The Ivory of Bone [Part IV]
~*~
After the deal is made, all that is left are completing the remaining physical aspects of the Gemini.
Usually, taking away the Receiver’s voice is first. And along with it, the installation of the mechanical jaw device which will allow the Receiver’s jaw to be locked.
~*~
“Sungmin-hyung, at this rate I’m going to die of heat stroke before I even begin to start feeling cold.” Kyuhyun looked from his position on the bed, grunting as Sungmin laid yet another blanket over him. The fifth one, in fact.
“You’ll be glad for these when you do start freezing.” Sungmin replied, straightening out the blanket and making sure the edges were neatly tucked into the bed so that it’d be less likely it would fall off when Kyuhyun started shivering.
Kyuhyun stared at Sungmin and the serious expression on his face before he sighed, the worry that had been assaulting him since Sungmin told him everything finally getting the better of him. “Hyung… Are you sure you want to go through this?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” Sungmin leaned down, kissing Kyuhyun on the forehead. “Don’t worry, Kyuhyun. I’m pretty prepared for what’s to come. Heechul-hyung told me what would happen.”
Kyuhyun thought about this ‘Heechul-hyung’ and wondered if this guy was really all that good as Sungmin seemed to reply. But now was not the time for placing doubts into Sungmin’s mind. Not for what Sungmin was about to face.
“Alright. I trust you.” Kyuhyun smiled. And this time, the mask of nonchalance didn’t feel as heavy as the last time. “Hurry up and come back before I freeze my butt off.”
At that moment, the door swung open, revealing a singular escort - unmasked. It seemed that they weren’t worried about Sungmin trying to run off anymore.
“Lee Sungmin?” And Kyuhyun stared at the man and his unremarkable features. He wondered what had gotten such an ordinary-looking person into such a horrible, soulless trade.
“Yeah. I’m here.” Sungmin sighed, turning once more to pat Kyuhyun on the head. “I’ll be back before you know it!”
-
The blankets didn’t do much to stop the cold, although Kyuhyun would never admit it to Sungmin. They did however, stop him from falling off the bed, shivering too hard, and for that Kyuhyun was grateful. But, he was much less so when Sungmin came stumbling into the room later, barely upright with the help of a supporting hand of an escort, and he couldn’t immediately rush across to help - shivers or no.
When he had finally ran across on legs slowly strengthening, Sungmin legs were beginning to fold, and Kyuhyun only just got to him in time before they completely collapsed.
The worry on his face must have spoke volumes because the escort had patted him on the shoulder in reassurance. “It’s just the anesthetic. He’ll be fine tomorrow.”
-
The escort didn’t lie per se, but then, he probably hadn’t thought further than beyond the anesthetic wearing out.
He hadn’t thought of the pain Sungmin would go through, getting used to a mouth screwed shut after twenty-one years of being in full control of it. Sungmin tried to hide it, but Kyuhyun caught sight of Sungmin rubbing his jaw often, an expression of pain on his face. The same expression as the first time he’d tried to talk out of habit, and ended up pulling his facial muscles instead.
Nor had the escort thought of how awkward it would be between Kyuhyun and Sungmin now. Kyuhyun didn’t know what to do really. He wanted to hover around Sungmin to be at his beck and call, but the irritated flapping hand indicated Sungmin didn’t want that. He didn’t really want to talk, not wanting to remind Sungmin of what he had lost. But the incessant silence seemed to get to Sungmin, and repeated gesturing at Kyuhyun and curious expressions were now Sungmin’s way of asking Kyuhyun of his opinion. Maybe it was the easiest way to get Kyuhyun to talk.
It was odd though. Kyuhyun had never been the talkative type, and now, he had to talk enough for two people.
But what bothered Kyuhyun most was the fear that he might not understand Sungmin. So far, everything had been easy - limited to Sungmin’s immediate wants and needs. But in time, Sungmin would get bothered about something - inexplicable things that couldn’t be explained with just actions. And Kyuhyun was afraid that Sungmin might get hurt because Kyuhyun couldn’t understand.
