Timelined a few days after Phantom Pains
Walt: Walt let out a very frustrated, almost animalistic, growl as the patch on his arm pulled on at his arm hair beneath his sweatshirt and windbreaker as he puttered around the driveway with his hockey stick and a tennis ball in the crisp late afternoon air.
Walt: All the leaves were gone now and soon there'd be snow and ice to play a real game of hockey on, but even this didn't lift his black mood.He'd felt crappy for days now, his bones aching and his transformations becoming more and more frequent until he'd had no choice to keep the patch on at all times and even then it took much longer than it did before to reverse the changes that had already happened. Soon he'd transform and be put down like the animal he was.
Fabian: Fabian came down the drive, heading onto the driveway and for the garage off to Walt's right. Drives were a good time for thinking and Fabian almost always stopped somewhere to nose about. Today had been just another old abandoned warehouse but it had at least been an excuse to get out of the school for a while.
Fabian: While his mind might not be any lighter it was sorted for now so he strolled on out of the garage in high enough spirits, pulling his coat closer to him as he still hadn't gotten used to the weather.
Walt: Walt gave the car a dirty look as it pulled into the garage and scowled even harder as Fabian wandered out onto the drive instead of going in through the garage. He should've known Fabian would come out here to pick on him and, as usual, he had the worst timing. He kept his head down and continued shooting the ball at the garage doors. Hoping his roommate would just continue on without saying anything to him.
Fabian: Fabian saw Walt's face. He hadn't been going say a thing but then there was that face looking as sour and as puckered as he could imagine hidden away with that ridiculous hair. "So, who violated your cheerios today?"
Walt: He paused, his stick frozen in mid-air. "Pardon?" he said churlishly. "I have no idea what you're even talking about."
Fabian: "You look like someone kicked your puppy," Fabian explained with a shrug. "It's usually 'who pissed in your cheerios' but you looked a bit more severe."
Walt: Walt grumbled. "I'm just not feeling well, that's all, my bones ache." He flicked his wrist, sending the ball bouncing off the garage door. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed or something? I heard you were shot last week."
Fabian: "We've a hell of a healer and I've never been good about staying in bed," he admitted, not at all bothered. "Not unless the company was good and Cee does have to go to classes every once and awhile so once I'm alone I figure I may as well be doing things."
Walt: Walt didn't respond and just continued knocking the ball against the garage. "Sounds reasonable," he said curtly. Now go away.
Fabian: "I'm nothing if not reasonable." Fabian frowned a bit as he watched Walt and his ball continuously pinging off one another.
Walt: After awhile of hitting the ball around and Fabian just standing there watching Walt turned to face him again."What are you doing? Are you going to stand out here and watch me all day? Or is there something else?" he asked.
Fabian: "I'm just trying to figure you out, that's all." Fabian shrugged, not really sure what to say to explain what he was doing. "Is this really how you blow off steam?"
Walt: "One of the ways," Walt said, his mouth set in a hard line and his eyes narrowing before he abruptly stopped his frenzied practice, tossing his hockey stick aside with a snarl.
Walt: He threw his windbreaker onto the grass and yanked the sleeve of his sweat shirt up, ripping off the patch on his upper arm. "Ow!" Well, there went a few hairs he'd never get back. "Thank God! That thing has been driving me crazy!"
Fabian: "Have you considered hobbies that aren't throwing balls at walls? It seems a bit...boring as shit." Fabian wasn't overly bothered with Walt going patch-less around him. It was what he should have been doing this whole time, after all.
Walt: "Obviously you've never played Red A," Walt said dryly, scratching at the spot where the patch had been. "Has anyone ever said you're obnoxious? If they haven't I'm telling you now. I'm sorry what I choose to do in my spare time is so boring to you, I don't think everything you do is interesting either but you sure as heck don't hear me commenting on it."
Walt: "So quit dumping on me and my preferences," he said, pointing a now elongated and clawed finger at Fabian, not even noticing the sudden change in his annoyance. "Just because my interests are different doesn't mean their inferior. So quit bugging me!"
Fabian: "Everything I do is interesting. I've considered starting a blog on my various toiletry exploits," he deadpanned, just smirking. "Are you really defending throwing a ball against a wall? Come on, get out man."
Walt: "Throwing balls at walls happens to be a cherished part of my childhood," Walt said, trying not to snort at Fabian's comment about starting a blog. "Here, I'll show you - " he said, wandering over to his tennis ball " - Red A's really fun. Especially when you get to peg your friends with the ball as punishment."
Walt: He leaned down to pick up the ball, caught sight of his hand when he reached out for it and yelped. "Crap," he hissed, going for his pocket where he'd stored the patch.
