Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Somewhere Between	By : AceMaxwell Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 13422 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
This chapter's a bit shorter than the first one, but it's in John's perspective.

- John

I wake up to the feeling that it's later than it should be. My alarm didn't go off. I don't really remember setting it, or getting ready for bed. A quick run-through of the night before isn't very enlightening. The last thing I remember is infiltrating the den, then darkness and pain. There was something heavy on my chest and Hellboy was yelling my name. I don't normally have trouble remembering things, so something must have happened. A knot forms in my stomach.

"Get a grip John," I whisper softly.

Whatever happened, it couldn't have been that bad. I am in my bed… but the color of the sheets is wrong. I inspect them more closely from where I'm laying, since I'm not sure I have the confidence to sit up and look around just yet. Sometimes, it's better not to know.

The fabric is dark, maybe navy or black, so it's doubtful that I'm in the hospital wing. I squint my eyes shut and try to picture a bed I might know with dark sheets. There are three sets in my closet, but they're cream, white, and green, stacked in that order. The green ones were always for company when I had a spare bedroom, and I never really use them.

The medical wing has standard-issue white in every room because white can be bleached. I've never visited another agent, so there are a few possibilities there, but why would I be in another agent's room? Seems weird.

I really should just sit up and figure it out; it's better than lying in bed all day. I shift and immediately realize that there are a few things very wrong. Where in God's name are my clothes? I wrack my brain for ideas. Ruling out something paranormal, the possibilities are drugs, unconsciousness, or inebriation, none of which comfort me any.

I was never near a drop of alcohol last night, so there is no excuse for me not to remember getting naked and climbing into a stranger's bed. Could I have been drugged? It seems unlikely. There was never a time or a place that it could have been possible. We were in a werewolf den for crying out loud! Where would I have come in contact with date-rape drugs?

A quiet snore interrupts my thoughts and I freeze up. I've been so busy trying to figure out the where that I didn't give much attention to the who. I perk my ears and pick up the sound of steady breathing. Whoever it is, they're sleeping heavily.

I wish like crazy that Hellboy would bust in the door, gun blazing, but he hasn't. He probably can't find me… or hasn't realized that I'm gone… or doesn't care… damn it! I've got to stop thinking like that! I'm an FBI agent, I don't need rescuing. I just have to figure this out on my own.

I could jump the person and try to fight my way out, but that seems a little rash. I would be better off sneaking out while he/she is asleep. That decision in mind, I carefully move the sheets and slide backwards, shifting one of my feet out so I can feel the edge of the bed before I come to it. My foot encounters something, something that yowls and claws me.

I try to suppress my shout about a half second after it's left my mouth. My bedmate sits up abruptly, scaring me to death. I yell again and instinctively jump back, right off the edge of the bed. The fall is disorienting, but I manage to right myself before the light snaps on.

"Boyscout?"

The groggy nickname keeps me from bolting to the door. Heat flushes my face when I recognize the voice. A swift kick to the head would be appropriate about now. Good ol' jumpy Myers, overreacting again. Wait… why am I naked in Hellboy's bed? That kiss, the one I've been desperately (and unsuccessfully) trying to forget, was that a warning? HB wouldn't do something like take advantage of someone, would he?

Anger rushes my senses faster than it ever has before and I get the urge to lash out at him for doing something without my consent. He could have just asked! Oh god!

That last thought cuts my rage down into shame. If Hellboy had asked, I probably would have consented, even knowing that I would just be a replacement for Liz. Am I really that desperate for his affection? It's displacement. Because he can't have what he wants, he focuses his attentions on something else in hopes of distracting himself.

"Myers?" He sounds a little more awake now, but there's something else in his voice, concern? "Myers, if you're eating one of my cats, I swear…"

What? That was a weird enough statement to get me to poke my head over the line of the mattress. I get caught up staring at his bare chest for a second before I remember to speak, "Why would I eat one of your cats? And why am I in your room? And why am I naked?" It's a lot more than I intended on asking, but I'm a little… scratch a little, VERY freaked out.

"Well, there was that wild party-"

I cut in, "Hellboy, I'm not in the mood! What happened?"

He looks surprised that I raised my voice at him. Hell, I'm surprised that I raised my voice at him too. I find myself apologizing instantly, "I'm sorry Red. This whole thing is just weird and I don't know what to do."

He doesn't seem to be listening to me. Instead, he pushes the blankets off his legs (I'm immensely relieved to see that he's wearing pants) and vaults off the bed.

"You don't remember anything, do you squirt?" he asks as he rifles through his closet.

I sigh and mutter, "No, but I get the feeling that I should."

HB comes out and tosses one of his shirts at me. I slip it over my head, feeling like a kid playing in his parent's clothes. The cloth swallows me, but it'll do to keep my modesty intact. I can have Red run for some of my stuff…

Wait; do I really want him going through my things? I have to really weigh walking around HQ in Red's clothes, or giving him free access to my room. There are a few things he really just doesn't need to see.

