[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

[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.

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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..."

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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."

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"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.