[fic] The Good Professor: 2. Playing Your Cards Right
Title: Playing Your Cards Right
Prompts: Hojo vs Gast back before Gast left Shinra/Hojo + his ideas of parenting
Word Count: 815
Summary: Hojo always plays his cards right.
AN: This oddly enough kind of fits in with what I have planned for the Hojo sefira in Ein Sof. And ties in with me knowing a wee bit about how babies develop, and Failure to Thrive syndrome. As always, I think too much. ^^;;
--
The one damnable thing about Lucretia being gone was that he had planned for her to be the one caring for Project S.
It was not in him to do all the ridiculous things mothers did for their offspring, and things which, as painful as it was to admit, were very necessary for infant development. And the very thought of all his hard work going up in smoke because no one would play with Project S made Hojo want to bang his head against a brick wall.
He'd thought getting Lucretia out of the way before her ridiculous 'maternal instincts' kicked in even more--he knew he was going to have to get rid of her when she started referring to Project S as 'their son' and 'her baby'--but Project S's dramatically dropping weight and reactions were showing that he obviously had not figured everything.
He frowned. He supposed he could manage to charm one of the prettier young women in the lab into doing whatever it was women did with babies beyond feeding them that made them grow, and if he played his cards right--and he always played his cards right in that respect--then at least he would also get laid sooner rather than later. It was becoming ridiculous at this point--to both the fact that Project S was deteriorating just because it wasn't being played with and that he hadn't gotten laid since before Project S had been born.
"Well, what's wrong with you?" a voice said suddenly, and Hojo suppressed the urge to snap at the insufferable Dr. Gast that he could ask him the same thing, when he realized Gast wasn't even talking to him.
He was talking to Project S.
"Aww, now, you look like you need some attention!" Gast said, and Hojo felt his hands clench at how Gast had so quickly noticed what was lacking in what should have been Hojo's masterpiece. As always. Gast was always one step ahead, somehow, and it made him hate the man. How had Gast known...?
Gast was completely ignoring him, and reached down through the medical bed where Project S was supposed to be doing whatever it was babies did. "Oh you poor thing. You must be so bored!" Gast said, and without so much as a word to Hojo, picked up Project S and started rocking with him, keeping eye contact and talking to the infant. "There's nothing for you to look at at all!"
Gast kept a steady string of words to the infant, to the point where Hojo was about ready to tell him to kindly shut up so he could think, when Project S made a faint sound back, as if responding. Hojo looked over sharply, carefully, and saw Project S was staring straight at Gast, in a way it hadn't looked at anything in a while.
Gast looked over at him, as if he realized he was being watched, and his eyes narrowed angrily. "Hojo, are you a bloody fool? This is a child, not just an experiment! Are you trying to stunt his development? An infant needs constant stimulation, not just laying in a bed surrounded by white nothingness! And have you ever even picked the poor thing up for anything other than weighing him?"
"My expertise, alas, is not in child development."
"This doesn't require a degree, it requires a heart!" Gast snapped.
Hojo felt his anger begin to boil, and hid it behind a bland expression.
Gast looked back down at Project S, ignoring Hojo again, which put Hojo's teeth on egde. "You poor thing. And...oh, whoa, I think you need a change there!"
Gast looked back at Hojo. "Where are the diapers?" he snapped, and Hojo gestured towards a drawer. Gast shot him an annpyed look, then went over, took out a diaper and the other supplies, and began changing Project S's spoiled ones, all the while murmuring to it.
"All better now!" Gast said cheerfully, and tickled Project S's belly.
And in Hojo's head, a small voice started laughing.
Let Gast do this bit--this 'mothering' the infant needed to thrive. In the end, Project S was only that, a project, and if this was necessary, well... One thing he had learned, with Lucretia, was how easily people who couldn't accept that would become attached to a "baby." And if that attachment gave him another level of control, a way to keep Gast under his thumb...
"Well. If you feel I am so useless," Hojo said with a sneer, "I will leave...him to you," he said, and walked out in a mock huff.
On his way out, Hojo looked back over his shoulder, just enough to see, out of the corner of his eyes, how Gast looked back at Project S and smiled at him, and Hojo pushed up his glasses to cover a smirk.