Fabian: "And I thought I got bored as a child when I went through various things in the house to see if they bounced from off the roof." He stopped, however, and looked over to Walt's hand. "It's just the hand, have you ever just let it go?"
Walt: Walt's hands shook as he stuck the patch back on his arm. "No, not willingly." His hand didn't go back to normal though, instead his fingers just got longer and his other hand began to follow suit. "Work, damn it - work!" Why wasn't it working?!
Fabian: "Re-lax, just let it go," Fabian suggested. "You've got to get over it sometime, don't you?"
Walt: "No, I don't!" Walt snapped. "I'm not transforming at all - ever! It'll stop in a few minutes, just wait and see!" It didn't get better though. It just got worse and now the sensation of his skin and muscles stretching was spreading throughout his entire body. "It's going to stop, it has to!" He could feel his throat and chest tightening in panic. "Oh God, help me! Please, use your burning thing on me!"
Fabian: Fabian just stepped back. "If you go out of control I'll use it but right now you're fine, Walt."
Walt: "No, I'm not!" Walt cried, his eyes snapping to Fabian, the cats-eye effect now present in them. "You have no idea what's going to happen if I transform! I'll kill everyone here! You have to help me, please!"
Fabian: "You're not going to kill everyone here. Hell, you can't even kill me." Fabian pointed out. Sometimes overly excited people just confused him.
Walt: "Are you serious?!" Walt exclaimed, growing more hysterical with every passing moment. "You're denying me after you're the one who got me into this mess in the first place!? You goddamn bastard! Use your powers on me!"
Fabian: "Well I'm sure as hell not going to after that." Fabian just shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you'd calm down you wouldn't be in near as much of a mess as you are now. I'm not always going to be there to shut you down."
Walt: "I can't believe this!" Walt shouted, hands twisting his hair as his voice dropped several octaves and began to distort. "You can't do this! You can't just force me to be a mutant you gene-freak! Use your powers on me - now!"
Fabian: "You are a mutant," Fabian pointed out to him, "and I'm far from a freak for that. I like to think there are many other reasons that I'm a freak." He looked none too pleased about that comment, either. "Maybe this'll teach you to hate others just as much as you hate yourself."
Walt: "Shut-up!" Walt screamed, covering his ears childishly. "I don't want to hear it anymore! Use your powers on me! Please - I'm begging you!"
Fabian: Fabian just shook his head. There was no way he was doing crap now until Walt actually did go on a murderous rampage.
Walt: Walt felt his all the rage he'd kept bubbling under the surface all these months rise and then finally boil over as Fabian denied him the one thing that would save him. With as much strength as he could muster he cocked his fist back and slammed it right into the Spaniard's face. "Fuck you!"
Fabian: This was just not Fabian's month. His head snapped back at the blow but he held his ground and ducked forward and under Walt's next blow, elbowing him sharply in the kidneys with a good deal of his weight behind the swing as he passed. "Yeah, that's really going to convince me, and people probably assume I'm the piece of shit in our roommate relationship."
Walt: Walt shouted as his back spasmed but he recovered surprisingly quickly for someone who'd taken a hard blow to a vital organ and lashed out again, going right for Fabian's stomach again and again.
Fabian: Fabian swore and put some distance between the two of them. "Seriously? Where I was shot last week? Oh, you best not touch your cheerios without fear because now I'll literally violate them."
Walt: Walt wasn't even listening anymore, he rushed right at Fabian, lips pulled back in a feral snarl, closing the distance between them quickly and tackling him.
Fabian: Fabian got is feet up as soon as he was off of them, trying to push between himself and Walt until he could roll the mass over.
Walt: Walt's momentum worked against him as Fabian got his legs up under him and sent him flying right over him. Making him landing hard on his back. "Damn it!"
Fabian: "Still yourself enough that you can word, hmm?" Fabian pulled himself up a bit gingerly. "Break your ass?"
Walt: Walt scrambled to his feet, white fur beginning to sprout across his body. "No, but I might break your neck," he snarled, advancing on the Spaniard, claws now fully formed and a handsome set of serrated teeth lining his gums.
Fabian: "Well, at least now I don't have to put up with the strangely repressed version of you now, do I?" Fabian just shrugged. He'd like to see the asshole try.
Walt: Walt began to laugh wildly, his voice becoming more and more distorted as he advanced on his roommate. His limbs growing longer as he grabbed Fabian by the front of his coat and lifted him off the ground with surprising strength. His clothes tearing apart as his frame expanded, bones shifting with audible cracks as he entered the final stages of his transformation.
Walt: He shifted his grip, fingers winding around the other man's torso. "You want to see the monster? Well, then you've come to the right place," he laughed, his teeth spreading out in a deranged smile from his gaping maw.