I look up and realize that he's staring at me. The shirt doesn't feel big enough now; I wish it would cover my legs more effectively. Pinned by his scrutiny, I feel a blush crawling up my neck and across my face. Part of me wants to strip and give him a real show, but I quickly squash the absurd idea. "What?" I finally blurt.

He shrugs like he wasn't just examining me from head to toe, "We need to go see Abe."

"I am not wandering around in nothing but your shirt!" I exclaim. "Give me pants or something!"

"My pants would just fall off you," HB says with a smirk.

I glare at him. There is no way I'm leaving his room like this. People will think that we… did we? I shift slightly. No discomfort, that's a good sign I guess, but I'm still not going to let people assume that we did it. I don't care what he says to try and convince me.

"Myers, it's still early, there's not going to be anybody in the hall. Nobody does anything around here before at least 4, so let's go. We're headed to the library anyway," he tries. When I still don't budge, he leans over to check the digital clock on the nightstand. "Boyscout, does that say 6:46, as in AM?"

I glance around him, "Now its 6:47."

"AM?"

"Yes."

His face scrunches up as if he was examining something disgusting (I'm sure the definition of that word is completely different for him than it is for me.) "I never get up before ten! Why the hell did you wake me up so early?"

I know he wakes up at ten; I'm the one who gets him out of bed with a cart of food. "I wake up at six everyday Red."

He looks abhorred at the idea, "Why?"

"Because I have a lot to do before I can get you breakfast in the morning. Besides, do you know how long it takes to prepare six pounds of bacon and thirty-six pancakes? Not to mention the eggs…"

So, I don't actually make the food, I just put the order in with the cook, but he doesn't need to know that. I think he might already, but at least my job can look mildly impressive for a few seconds.

His stomach growls at my mentioning of food. It's a little early for breakfast, but HB is always hungry. I've never met someone who eats as much food as him.

I sigh, "We'll go see Abe if you're worried, then we'll get you some breakfast, but we're stopping in my room to get me some clothes."

"Who said we would?"

I can't stop my skeptical look. HB jokes a lot, often at the expense of someone else, but it's how he keeps himself amused. We can sometimes go weeks or months without a supernatural occurrence to look into and HB only gets to come out for the really dangerous ones. That leaves him with a lot of downtime. He spends a majority of it working out, but the rest making some crude joke or another. Thing is, I'm having difficulty separating fact from farce. I'm beginning to wonder if he's toying with me for a laugh or if he's actually interested.

I get up and cross the room, acutely aware of his eyes on me. He might be serious about all this. After all, I still haven't figured out why I wound up in his room in my birthday suit.

This strange mischievousness comes out of nowhere and I feel compelled to act on it. I slide up to Red with a smile. My hand ghosts over his skin like it has a mind of its own. "So, are you going to stand there and stare, or do you plan on getting dressed?"

I hear his heartbeat pick up and get a rush from it. He's very interested. But I don't know where to go from there. I move away before things can get complicated.

"I guess I'll get dressed," he says.

HB almost sounds a little bewildered, but I guess I am too.

It may not say it in my records, but I was top in my class and bottom in my peer evaluations. About halfway through my time at Quantico, my fellow trainees discovered that I'm gay. It amazes me that most men act like you'll attack them once they know, like I hadn't just spent two years with them without making a move. I can't say I didn't have a crush, because I did, but I kept to myself about anything and everything dealing with my sexuality.

I thought I'd left that madness behind. My training at Quantico was hell, but I made it through. I think my classmates were hoping to run me out so they wouldn't have to fear for their asses. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Thing is, when HB kissed me, I thought he'd found out about me. It wouldn't be hard for him to hear about it, considering that Abe can read minds, but I was sure that Abe was more confidential about the secrets he gleans. I figured that I had become his most recent joke.

Now, looking over my shoulder at his stunned face, I know otherwise. But I don't want to be a rebound. If I'm going to be with HB, Liz can't still be holding a majority of his heart.

Red finally shakes his shock and disappears into his closet. When he comes back, he's in his usual leather pants and black muscle shirt. It reminds me that I'm wearing next to nothing. First thing, we stop to get me decent clothes, and then we can talk to Abe about my memory lapse.

The halls are silent when we pass through them. Every time I glance over at HB, he's starting at some part of my anatomy. I let him for now. I turn at the door to my room. "Stay here a minute and I'll be right out," I tell him.

Hellboy raises an eyebrow at me. I don't need him in my room. There are a few things that he really just doesn't need to see and I don't need to get mocked for the remainder of my time with him.

I slip through the smallest opening I can manage, shutting the door behind me. The door won't stop HB if he's curious enough, but he stays put until I edge back out in jeans and a t-shirt.

"What's with the casual dress, Scout?" he asks as he pushes off the wall.