He always, after all, played his cards right.
Prompts: Hojo vs Gast back before Gast left Shinra/Hojo + his ideas of parenting
Word Count: 815
Summary: Hojo always plays his cards right.
AN: This oddly enough kind of fits in with what I have planned for the Hojo sefira in Ein Sof. And ties in with me knowing a wee bit about how babies develop, and Failure to Thrive syndrome. As always, I think too much. ^^;;
--
The one damnable thing about Lucretia being gone was that he had planned for her to be the one caring for Project S.
It was not in him to do all the ridiculous things mothers did for their offspring, and things which, as painful as it was to admit, were very necessary for infant development. And the very thought of all his hard work going up in smoke because no one would play with Project S made Hojo want to bang his head against a brick wall.
He'd thought getting Lucretia out of the way before her ridiculous 'maternal instincts' kicked in even more--he knew he was going to have to get rid of her when she started referring to Project S as 'their son' and 'her baby'--but Project S's dramatically dropping weight and reactions were showing that he obviously had not figured everything.
He frowned. He supposed he could manage to charm one of the prettier young women in the lab into doing whatever it was women did with babies beyond feeding them that made them grow, and if he played his cards right--and he always played his cards right in that respect--then at least he would also get laid sooner rather than later. It was becoming ridiculous at this point--to both the fact that Project S was deteriorating just because it wasn't being played with and that he hadn't gotten laid since before Project S had been born.
"Well, what's wrong with you?" a voice said suddenly, and Hojo suppressed the urge to snap at the insufferable Dr. Gast that he could ask him the same thing, when he realized Gast wasn't even talking to him.
He was talking to Project S.
"Aww, now, you look like you need some attention!" Gast said, and Hojo felt his hands clench at how Gast had so quickly noticed what was lacking in what should have been Hojo's masterpiece. As always. Gast was always one step ahead, somehow, and it made him hate the man. How had Gast known...?
Gast was completely ignoring him, and reached down through the medical bed where Project S was supposed to be doing whatever it was babies did. "Oh you poor thing. You must be so bored!" Gast said, and without so much as a word to Hojo, picked up Project S and started rocking with him, keeping eye contact and talking to the infant. "There's nothing for you to look at at all!"
Gast kept a steady string of words to the infant, to the point where Hojo was about ready to tell him to kindly shut up so he could think, when Project S made a faint sound back, as if responding. Hojo looked over sharply, carefully, and saw Project S was staring straight at Gast, in a way it hadn't looked at anything in a while.
Gast looked over at him, as if he realized he was being watched, and his eyes narrowed angrily. "Hojo, are you a bloody fool? This is a child, not just an experiment! Are you trying to stunt his development? An infant needs constant stimulation, not just laying in a bed surrounded by white nothingness! And have you ever even picked the poor thing up for anything other than weighing him?"
"My expertise, alas, is not in child development."
"This doesn't require a degree, it requires a heart!" Gast snapped.
Hojo felt his anger begin to boil, and hid it behind a bland expression.
Gast looked back down at Project S, ignoring Hojo again, which put Hojo's teeth on egde. "You poor thing. And...oh, whoa, I think you need a change there!"
Gast looked back at Hojo. "Where are the diapers?" he snapped, and Hojo gestured towards a drawer. Gast shot him an annpyed look, then went over, took out a diaper and the other supplies, and began changing Project S's spoiled ones, all the while murmuring to it.
"All better now!" Gast said cheerfully, and tickled Project S's belly.
And in Hojo's head, a small voice started laughing.
Let Gast do this bit--this 'mothering' the infant needed to thrive. In the end, Project S was only that, a project, and if this was necessary, well... One thing he had learned, with Lucretia, was how easily people who couldn't accept that would become attached to a "baby." And if that attachment gave him another level of control, a way to keep Gast under his thumb...
"Well. If you feel I am so useless," Hojo said with a sneer, "I will leave...him to you," he said, and walked out in a mock huff.
On his way out, Hojo looked back over his shoulder, just enough to see, out of the corner of his eyes, how Gast looked back at Project S and smiled at him, and Hojo pushed up his glasses to cover a smirk.
He always, after all, played his cards right.