Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 272. Social Bonding

I woke up but didn’t want to open my eyes.

It had been forever since I had slept so deeply, and that even without any strange dreams.

I saw light shining through my lids; we should already be late for lessons.

"You can sleep some more." A hand landed over my closed eyes.

"Don’t watch sleeping people," I murmured.

"Technically, you are not sleeping right now."

"How would you know that if you aren’t watching me?" I took Henry’s hand from my eyes and bit into his palm near his pinky. He let me, stroking my temple and forehead with his fingers.

"Intuition?" I let go of him, and he placed his hand on my cheek.

I really didn’t want to open my eyes, but we had already skipped so many lessons, and then we had also ’partied’ yesterday, so I should wake up.

I looked at Henry, who was crouching before the bed, watching me.

Avoiding his gaze, I saw that the room behind him was cleared of balloons and cakes, though the poster was still there.

It seemed very bright outside.

"What’s the time?" I asked Henry, and he shrugged.

"Don’t know; the smartwatches are still buried. It seems as long as we don’t go out by ourselves, they will leave us alone. So I let you catch up on some sleep." He smiled happily.

"Hmm." I looked at the camera in the corner, then again at the room, everywhere but Henry.

The embarrassment sat deep about the way I was put to sleep, about the fact that it really worked, and about how effective this was. Maybe I should really get off before going to sleep—alone, in the bathroom, behind a closed and locked door.

"How did you get the balloons out without waking me up?" I tried to find something to talk about while I stood up and went to the closet.

"I told the nurses that Dr. Lawrence would fire whoever woke up her precious test subject. They obediently carried the balloons out in silence upon hearing that and reinstalled the camera just as quietly." When he finished, I was shirtless, and he had latched onto me, hugging me from behind.

Fuck, I am so fucking embarrassed that my pulse skyrocketed the moment he came into contact with me.

Staying expressionless and ignoring the head that nuzzled my neck, I chose one of the endless white shirts and put it over myself and Henry.

"What are you going to do now?" Henry cheekily challenged, hindering me from pulling the shirt down.

"If you don’t let go, we’ll go out like this," I warned, while my head as well as his was covered by the fabric.

The people behind the camera must think we have lost it, hiding in plain sight under the shirt like sleep-deprived birds.

"We can go out like this, but what about that?" Henry touched my uncovered stomach, making me shiver, and then even more embarrassed about my reaction.

"Why? Can’t I show off my muscles?" I tried to act normal.

"You absolutely cannot." Henry wriggled himself out.

"Ha!" I finished dressing in triumph and embarrassment; yes, the embarrassment was always there, before I walked to the door.

Henry had already been clothed, so we could go, but I still hesitated.

"What’s wrong?" His arms snaked around my neck, again sending my heart galloping.

"We missed so many lessons...won’t this have consequences?" I asked.

He bent to my ear, "They should be thankful that we are here in the first place."

As entitled as it sounded, we could leave at any time given our powers, so he wasn’t wrong.

"Let’s go."

We left the room, the two male nurses looking at the floor instead of glaring at us, probably taking Henry’s threat to heart.

I had no idea about the lessons we were supposed to attend, so I opted for the ground floor, where we could get our smartwatches back from the garden.

While in the elevator, I was so incredibly aware of Henry that the ride felt longer than usual, though the elevator time here had always been relative.

But I wasn’t alone with that challenge; I felt how Henry was also hyperaware of me.

When I moved a bit, he would freeze before imitating my action. When I tilted my head slightly, he would halt and then do the same. It was so funny that it calmed me down again.

Eventually I raised my right foot in the air, and when I saw him doing the same, I broke into a fit of laughter.

"What the fuck?" I asked him.

"What? I heard mirroring helps in social bonding."

That’s not mirroring; that’s imitating. What the hell?

"Bahahahaha! Why the heck are you trying to socially bond with me at this point?" I asked, and he couldn’t help but laugh too.

"I don’t know." He broke into a wide grin and leaned his head sideways against mine, rubbing against me like a puppy wanting a pat.

I patted the dumb dog’s head, watching the door open to see Dr. Lawrence standing in front of us.

She looked back and forth between us. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I just wanted to get you."

I nodded at her, and upon seeing nothing left of the fear she had displayed yesterday, I felt relieved. I didn’t want people to fear me unnecessarily, especially if they had goodwill toward me, and from what I saw and felt while flipping the coin, she had no bad intentions; on the contrary.

Though, I am very interested in the prophet. Yesterday, when I called my friends, I asked Omar about Dr. Lawrence, and who would have thought, she was his aunt.

When I asked about any prophet, Omar said he had never heard of anything like this, but he would try to find out more.

Yet, the source of information now stood before me anyway; we would probably have to shake hands a few more times.

"Now is the one-on-one psychological session." She stepped aside, allowing us to step out of the elevator.

"Oh." I nodded, while Henry’s hold on me tightened.

"Can he come with us?" I pointed at him.

Dr. Lawrence sighed but eventually nodded, leading the way to her office. After we entered and both sat down on the couch, she faced Henry.

"I wanted to talk to you anyway. We have conducted more tests with the things you have used your power on and came to the following conclusion about how your ability works. I already mentioned the three components, but we were unsure about how it exactly worked. Now we think that you emit a highly toxic gas, and the acid in it, which is responsible for splitting the atoms, is what generates the extremely high temperature. So much for the process."

Henry nodded, somehow interested but not overly.

"Kenny, have you drunk the vitamin solution? It should still not be often enough to test the original fluid."

"No. I’m too paranoid to drink it." I answered truthfully.

Dr. Lawrence paused before nodding and noting something down.

"Is paranoia a common problem for you?"

Well...

"Somewhat." I said, hearing Henry cough suspiciously.

"When did you experience this paranoia for the first time?" she asked.

"When I was thrown into prison despite being innocent?" My tone had turned sharper than I had intended as I tilted my head and looked at Dr. Lawrence questioningly.

Isn’t it obvious?

Need to ask?

Henry grabbed my hand and held it in both of his, playing with my fingers while simultaneously diverting my attention.

Dr. Lawrence observed our interaction and noted something down again. She wanted to ask a question, and I instantly knew that it was about the nature of Henry’s and my relationship again.

So, I raised my brows, giving her an ’Ask if you dare’ look, which prompted her to close her mouth.

If she had asked, forcing me to answer something that was maybe or maybe not to Henry’s liking, then wouldn’t my dog be unhappy? And we wouldn’t want that, would we?

So shut up, and don’t mention things that aren’t for you to care about.