"You do know that today is my day off, right?" He looks at me blankly, so I add, "I only get two days off a month, the fifteenth and the thirtieth and today's the fifteenth."

"But you didn't take a day off last month."

"That's because we had that chimera running around Eighth Street, it was all hands on deck."

"That only took a couple days to deal with, what were you doing the rest of the time?"

I give him a solid glare, "The paperwork explaining your interesting disposal method."

He pauses in the hallway and I keep walking. "Come on! He fell off the building! That wasn't my fault!"

"They were scraping his guts off the sidewalk for blocks! It took the Bureau three press conferences to explain it away," I yell over my shoulder as I push open the doors to the library.

I hear Hellboy muttering behind me, "It's not like I knew he'd explode."

Abe greets us from the piles of books he's working with. Usually, he reads from his tank, but this looks more like research.

"How are you feeling John?"

"I'm fine, thanks," I answer, leaning over to see what he's up to. The books scattered across the table are all open to werewolves: diet, habits, breeding, everything. I guess its follow-up from the night before.

I catch Abe and HB trade glances, and then Red speaks up, "He doesn't remember anything."

"That's really not uncommon after such an ordeal."

That catches my attention, "What ordeal?" Hellboy didn't bother to mention what happened the night before. If Abe considers it an 'ordeal', it must have been pretty bad. Why can't I remember?

"And you didn't tell him," Abe chides HB. It doesn't have much affect, getting little more than a shrug from Red.

"I was kind of hoping you could. You're better at breaking things to people."

This is really starting to freak me out. Not only do I not remember, but they're hesitant to tell me. These guys see more unusual stuff in a year than an average person can dream of in the lifetime. My stomach twists into a knot for the second time this morning.

"Tell me what?" I press.

Abe is the one who breaks first and gives me the news, "You were bitten by a wolf last night… we didn't get you back in time to reverse the change."

My heart stops and my world follows suit. A snarling flash of teeth passes through my mind. I can smell the retched stench of its breath rolling over my face and see the gleaming yellow eyes boring into my skull. The pain comes back, sharp and wrenching in my guts. Clawed hands pull out my intestines and they disappear into the monster's maw. The howling echoes in my head.

Strong hands shake me from the memory?...day terror? And amber-yellow eyes replace those of the wolf.

"John?" Hellboy asks. There's a deep concern in his voice, like it's the second or third time he's called my name.

"I'm a werewolf?" I manage to croak out of my strangely dry throat.

The crease in HB's brow deepens, "Yeah 'Scout, you're a wolf."

My legs go out from under me, but Red grabs me before I hit the floor. I can't be one of those things. Those things are monsters! What was the statistic? That there are well over 10,000 human deaths recorded every year that are known werewolf attacks. I can't imagine how many go unrecorded. If I'm one of those creatures, then the entire Bureau is in danger! If I lose control, I could kill everyone! I can't stay here. I will not put the Bureau at risk, but I can't just leave. Every human being I come in contact with will be at risk. There has to be another option.

"John." The word is in my head, as if I thought it, but I recognize Abe's voice. When I look up, Abe and HB are watching me closely. HB still has hold of my arms. His touch is the only solid thing I have grounding me in reality. I feel like I'd fall into pieces if he wasn't anchoring me… or grow teeth and claws and tear my way out of my human skin. The thought sends a tremor down my spine.

The other occupants of the room seem to be waiting of something, so I stammer the first thing that comes to mind, "I'm… I'm alright." I don't think I've ever uttered such an outright lie before. My whole world is pitching dangerously out of control and all I can manage is that 'I'm alright'?

HB doesn't look anymore convinced by my lie than I am, but he slowly releases his hold on me. I want to scream for him not to let go. To my surprise, I don't fall to the floor or pass out, but I feel very cold in his absence.

"I know it is a shock John, but we've deemed you to be safe. I don't believe you will hurt anyone. I'm sure Dr. Andrews will want to make his own judgment, but I'm sure it will match my own," Abe says, probably feeding off the whirlwind of my mind. I try not to scoff at his words.

Safe now, snarling beast later. I want to laugh and cry all at once. I think they call that hysterics and it would be best if I didn't break down like that, but I really think I've earned it.

"I'm alright," I repeat. The phrase sounds more hollow the second time around.

I've got to get to work. Werewolf or not, I have to get HB fed and get the day started. I'm sure I have paperwork on my desk from last night. Work can take my mind off of almost anything. "I'll go get breakfast started," I mutter.

HB opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but doesn't speak. Instead, he falls into step behind me. Abe calls him back before we get to the door, "Red, could I speak to you for a moment?"

HB sighs, his tail twitching slightly in obvious aggravation. I can tell that he doesn't want to leave me alone.

"I'm alright." I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but HB let's me leave without any fuss. I'm hoping he'll trot up beside me before I get too far down the hall. I'm hoping he'll come find me before I do something stupid. I'm hoping…

TBC…
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Somewhere Between