[RL with Birkin, possibly Krauser and Wesker if they want]

[screwloose]

Stein sat on the floor in his favourite laboratory, the cold of the concrete soaking into his body and leaching the warmth from it even through his clothes and lab coat. He hadn't turned on the lights when he entered the room, so it was nearly pitch-black except for a small square of light that lay across the examination table in the middle.

At some point when talking to Birkin, he had knocked over a rolling tray table, and several beakers had shattered, sprinkling glass like caltrops across the floor.

His phone sat on the floor next to him, forgotten. At thirty he had stopped counting, but Birkin still wasn't here.

He sat against the wall, humming to himself and flinching away from dark movements and shapes that only he could see, his eyes darting around restlessly in their sockets.

Comments

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin wasn't really sure why he bothered counting himself. All he knew was that by the time he sprinted up the steps to Stein's house and threw open the door, he was at 128 seconds. His sense of direction had never been that good, Stein had no idea where he was, and it wasn't like he had seen most of the house the last time he was here anyway. Just the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room - which is where he currently stood - and... The lab. That had to have been it; that glass he heard shatter must have been a group of beakers or something. And best of all, he actually remembered how to get there.

He took off running down the hall, quite nearly tripping a few times before reaching his destination. 156. "Stein?" Birkin couldn't see a thing. He was used to darkness, but this was ridiculous. Vaguely remembering seeing a light switch when he was looking around the lab after being attacked and tied down, he groped for the switch, sighing softly in relief as he found it. 179. The room was bathed in light. And there was Stein, surrounded by broken glass.

Birkin took the opportunity to catch his breath a bit; running that whole way had made his lungs burn and now that he was coming down off his adrenaline high, the scientist was really starting to feel it. "Sorry I'm a little late." 201. He smiled, not daring to show his worry. "Traffic was just hell."

[screwloose]

Stein flinched as light flooded the room, throwing his arms up to hide his eyes with a startled noise. He had been in the dark long enough that it took his eyes a few moments to readjust.

He looked up, squinting through his glasses at Birkin.

"Birkin...Birkin, I can see you now. I guess we'd better get started."

He got to his feet and shrugged out of his labcoat, letting it fall to the floor in a heap.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. You might have been able to see me a bit better if you turned on the light." Birkin laughed to himself softly. Shitty joke. His lip quivered for a second. This was nothing, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time. Just one of those episodes he talked about having. He'd be fine soon and everything would go back to normal in a few days, a week max. "I'm just happy you got back safe."

Birkin raised an eyebrow at the labcoat. "I'd put that back on if I were you." He took a few cautious steps closer - much as he hated to admit it, this sudden onslaught of psychosis scared him a bit. "We're going back to my world to help you get better, alright?" He closed the rest of the distance between them and put a hand on Stein's shoulder. "I know you think you have to stay here right now, but what you really have to do is heal your mind and get yourself back to normal."

His own condescending tone was starting to annoy him. Sure the other scientist might have lost it a bit, but that didn't mean he couldn't comprehend things to the point where Birkin needed to talk to him like he was a small child. "You really had me worried..."

[screwloose]

Stein glanced numbly at the hand on his shoulder. Birkin was talking crazy. What he said didn't make sense at all. Stein knew just what needed to happen now.

He shrugged off the hand and hopped up onto the operating table. "Right, I have to get better," he said, and gave a little giggle. "Time for the operation."

He seized a scalpel off of the table next to the table and brought it towards his own forehead.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"The fuck do you think you're doing!?" Birkin grabbed Stein's wrist. It was mostly just a show and he knew it; there was no way Birkin honestly thought he was literally holding Stein back. "This is completely ridiculous!" Breathe. "You can't just cut open your head like this!" Calm down. "You'll kill yourself, Stein!" Just relax. "Franken, please stop... Just..."

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Birkin frowned a bit. "Give me the scalpel." He held his other hand out. "I mean it. You're not operating on yourself. Not while I'm here."

