Adjust [Chapter 3]

[esp_dragon]

Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: When Tao gains consciousness after being attacked by an agent, he finds that his body has changed in one very obvious way.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Tentacles.
Aaaand for the more lighthearted 'contains' section: more xeno than Side Effect and Pace the Night put together. Tao's thought processes. Crackish premises taken seriously. Way too much crack in general. But this also a lot more serious than Side Effect and Pace the Night.
Notes: Set post-season 4, and before season 5.
Written for tentaclebigbang. Yeeeep. Art post is here!
Thanks to Kaelin, Kai and Dogmatix for their help while I was writing this! :D And thanks to Kaelin for also beta-reading this! ♥
I feel like I have to say something about the unholy amount of crack in this fic, because there really is an unholy amount of crack in this fic.
Been working on this since January, ahahaha. XDD
Genre: Family/Humour/Action
Word count: 5,402
Total word count: 18,273
Status: Work in progress


Takeo and M-21's eyes went wide.

"What-?"

There wasn't any point repeating himself – they knew exactly what he'd said. Tao took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right, I'm going to try that again," he told them, squaring his shoulders.

Tao closed his eyes, ignored the worsening rain, and shoved all his other thoughts and worries out his mind, especially the ones that wondered what would happen if he didn't get his regular legs back and his instincts continued to escalate. He cleared his mind and threw his full concentration on visualising his legs, the ones that had bones, toes, nails, and wasn't a smooth slide of even muscle from base to tip, because the words were 'hip' to 'toes' for his regular legs. He pictured that he was more tanned around his ankles compared to the rest of his legs. He mapped every single scar he'd accumulated on them over the years that his body hadn't quite managed to fully heal, even with his advanced regeneration. He remembered what it felt like to run at full tilt on two legs; using a foot to control a computer with further precision; wiggling his toes.

He could feel a change, a tap at his attention, but he ruthlessly ignored it. That wasn't important. He wasn't finished yet.

Tao could practically feel the burn in his legs the times when he remembered a fight that had gone on for too long and he'd still had to push himself. He remembered when his legs had been slick with sweat in the jungles of Namibia, Peru, and a dozen other places, constantly being bitten by mosquitoes and other bugs.

Something was pressed into his hands. Tao blinked, and found himself leaning on Takeo, M-21's jacket in his hands. And he had his regular legs back. Good.

"Thanks," he told them, straightening himself enough to tie it around his waist. He tied Takeo's on afterwards, covering what M-21's jacket couldn't. Changing his legs back had taken more energy than he realised, and Tao leaned on M-21 once he was done, waiting for the weakness to fade.

"Number 1!"

"Heh," Tao said, seeing Miss Seira and Regis drop down from the roof above them. "Number 5, Number 3, good to see you." He gave them a tired little wave.

"Are you all right?" Regis demanded, before his gaze turned south - and then quickly went elsewhere.

Tao glanced down to make sure he was still covered, and yep, still covered. "No-one's hurt," he reassured them with a grin. "I'm hungry -I'm blaming that on the tentacles- and-"

"Tao's instincts are getting worse," M-21 cut in, handing him his shoes.

"I was just about to say that," Tao said wryly, nudging him. M-21 didn't look convinced. Why did people find it hard to believe him sometimes? Really. He didn't joke about everything all the time. He started to put his shoes back on, grimacing at how drenched they were. It was going to feel really nice walking home in them, but it was better than being barefoot.

"What?" Regis frowned, and Miss Seira watched him carefully.

"Haha, it's-" Well, no, it wasn't nothing, not when the tentacle-instincts had overwhelmed him that badly and could have caused any one of their deaths. And that was before they got to him nearly being trapped in tentacle form. "True?" He shook his head when Regis opened his mouth, making ushering motions with his hands. "No standing around; we're too much of a target that way." And with this amount of people from the household in one place, Tao wasn't sure how strong the surge of instincts would be if they were attacked just then, and he didn't want to know either. But this way, they also had more chance of seeing or sensing the agent if he came back.

Regis made a grumbling noise as he started moving while Miss Seira dipped her head in response.

They wandered around for thirty minutes before they thought about actually returning home and while the rain annoyed him, Tao was glad it made his jacket-skirt a little less obvious. Especially when he had to keep adjusting it when it started dragging down with the weight of the rain. They kept any conversation to a minimum, only engaging enough to tell Miss Seira and Regis what had happened.

None of them felt the agent's presence, but Tao couldn't help but double-check his pocket computer every so often. The tentacle-instincts were still there, making him further on edge, but the instincts were more manageable, probably because the threat wasn't as immediate as before.

"Hey, Boss?" Tao called out once they were home. "You around? Can you someone get us, uh, twelve towels?" That should be enough to cover them all; Takeo's hair was going to need three by itself seeing how much water was already streaming down onto the floor without any wringing. Same for Miss Seira.

"I have seven," was Boss' dry response, as he walked into the entranceway, fluffy pink towels in hand. He frowned as soon as he saw Tao's jacket-skirt.

"We had a run-in with the agent," Tao explained, reaching for the towels. As he handed them back, giving two each to Takeo and Miss Seira, Tao told Boss, "But he got away. My instincts…" Tao pursed his lips, putting the towel around his neck. "They don't just want to hug; they're protective too, with a side order of possessive." He heard the others stop moving behind him. "As soon as I saw the agent as a threat to Takeo and M-21, it was like a switch got tripped in my brain." He sighed, picking at the corner of the towel. "All I wanted was the agent dead." Not that that was anything new, but in the DA-5, killing people was the mission, making sure the numbers all balanced out, not wanting someone dead.