Fabian: "…yeah, you're not exactly the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm sorry." With that Fabian gave a sharp, quick jab to Walt's eye, not at all afraid to dig his knuckles in.
Walt: Walt screeched as his eye was assaulted, releasing his grip and letting Fabian fall to the ground. "Do you have any idea what you're dealing with?!" he snarled, dropping on all fours and leaning over the another man menacingly.
Fabian: "...I just got shot by my sister not so long ago. Do you think I can't take you for some reason? Someone's a bit full of themselves." Fabian regained his feet despite being hovered over. "You can talk, you obviously aren't some sort of animal or a monster so unless you're going to tell me Narnia is real I'm going to be convinced this is you, more or less."
Walt: Walt laughed again."No, this is who I really am inside. Who I'll always be, no matter how much I try not to be," he said. "The me you normally see is just me wearing a human skin."
Fabian: "...you poor thing."
Walt: "Narnia's not real," Walt mused. "There's no white lion here, just a white yeti...I might be the abominable snowman!" Walt said, his mind seeming to jump from subject to another quite quickly. He reached over Fabian's head and began to pet him. "I'm going to take you home. I will feed you and pet you and call you, 'George.'" He snickered at his own joke, the sound resembling air being released from a tire.
Fabian: "That's probably a good thing because if a bunch of fauns came out of the woods and wanted to get drunk and dance with me I'd be pretty sure I ate the wrong bag of gummy bears during class today...and that'd be bad considering how many I ate." He looked up at Walt, thinking then smirking wide. "You know I think I like you better as you are now."
Walt: Walt just gave him another demented smile. "My father didn't. I tore his arm off, did I ever tell you that?" His eyes seemed to be unfocused for a minute there, but it was hard to tell with the cats-eye effect. "I'm hungry. It's dinner time."
Fabian: "You mentioned things of that nature. So why did that seem like a good idea?" Fabian tested the waters. "So what sounds good in the form you are now?"
Walt: "We were...fighting." Walt didn't seem to be listening anymore though, his head moving back and forth as he scented the air. "I want steak," he said simply, turning away from Fabian suddenly and starting to trot across the lawn.
Fabian: "I'd say you won that round, hmm?" Fabian replied, watching as he started off. "Smell a barbecue?" It was a bit cold for it but Fabian supposed one never knew.
Walt: "There's food this way," Walt said, smelling some sort of cookout some distance away. "There are people too. A lot of them. I don't think they'll mind if I drop in." He chuckled again happily as he wandered towards the gates to leave the property.
Fabian: "Now that, however, sounds like a bad idea. There's probably steak in the kitchen. I may not be much of a cook but something tells me you don't mind some rare meats in this form."
Walt: "Smothered in country gravy..." Walt mused as he continued on, not listening at all. "Then I'll have some fries."
Fabian: Crap, he was going to have to put him down so he didn't end up going outside, wasn't he? "Oi, do you want to end up back in the lab or what?"
Walt: "No!" Walt exclaimed, turned sharply and brushing Fabian aside before continuing on. "I hate needles!"
Fabian: "Then you don't leave the gates, yeah? You're good here but people out there are the jumpy type who break out the fire and the pitchforks."
Walt: Walt's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth at the other man. "You can't tell me what to do anymore. I'm bigger so I'm the boss."
Fabian: "Do I really have to knock you out before you quit acting like that?"
Walt: "Don't be like that, 'George.'" Walt sniggered again at his own joke, then an idea struck him. "You can come with me," he said, reaching for his roommate again. "I'll get some meat for both of us."
Fabian: "As much fun as it sounds I've had enough trouble for the semester." Fabian started to lead the way on to the kitchen, intent on tossing Walt out treats if he couldn't fit in.
Walt: Walt looked at the gate, then looked at Fabian, then looked at the gate again before laughing and making a bolt for freedom, his legs carrying him across the grounds inhumanly quickly.
Fabian: Fabian just shook his head and quickly spiked Walt's energy up. "I tried to warn you."
Walt: Walt felt the same spike of energy as he had weeks ago in the kitchen and stopped running as his fur began to dissipate. "Stop! I -" He didn't even get to finish his sentence though as his limbs began to shortened and returned to normal in a flash. He cried out as he sprawled hard onto the ground and his consciousness faded into black.
Fabian: "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to learn some common sense if you're going to be out and about." Fabian shrugged and made his way on over again.
Walt: Walt groaned, he felt like he'd just been hit by a bus. "Ow...what happened?" he moaned, squinting. His glasses were gone, why were his glasses gone? "Are we under attack?"
Fabian: "I told you I could take you, but nooo, you're the big bad yeti. I think you want steak, for the record. You were talking about the cook-out you could smell along the way."