[screwloose]

The scalpel cut a thin line in Stein's forehead before Birkin managed to stop him. It began to run crimson over his too-pale skin, running down Stein's nose, but it was very shallow and wouldn't scar.

"He's going to cut out my brain," he said, almost reasonably. "It's wrong. Diseased. It needs to be fixed."

His eyes moved to Birkin's face. Slowly, he lowered his hand and dropped the scalpel into Birkin's other hand. "Why are you so upset?"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin immediately dropped the scalpel into his labcoat pocket. "Why do you think I'm upset? You just tried to..." He shut his mouth. No use getting angry, really. There was no chance Stein would understand in this state. Birkin sighed, and wiped some of the blood off Stein's forehead with his thumb.

"And he isn't going to cut out your brain. You are - no, not are, were." He really didn't want to have to stay awake and keep an eye on Stein all night. But then what else could he do? Call a hotline? Birkin scoffed to himself. "Your brain is fine. It's just the madness wave. That's why I'm taking you home with me."

He leaned in and kissed Stein on the cheek. "You're going to be fine. I promise." Though at this point, Birkin honestly wasn't a hundred percent sure who he was really telling that to.

[screwloose]

Stein blinked slowly, gazing at Birkin as he spoke. "The madness wave, yes..." he muttered, mostly to himself. "When I went into the magnetic field on Lost Island, it just...just exploded. The...insanity...just hit me."

He lowered his gaze and began to giggle to himself softly, pressing the hand that had been holding his scalpel against his face. His fingers dug in, leaving little crescents in the skin. "It won't stop," he gasped, shuddering. "Birkin...please get me out of here."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin nodded slowly. At least he had some idea of what happened now. He knelt down and grabbed Stein's discarded labcoat, shaking it slightly to get any shards of glass off it before handing it back to its owner. "The sooner we get you out of here the better." Between how pale and cold he was and his near-constant desire to hurt himself one way or another, not to mention the unsettling laugher, Birkin's paranoia was skyrocketing. Or maybe this time he shouldn't even consider it paranoia; his fears were actually founded in something.

"I'll make this better," he said as he started walking out of the lab. "So don't even worry about it. This is just a minor, temporary issue." As much as Birkin believed he could probably do something about it, he could stop his voice from wavering slightly as he spoke. "I'm sure you'll feel better as soon as you get out of your world, anyway."

[screwloose]

Stein hopped down from the operating table, pulling the lab coat on. He watched Birkin leaving and trotted after him, flinching away from a three-eyed shadowy figure that tried to stop him from leaving.

He grabbed onto Birkin's arm suddenly, his fingers tightening around Birkin's elbow. It steadied him a little to have contact with his...lover, or whatever he was.

"Thank you, doctor," he murmured. Birkin would help. Birkin was a doctor, and would help. He had to cling to that belief.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"Don't thank me. It's no problem. Any excuse to kidnap you for a few days is thanks enough," Birkin said with an optimistic smile as he lead them back the front door. It was a bit shocking to see Stein being so... Affectionate, though. No, not affectionate. Scared out of his mind. Either way, it was still strange. Birkin placed his free hand over Stein's, hoping it would calm him down a bit at least. He was supposed to be the clingy one, not the strong one, damn it.

If this is what sanity felt like, Birkin really wasn't sure he liked it.

[screwloose]

Stein shuffled after Birkin obediently, his head down and his hair in his eyes. He didn't know where they were going, and as they walked down the steps from his front door and the door clanged shut, he started and pulled away from Birkin abruptly.

"Wait...wait..." he muttered, his eyes darting from side to side. "The guard dog. Where is he?"

He grabbed onto Birkin's arm again, so tightly that it likely bruised. "He'll hurt you if he catches you taking me. He said to stay here!"

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin visibly winced as Stein grabbed his arm again. That bruise was going to be an absolute joy to explain away if anyone saw it. Resisting the urge to just roll his eyes and explain that there was no guard dog or any kind of dog for that matter, oh and for the record dogs can't talk, he patted the hand on his arm softly. "Don't worry about the guard dog. I explained the whole story to him. He said it was fine for you to go, assuming I brought you back in one piece."

