cloth.
"Shhh, Rex, it's okay. You didn't waste anything, you were sick that day. Money isn't everything. You're an amazing duelist. Out of thousands you're always in the top ten. That day was just a bad day exacerbated by sickness." Inse's voice was strained as his memory lingered on the constellation of bruises blooming across Rex’s ribs and back, fingerprints, boot treads, all fresh overlaying yellows and greens from weeks past mixed with fresh purple and blues.
They stood silent for a moment, the hum of the air conditioner and the distant clatter of Mrs. Underwood washing dishes down the hall is the only sound. Rex leaned into the coolness of the cloth and warmth of Inse's body, closing his eyes as Inse gently carded his fingers through thick, wild hair. "My uniform.."
"I already set it next to mine for mom to get.... don't worry about it. Just relax Rex."
Inse’s fingers traced Rex’s skull with feather-light pressure, avoiding the dark purple blotch near the nape of his neck. Rex flinched anyway, his breath catching sharply, the phantom sting of impact flaring hot beneath his skin. *"Disgrace! Bringing home scraps!"* His father’s voice snarled behind his eyes.
"Shhhhhh… Shhhhh It's ok Rex. It's ok. Come, get on the bed." Rex shifts and crawls back on the bed and lays his sore body down in the cool, soft sheets as Inse joins him and continues to lightly pet and card his fingers through his hair.
Rex drifts a bit at Inse's ministrations and curls into his boyfriend. Inse gently kisses Rex's forehead. Rex leans into it breathing slowly as he tries to relax "Love you dino brain." Rex smiles as he glances up at Inse with weary eyes before burying his face against Inse's chest.
"Love you too Luna." Rex mumbles against Inse's chest.
Inse sighs with a smile and softly kisses Rex's forehead again as he feels Rex's breathing even out in sleep, following soon after.