-
A few days later, Kyuhyun had the key to Sungmin’s jaw pierced under his tongue, and it hurt to move his mouth, the sting from the necessary wound so painful that it made his eyes water.
It made communicating even harder now. And already, Kyuhyun had seen expressions in Sungmin’s eyes that he couldn’t understand. It was frustrating. Frustrating and terrifying.
A soft hand on his shoulder, making him jump. He hadn’t realized he’d been so engrossed in his thoughts that he had stopped in his movements.
He knew who it was without looking, and he turned around from his task and smiled as brightly as he could. He wanted to tell Sungmin that he was just preparing the liquid nourishment that was Sungmin’s food until the key under Kyuhyun’s tongue could be taken out without Kyuhyun screaming bloody murder, and that Sungmin just needed to wait a little longer while Kyuhyun got it ready.
But it was too long to express it all in actions, so Kyuhyun decided to use words instead. He opened his mouth with some difficult, beginning to form words of the sentence carefully. “Sungmin, I-”
The hand on his cheek stopped his words, and Kyuhyun stared into Sungmin’s eyes, a question plain on his face.
There were no words said, but suddenly Kyuhyun understood. There was nothing inherent in Sungmin’s expression that said it. But he knew. He just knew.
He knew that Sungmin was worried and yet understood what Kyuhyun was going through. He knew that he wouldn’t be understood all the time, and that may be a cause of frustration in the future. But he knew that he knew enough to let Kyuhyun understand what he wanted. It wasn’t everything, but it was enough.
Kyuhyun put the syringe carefully down onto the counter before he turned around, enveloping Sungmin into his arms. The tears came naturally, as did the sobs. But he wasn’t ashamed of it. Not anymore. After all, the one he was hugging understood him enough that hiding his tears would be useless.
With the tears, the stress and guilt that had been building in Kyuhyun was released. As did the nagging feeling that everything that Sungmin had done had been for his sake. And with them, a sort of acceptance and peace settled in his heart. Things could be better, that was sure - Sungmin would have his voice and they might have met under less painful circumstances. But whatever could have been, at least, they were together now.
It wasn’t everything, but it was enough.
~*~
And of course, the final step in the making of a Gemini is to link them together with the infamous bone chain.
It is commonly mistaken, however, that this step is actually one of the first few steps in making a Gemini. What it is actually, is a physical manifestation of the relationship between a Watcher and his Receiver, and is more for the benefit of the customer than of the two subjects themselves. With this chain, the customer can understand a little more of that relationship than if there were no chain at all.
~*~
The surgery had been painful, to say the least. A chain of some kind of silver substance grafted onto the wrist bones, then some sort of serum injected so that their bone would grow over the chain, making it the trademark ivory sheen it was normally known to have. The fever from growing pains wasn’t pleasant either, but neither Kyuhyun nor Sungmin would have regretted going through it.
“It feels a little weird, doesn’t it?” Kyuhyun caught Sungmin after he tripped over the chain yet again. They both had been doing so for the past hour since they were released from the surgical room. “Like I’ve grown an extra arm or something.”
Sungmin raised an eyebrow before gesturing down to his crotch, walking away to put something onto the shelf as he had been meaning to and Kyuhyun sighed. “Yes, yes. I know, it’s not as weird as the new underwear you have to wear. But hey, you said yourself, according to your precious Heechul-hyung, that it would protect you more than inhibit you!”
Kyuhyun yelped as Sungmin leaned down, licking the chain with revengeful spite, the feeling strange and foreign. It wasn’t unpleasant, really. Just odd because it felt like Sungmin was right beside him, licking on his arm, instead of on the other side of the room.
“Yah! Don’t do that!” Kyuhyun snapped, before softening immediately at the sight of Sungmin’s shoulder shaking from silent laughter. And soon, he too was laughing as well.
In the dull light, the chain slinked with each movement, glinting ivory like the calm and refuge of home.