He shifted his weight forward a bit to hopefully get Stein to follow him again. "Alright?" Birkin sort of wished he was a bit stronger so he could either drag or carry Stein away from his house enough to get that hop back to his lab. Would have made this part quite a bit easier.

[screwloose]

Stein glanced around uncertainly again, his gaze straying up to the huge castle-like school on the hill, in the middle of the city. "He said I could go?" he asked doubtfully. "You don't know Senpai. He's kept me on his leash since I was eight."

He suddenly beamed and moved to walk with Birkin again as a cheery thought occurred to him. "But maybe we can get out before he notices I'm gone~! Then I can do whatever experiments I want without any interference."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Ah, that guard dog. "Don't worry about him. He won't even notice you've left. And you know I wouldn't interfere with your experiments. I'd even help you with most of them." Birkin couldn't help but smile darkly. "Besides, if he really cared about you, he wouldn't have locked you up all alone. I'd never do something like that to you." Sure that might have been grossly inappropriate to mention, but Birkin was never one to waste an opportunity like that.

Once they'd gotten their worldhop back to Birkin's world, he had to admit he was extremely relieved. "So, feeling any less crazy yet?" He wasn't sure how soon the insanity would wear off, but he was hopeful it'd be sooner than later.

[screwloose]

"Senpai doesn't love me like you do, Birkin~" Stein said loyally. "He loves his whores and his little girl, and his wife, but I'm his job. He's very committed to his job, my little guard dog is."

Stein found the door and the kid with the keyblade fascinating, but he kept quiet until they got back to his second home, with its interesting smells and dank walls.

"Mmm," he mused, turning his bolt as he struggled to focus on Birkin's question. He turned to Birkin to answer, not even sure what he was going to say, and stared in mounting horror at the three-eyed monstrosity that had replaced Birkin's face. The huge, snaggle-toothed mouth opened and slavered, and Stein shoved Birkin away with a cry, stumbling back into the corner and sinking down to the floor, shaking.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin fell to the ground, expression not unlike a kicked puppy's. He rose back to his feet, realizing that Stein probably hallucinated something - probably the only reasonable explanation for the look of terror on his face. Taking a few slow steps forward to avoid freaking the other scientist out more than he already evidently did, he knelt down in front of Stein. "It's just me. Just Birkin. No matter what I look like, I'm never going to hurt you. Okay?" Damn, was Stein shaking? This was going to be harder than he thought. Birkin sighed. "Please. I just want to help. But I can't do that if you're scared of me."

[screwloose]

Stein's knees were drawn up to his chest and his forehead leaned against them. He had his eyes closed tightly, not wanting to see Birkin's face looking like the Kishin again.

"Birkin?" he whispered. He reached out as Birkin knelt down in front of him, curling his fingers in the lapel of his labcoat.

Clinging.

"Help me..."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin closed his own eyes, leaning forward a bit to rest his chin on the top of Stein's head. Time to face the music... "I don't know how I can help you," he murmured, choking back a sob. "...I'm sorry, Franken." So this was it. Stuck taking care of a disease he couldn't cure for someone who couldn't even look at him without panicking. What could he do other than drug Stein up until he was barely conscious and nothing more than a dead body that just looked like him? Birkin furrowed his brow. No chance in hell he was going to let that happen.

"If just being away from your world doesn't help, it's going to take some time for me to think of a solution. But I need you to promise me one thing in the meantime." Birkin lifted his head up, hoping Stein would do the same. "Please stop trying to hurt yourself. It won't do you any good."

[screwloose]

Stein looked up hesitantly. He flinched, then blinked and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Not real, not real," he whispered.

When he opened his eyes, the apparition was gone and it was just Birkin once more. He knew it'd be back - maybe not exactly the same, maybe not on Birkin but on Krauser or even his own reflection again - but for now it was all right.

