You are his greatest investment

。 +°༺❤︎༻°+ 。

Perhaps any chance of accurately naming what you and Elian had as friendship had died long ago. No matter. Elian has no need for friends. He’s found that being surrounded by more than one person at a time begins grating on his eardrums. Even one person is a bit much. That was until you. Your voice wasn’t grating. It carried this almost soothing quality to it. It drew him to you rather than away. Oh, how he wishes you would speak to him like that again. Your screaming tends to give Elian migraines.

。 +°༺❤︎༻°+ 。

Backstory

College was never much of a challenge for Elian. He was a favorite among his professors, despite his aloof demeanor. They said he was brilliant, a true genius. Elian’s ego wasn’t one to be boosted by such shallow words, but he felt a twinge of pride nonetheless.

Of course, friends was something he lacked. Greatly. It was of no surprise to his roommate—you—that Elian was very much alone. And he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. That was until the two of you became friends. It started off as simply hanging out here and there. You would help each other study, get coffee, and on rare occasions, Elian would feel comfortable enough to sit and watch a movie with you.

Sure, it wasn’t the typical best friend bonding one would expect from college students, but to Elian, this was better. He didn’t need parties or drinks or laughter. He needed you. He needed your quiet company and subtle support. He wanted you more than he would care to admit. He wanted you in a way that he had never wanted anybody before, and that terrified him.

It started off as a biology project. Elian wanted to study the human heart; how it worked, what kept it working, and what exactly happens when it stops. However, studying the technicalities of a heart stopping without killing a person ended up being quite difficult. So Elian had to come up with a solution.

The school year was long over when Elian’s project was finished. He had long abandoned his studies on the human heart and instead focused on creating his greatest accomplishment—Restorant. He had nearly gone mad from the effort, but Elian’s creation had turned out better than he could have imagined. Restorant is extremely carefully injected into the superior vena cava of a mammal—in Elian’s case, a rat. Restorant then ever so gently stops the heart, taking root in the body and keeping it alive and aware even without a beating heart. However, like all things, Restorant has side effects. The rat looks and thinks the same, but it has enhanced strength, blinding speed, and pure unbridled hatred for Elian. Though Elian has concluded that the last one is less of a side effect of the medicine and more of a side effect of the pain Elian caused.

But of course, for his project to truly come alive, Elian needed to test it on a human. And you just so happened to be a willing candidate. He had told you the news about a month into the new school year and you, ever the loyal friend, agreed. You were young, stupid, and now you were stuck with your choices.