“Plague…” D starts, but can’t manage to force the rest of his sentence out. His hand is gripping Plague’s sleeved wrist, his black and red eyes glinting with a kind of desperation. Plague is staring at him with their ever-blank gaze, head tilted in confusion.

“What is it?” They ask, stepping closer to D and cupping his face. D’s breath hitches, and it physically _hurts_ to know that Plague doesn’t have a clue how intimate the gesture is. He had tried multiple times by now. But on each occasion, he got the same response. He remembers his first attempt from a few months ago vividly. It had felt like a knife straight to the heart.

_“Love…?” Plague repeats, their eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly in the vaguest show of bewilderment on their otherwise emotionless face. D stares at Plague for a long, long minute._

__

_“….You know what, never mind. Forget I said anything.”_

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_Plague hums, wondering why D’s backpedaling but not caring enough to question it. “Okay.”_

__

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“….Can I do something?” D’s voice is quiet and strained. Plague is oblivious. They nod silently. In a flash, D wraps an arm around their waist and pulls them into a kiss. Plague makes a noise of surprise at the unfamiliar, strange action, but they don’t pull away until D does. They gaze up at him expressionlessly.

“What was that?” They ask innocently, and D almost wants to laugh and cry at the same time. Instead, he rolls his eyes in his usual sarcastic way.

Don’t worry about it, lab rat.” He says, and Plague gives him the same look that they did the first time. The one that’s monumentally unaware of everything, thanks to over a decade of not knowing anything except abusive experiments.

Plague shrugs, leaning against D’s chest. The taller boy legs go of their wrist so he can rest his hand on their shoulder blade, leaning against the outer school wall and watching the downpour from underneath the sanctuary of the stone canopy, the only sounds being the hissing rain and buzz of the group of students several yards away, chattering and interacting. D doesn’t even have to look to tell Plague is watching them. He knew the experiment had no comprehension of socializing and making friends.

_It’s fine. _He tells himself firmly. _Maybe one day they’ll get it. And if they don’t…._

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_Well, I can be happy like this._

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_I hope…._