Birkin was talking about the insanity. That was the problem, wasn't it? The madness wave. The things he was experiencing, the messed-up tracks his mind was following were because of that. He had to remember that.

"I won't hurt myself," he said softly. He shifted, pressing forward and slipping his arms around his...lover, now perhaps guardian, whatever he was. "You'll keep me leashed now, right?" There was mixed hopefulness and unhappiness in his voice. He was only safe if he were under guard, as always. He knew that - and now he knew it was even more true than ever.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"Yeah..." Birkin returned the hug and forced himself to smile. "Yeah, I'll take care of you." Not like he knew how to do that very well either, he thought bitterly. "Speaking of, I should really probably clean that blood off your face."

He slowly, carefully rose to his feet, grabbing Stein by the hand. "If it's alright with you, I want to hear more about what happened. It's fine if you don't want to tell me though. I'd completely understand." Whatever the hell happened, it obviously wasn't good, but Birkin was hoping there was something he could learn from the details that would help him figure out how to get Stein back to relative-normalcy.

[screwloose]

Stein got to his feet, shuffling after Birkin again and holding his hand tightly. He was hitting a low point again, calm and something close to rational. It wouldn't last, he knew.

"Nothing happened...nothing," he muttered. "We got there, and Marie-sensei and I went in. And the...the insanity, it just...just poured over me like blood." Just talking about it, his voice grew more and more unfocused. "My own students had to come after me." He giggled, cut it off, struggling for focus. "The witches got there first. Arachnophobia got BREW and got away, because I couldn't keep it together."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin gave himself a mental note to avoid asking about any more details until Stein calmed down a bit more. Talking about it obviously wasn't the best way to get him back to normal if the giggling and disjointed story was any indication. Birkin had no earthly idea what this BREW thing was, but it sounded like a big deal.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," he said swiping the keycard to unlock his personal lab. "Blaming yourself won't do anyone any good." Birkin gestured at the operating table and opened a few cabinets before finding a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a bandage. "Sorry, but this is going to sting a bit." The very last thing Birkin needed right now was to have Stein freak out because it hurt a bit or something. "It'll be over soon though, I promise."

[screwloose]

Stein shuddered when he saw the operating table. Before he contacted Birkin, he had seen himself strapped down to a table, and his own image bending over him to perform surgery. When he'd mentioned someone intending to remove his brain, he had been referring to himself. His other self. Something.

It had made sense in his brain, and it was hard to banish the image.

Birkin had said he would take care of him, and that he wouldn't hurt him. He just had to remember that.

Slowly he climbed up onto the table and rested his elbows on his knees, gazing down at the ground. He had forgotten all about how the blood got onto his face.

"I trust you," he said suddenly as Birkin moved towards him with the alcohol and bandage. He looked at the items with no comprehension of what they were for. "I didn't used to... But I think you won't experiment on me if I don't want you to. Not anymore." He reached out a hand and brushed fingers through Birkin's hair, fondly. "I think maybe you're my favourite now," he murmured. "Yes, I think so."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

He smiled. If not for the 'crazy' part of all this, it would almost be enjoyable. "You're my favorite, too." Anyone else went this crazy on me, I sure as hell wouldn't let them within ten feet of me.

"Just hold still." Birkin dabbed the cut with the alcohol while mumbling out random apologies, trying to be as gentle as humanly possible. Once he managed to clean most of the blood off, Birkin taped the bandage over the cut. "There we go. That wasn't so bad."

Deep down, Birkin knew he wasn't anywhere close to the root of this problem yet. He could dress wounds all day long, but it wouldn't do a damn thing for Stein's mental state no matter how much he wanted it to.

[screwloose]

Stein closed his eyes and endured the stinging. His fingers moved restlessly, twitching until he finally grabbed onto Birkin's coat and hung on again, trying to remind himself that this was real, that Birkin was right there, and with him.

"Not so bad," he echoed, and opened his eyes with sudden animation. "It's bad, Birkin. It's so bad. BREW... with BREW they can do anything. It's the most powerful demon tool ever made, and here I am, and I can't do a damn thing at all! I'm so weak, and useless, and it's time to just throw me away."