~*~
With this, the Gemini is supposed to be completed. But there might be some questions from among you readers after reading this.
The most common question, I would hazard, is that this can’t be all there is. The Gemini are perfect prostitutes. But other than ‘rape’, there doesn’t seem to be other steps in promoting sexual prowess.
In retrospect, I realize that I failed to explain this earlier. When I say that the Gemini are perfect prostitutes, it doesn’t refer to their strong sexual prowess, although they are, of course, known for that. But rather, it refers to the fact that they show none of the problems that regular prostitutes are prone to show. Examples are, suicide, escape, depression and the list goes on. The method promotes a psychological change in the minds of both subjects so that they accept their fate easily, as well as gives them both something to live for.
With this in place, it is thus actually easier for the skills of prostitution to be honed. Alongside a well calculated meritocracy system, most Gemini, even the lowest rank, gain considerable sexual prowess pretty fast.
~*~
It had been only a week, yet Kyuhyun felt as if it had been a long time.
It probably had to be due to the fact that he was getting used to Sungmin having sex with a total stranger right in front of him. The first day, he had to keep biting the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out in worry every time a customer shoved Sungmin onto the bed. It was hard though, not to keep the look of disgust off his face, looking onto the face of greedy lust on every customer’s face. And the management had conveyed their complaints that Kyuhyun had looked too angry for them to really enjoy themselves fully. Now, it was easier, to keep his emotions to himself, to hide them behind a plain, non-judgmental face.
Still, it was a rather weird fact to admit. However, he’d since learnt that this new world didn’t work the same way as the one he was used to before. And so he watched without any inhibitions and observed how much Sungmin had improved over the past week.
It was quite an uproar in their little world of odd meritocracy, when Sungmin and Kyuhyun rose 10 places in the ranks in less than two weeks.
~*~
And there you have it, the method to create the Gemini, the perfect prostitutes. However, like all academic studies, all the above would only be successful in a laboratory setting. That is, without the inclusion of outside variables. For example, time. The pair within a Gemini might get tired with each other. Or they might, possibly, get into a fight. All these would cause flaws in an otherwise perfect set-up.
However, all the above are quite minor flaws, and because of the deep relationship behind their creation, the Gemini are quite close to their exalted position.
There is, however, one fatal flaw that those who have created Gemini before always complain of.
~*~
Kyuhyun was rather pleased today.
He had woken up to a knock on the usual knock on the door, and the one who had greeted him was Henry, one of the few of his and Sungmin’s favourite guards. Henry had relayed management’s wish to promote them higher in the Gemini ranks again, and Kyuhyun had declined, again. They had gotten as high up in the hierarchy as they had liked for now. Sure, number three and number two had their benefits, but they also had less jobs. And Kyuhyun and Sungmin were still too new in their career to consider retirement.
Henry also had brought Kyuhyun’s requested newest patch for his computer, and he’d also brought the StarCraft expansion patch that Kyuhyun had begged (and a little more than begged) Henry to sneak in for him. There was also a box of extremely expensive chocolates out of all the gifts they usually got that management had let them receive due to their good performance for the week.
But all those weren’t the reason why Kyuhyun was pleased.
“Min-yah~” Kyuhyun chuckled as he sat down on the bed, placing a soft kiss on the lips his other half to wake him up, placing the paper which was the list of their customers for that night. “Look who’s our first customer for tonight?”
Sungmin yawned, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep away from then. Then, as his sight focused a bright smile spread across his face and he turned around, excitedly wrapping his arms around Kyuhyun.
“Yes, Sungmin. I told you he’d come back.” Kyuhyun smirked, glancing at the paper once more to make sure that he’d hadn’t read wrong.
He hadn’t. Plain as day, the first name written on that list was that man from a few days ago. The one whom both Kyuhyun and Sungmin had liked upon first glance.
Zhou Mi.
~*~
And that is a customer that the Gemini gets too fond of.
~*~
[End.]