Walt: Walt groaned. "I have no idea what you're even talking about," he muttered. God it was cold, why was it so cold all of a sudden?
Fabian: "Me and your other half were having a chat. He smelled steak and was hungry." Fabian was just not going to tell him why he was cold and see if he figured it out.
Walt: This was apparently the wrong thing to say since Walt's began sniffling on the ground as he came to the realization that, not only had he transformed again, but he was also completely naked. "No," he choked out. "No, no, no."
Fabian: "Fine, no steak then. What would you like?" Fabian had already started to walk back towards the door to the school.
Walt: Walt sniffed and looked around for his things, crawling stomach down over the shreds of clothing. None of them were serviceable. However, he did manage to find his windbreaker which he'd thrown off before he transformed and used this to cover himself.
Walt: He shoved on his glasses with shaking hands, hardly able to see even with them on due to the sheer amount of tears pouring out of his eyes.
Fabian: Fabian couldn't help it, he snapped a quick picture of this on his phone. "Why on earth are you crying now? Your other half is fine...a little desperate for steak that he'd go up and bother people outside of the school for it but it was fine...I did poke your eye pretty damned hard to get him to put me down but you attack more than he did."
Walt: "Why are you talking about steak!?" Walt exclaimed. "I never said a damn word about steak! And why are you talking about that thing like it's a person?! Stop anthropomorphizing it!"
Fabian: "It's you and you were talking about steak when you had you awesome fur coat on!" Jesus, how dense could a person be? "Quite frankly, I think I like you better that way. We certainly seemed to get on better."
Walt: Walt just looked baffled. "My other form doesn't talk," he asserted, wiping his nose on his arm.
Fabian: "...then I must have really ate the wrong gummy bears because I held a conversation with you."
Walt: All the colour drained from Walt's face at that statement. "You're lying."
Fabian: "I don't bother to lie."
Walt: "You're lying!" Walt shouted, the distortion that was present in his other form re-appearing briefly in his voice, leaping up and advancing on Fabian again. "That thing is not me! It isn't me!"
Walt: "It can't...be me," he said, his voice cracking.
Fabian: Fabian just stood there, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Walt. "Exactly why are you this far in denial?"
Walt: "I'm not in denial!" Walt fired back, face burning both with embarrassment and fury. "Department H ran tests while I was detained. That thing isn't sentient, I'm not responsible for what happened at Banff. I didn't attack the campsite, I didn't cause all that damage, I didn't almost kill my father- no matter how angry I was! That thing did! All of that was it's fault!"
Fabian: "When are you ever going to at least entertain the notion that Department H is full of shit?"
Walt: "I have to believe them!" Walt choked out, feeling his throat beginning to close up. "It has to be true! I can't really be a monster! I can't live like that!"
Walt: He made for the front doors. "It's not fair," he blubbered. "Why me? I never asked to be a mutant! God, I wish I was never born!"
Fabian: "...the monster stuff is shit as well." Who the hell went about bawling like this, really? Fabian couldn't imagine actually letting himself do this as much as Walt currently was. "You're just putting all of that crap upon yourself and hating yourself because of everything they've made you believe. It's time to stop that shit."
Walt: "Leave me alone," Walt said, picking up the pace. He was going straight to those cells where he belonged until he could formulate a plan and get a hold of an inhibitor collar.
Fabian: "You are the second stupidest person I know, I swear. Can you not hear truth? Is it getting caught in your hair or something?"
Walt: Hm, maybe he'd better get some clothes first. That seemed a good idea: clothes and then containment cells. "I'm not stupid!" he snapped. "Just because I don't always know how to word doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm as smart as you are and I could ask you the same question since you don't listen to me at all!"
Fabian: "Of course I don't listen to you. I don't listen to idiots." Fabian replied simply, all ready heading up to the room. "You're an over-dramatic little twat and if you'd sit and calm yourself down you'd realize nothing has changed at all and that this whole time your other half has been a good deal smarter than you because if Department H didn't think him sentient then he had the sense to not trust Department H."
Walt: "Shut up," he said, going into the room and grabbing some clothes.
Fabian: Fabian flopped onto his bed. "Mmm, spoken like a man who realizes the other party is right but doesn't want to admit it."
Walt: Walt stared at his roommate. "Are you going to watch me get dressed?" he said irately. "Or do I have to go into the bathroom to get some privacy?"
Fabian: "I just stood out in the yard with you naked. I really don't care about your penis."
Walt: Walt spluttered for a few moments before turning tail and making a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Fabian: "~Also changing the subject doesn't make me wroooong,~" Fabian sing-songed.
Walt: Walt glared at the bathroom door but didn't respond as he put on his clothes and went for their neighbours door. Like heck he was going out that way to take more of the Spaniard's bullcrap.