Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 16

THIRD PERSON POV

"Attention, Society members: the time is now five-thirty AM. Morning schedules will commence in T-minus one hour. Those who are late will be punished as Society laws regulate. Good morning and remember, long live The Society of the People."

Thaddeus blinked at the inevitable, daily drone of the PA system as he groggily pushed himself up to a sitting position on the couch. The man stretched his neck, the overworked vertebrae popping in about a million places before he finally stood to complete his repetitive morning routine:

Wipe the sleep from his eyes, snatch up his meticulously folded uniform, trudge to the bathroom to change, brush his teeth, inspect that fucking cut on his cheek, and fix each individual curl, before finally emerging to grab his lunch from the kitchen counter.

Every day was the same, and after a few weeks of nonstop work following Edergan's bitchass punishment, Thaddeus went about the process in an almost robotic manner. And – judging by the dark circles that had begun to colonize the space below the man's eyes – the man was utterly exhausted by it.

After all, The Society was built like this, a well-oiled machine meant to maximize productivity and cut out anything else that was unnecessary to achieving that goal. Having a free day was simply a courtesy bestowed upon Society members by the graciousness of The Elders.

Thaddeus thought that today was to be no different than all the others; an endless drone of similarity only broken up by his stupid conversations with Mitty during Nutritional Period. However, his dull routine was abruptly interrupted by an unlikely source as the tall man went to venture to collect his lunch.

Because there, sitting right on top of the counter, was Aria's travel tablet.

'I've gotta be hallucinating. There's no way he could have forgotten that,' Thad decided, brow furrowed with confusion at the sight.

It was practically a death sentence, forgetting one's travel tablet. It contained all essential documents that one might need for the day, served as a means of tracking Society members, and granted passage into important places throughout the compound. If one forgot their tablet for a day, it was a sure-fire way to earn a one-way ticket to a strike.

A memory of Aria's tear-stricken face flashed across his eyes, and a hint of metal singed his nose regardless of the fact that Aria's peachy scent was dull, indicating to the Thaddeus that Bug was nowhere near the Housing Pod at that moment.

"Fuck..." He groaned, rubbing a forefinger and thumb on either side of his nose as he realized what he was going to have to do.

There was no way he could deal with the sight - or scent - of Bug, who would surely have a full, rolling-on-the-floor-and-violently-throwing-up mental breakdown at the slightest thought of getting a strike on his record. Thaddeus didn't even want to think about pungent metal that was sure to assault his nostrils if that were to happen. So, he wasn't going to let it happen.

Tapping the tablet to reveal the time, Thaddeus could see that he had a few extra minutes before he had to be down at the Construction Unit. So, he snatched up Aria's tablet, stepped into his heavy work boots, and made it out of the door at record speed.

Once in the hallway, the tall man established a brisk – but not too quick to where he would look weird – jog. He dipped and weaved through the crowd, ignoring words of annoyance from people he bumped into as he headed for the stairwell that led directly down to the Early Developmental Instructional Unit.

This sort of urgency was unheard of for the man, who had long ago decided that he would rather be late to something than rush to get there. He would snicker at people who dashed past him, running full speed in an attempt to get to wherever the fuck their destination was. In Thaddeus's mind, he was more important than anything, so there was absolutely nothing that could possibly be worth losing his breath or getting sore legs over.