He flailed with one arm at the end, nearly knocking a piece of equipment over. "That's what they're going to do," he said softly, letting the hand drop. "Throw me away. And I can't blame them, either. They have bigger things to worry about than one lost meister."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"D-don't talk like that..." What the hell was Birkin even supposed to say back to any of that? "No one thinks you're weak for this. No one." He almost missed when Stein was raving about how there was a man with a knife after him. It bothered him less than hearing... This. With a sigh, Birkin hopped up on the operating table next to him, resting his head on Stein's shoulder. "There is no reason anyone would want to throw you away. Everyone from your world is probably panicking because they have no idea where you are."

Birkin rested a hand on the other scientist's thigh. "You're the strongest student to ever come out of that school. They wouldn't dare get rid of you. That's like me trying to get rid of Wesker; it just wouldn't make sense." He smiled slightly. This BREW thing didn't sound like good news, but Birkin wasn't about to bring that up anything that might set Stein off again anytime soon.

[screwloose]

Stein looked down at the hand on his thigh, then slipped his arms around Birkin's waist. This...this was weirdly familiar, and comforting. "They should have killed me on the island," he murmured, his fingers sliding around the waistband of Birkin's pants.

"I am the strongest, but now I can't fight for them. Medusa wants me...and I want to go to her." His fingers dipped under, between fabric and skin.

He frowned, it occurring to him that maybe Birkin wouldn't be happy to hear that. "Not as much as I want to be with you, though," he added, sincerely.

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

"No they shouldn't have," Birkin said matter-of-factly, leaning over slightly and kissing the corner of Stein's lips. "I'd be heartbroken and alone in that case. And I don't think I'd like that very much. I... Would almost rather you go to Medusa than die. At least I have the possibility of getting you back with one of them." Although the thought of sharing with her of all people made Birkin slightly sick to his stomach.

Birkin couldn't help but smirk when Stein added on that sentence about him. It sounded like he meant it, which admittedly was a bit... Sweet. Birkin's cheeks turned pink, but whether it was from the touch or the compliment he wasn't really sure.

He was, however, pretty sure that it would be sickly easy to make an argument that he was just taking advantage of Stein when he was like this, so other than the blush and moving slightly closer, Birkin ignored the touch. "You'll be able to fight again soon. Save your world and all that. There'll be a big party in your honor. A parade maybe." He really is too damn heroic. Birkin smiled warmly. "But let's just focus on getting you to recover right now, okay?"

[screwloose]

Stein laughed, and it sounded slightly less mad this time. The thought of a parade in his honour was rather attractive, but also ludicrous.

Though one never really knew with Shibusen.

"She wants to make herself a god," he whispered. "Sweep away everything, so there's nothing to stop her from doing anything she wants. All the witches want that..." He smirked. "And there's a part of me that wants that, too. But I won't make that selfish bitch into a god to bring it about."

He leaned closer, his hand sliding under the waistband of Birkin's pants to rest on his hip. "I'm...so tired," he admitted. "Haven't slept since...I don't remember."

[touchofgenius.livejournal.com]

Birkin's mood brightened considerably at the more normal laugh. Progress - just what he liked to see.

He snickered under his breath at the idea of Medusa making herself a god. "That sounds like someone we both know... Maybe you should get her some sunglasses and see if all potential gods like them." No wonder Stein was so conflicted about making nice with Medusa. If she was anything like Wesker, she was going to be charismatic and go a little nuts with the promises... Who wouldn't want that?

"Then let's get you to bed." Birkin slid off the operating table. At least he'd finally manage to fall back asleep now. "...And let's get me to bed too. It's been a long night."

[screwloose]

Stein sniggered, too. He had also made the mental connection between Medusa and Wesker, though he hadn't really had a chance to express his distaste towards the whole idea of a self-styled god.

"There is no god," he said sagely, but with a manic glint to his eyes as he slid from the table and moved to follow Birkin out of the room.