Boss studied him for a second, worry in his eyes. "But you are all right?"

Tao nodded, giving him a small smile. "Yeah."

"Good." Boss hummed, his gaze going distant for a second. "I'd like to double-check your DNA."

"Heh. You got it, Boss." If they could catch any more surprises before they cropped up, that would be nice.

After giving him a brief smile, Boss turned, heading towards the living room door, but then he paused. "Ah," he said, "your new bed is ready; it's in the room to the left of your room, Tao – there wasn't enough space in your own for it."

Tao swung his leg back and bumped Takeo in the shin, knowing exactly what he was thinking. And damn, after what had happened over the course of the day, Tao had completely forgotten about their sleeping arrangements for the night. He heard Takeo huff in response.

"Make sure you don't leave a mess," Boss added as he started moving towards the living room door again. Tao wasn't sure if he meant the entranceway or the room, but knowing Boss, the answer was probably 'both'.

"Sure, Boss!" Tao said, saluting as Boss left the living room. As soon as he closed the door, Tao turned around to face the others, not surprised to see their worried expressions.

"I'm fine, really!" he assured them, resting his hands on his towel. "The only instincts I've got right now are my legs wanting to be tentacles again." Compared to the possessiveness and losing control, that was definitely the better option. And the instincts weren't that strong at that moment either.

The others stared at him for a couple of seconds before they started to dry their hair and Tao did the same.

As soon as he wasn't dripping all over the place, Tao slipped on a pair of slippers and headed straight for the kitchen.

"You aren't going downstairs first?" M-21 asked behind him, and Tao could hear a thread of concern there.

"I did say I was hungry. I can – well, no, I won't eat on the way," Tao corrected himself as he opened the fridge and tried to find anything to snack on. There was way too big a chance he'd leave a trail of crumbs behind him if he did that.

Tao found the dasik Boss had made the day before. "Want one?" he asked Regis as he approached him, holding the plate out.

Regis shook his head.

"Heh, all right." Tao grabbed a couple more and practically ate a bunch of them all in one bite. That should stave off the hunger until dinner.

"Are you going downstairs now?" Regis asked after Tao had put the plate back in the fridge and he nodded, putting a hand on Regis' shoulder. Tao blinked, realising what Regis was really asking and then looked down, a grin snapping into place.

"Why, Number 3," he said, his eyes wide, "are you escorting me there?"

Regis twitched at the use of his codename, before he 'hmph'ed, looking away haughtily. "You need one, don't you?"

"I didn't know you cared," Tao exclaimed, throwing his arms around his shoulders.

"T-Tao!"

Tao snickered and straightened so he no longer hung off Regis. "We'll be back in a couple of minutes," he told the others over his shoulder.

"Or we'll meet in your room," Takeo said, his voice slightly muffled by his towel.

"Oh, yeah," Tao said, nodding. They had a clearer idea of what the agent looked like now, so searching for him would be easier.

It didn't take Tao and Regis long to get to the Boss' lab, and Boss was already in his labcoat, the machine in front of him humming. There was a tray to the left of him, and Tao could see a couple of familiar instruments there.

"Ah, good, just in time," Boss said, nodding to them as he picked up the syringe. They went through the usual motions and Tao watched the Boss as he started to work.

They only had to wait a few minutes before one of Boss' machines beeped. Boss took one look at it and nodded. "The good news is that your DNA hasn't changed drastically since the last time I took a sample, though that does suggest that you have had that instincts all along, but nothing had happened to trigger it before now…"

"So, me transforming didn't make the instincts worse or anything?" Tao asked, though it was too late for that question, seeing how many times he had already transformed his legs while they had been sparring.

"No," Boss said, shaking his head. "There would have been a far greater difference if that were the case."

"Ah, gotcha." That was good to hear.

When he and Regis were making their way to his room, Tao frowned, wanting to throw his arm around Regis' shoulders instead of having his hand on Regis' upper arm. That wasn't the only thing the instincts were wanting either.

"Is there something wrong?" Regis asked, an eyebrow raised, and Tao sighed. His grip on Regis' arm had been getting a little restless.

"The instincts are being annoying again," he said.

Regis frowned.

"Oh, not like that!" Tao said quickly, realising how Regis could take his comment. "It's not as bad as what just happened, but the tentacles want out again." And they'd been out enough already, in Tao's opinion.

"Hm." Regis didn't say anything for a few seconds. "The homeowner said changing forms wouldn't affect the strength of the instincts."

"Oh, yeah, he did, didn't he?" After all that time spent trying to not let his tentacles take over, it was a little hard to do the switch of accepting he could do it, if only for a little bit of relief. Tao beamed at Regis, transforming his legs and enveloped him in a hug that included his tentacles, breathing in deeply. "Number 3, you're the best!"

Regis flailed. "Ack, all I did was remind you-!"

The headache faded like it hadn't existed, and the sense of home settled in Tao's head. What was that phrase? 'Home is where the heart is'? According to his tentacles, that wasn't just a phrase; it was a fact of life, written in the blood and instincts.

After Tao's tentacles handed his slippers back to him, they made the rest of the way to his bedroom. Tao eyed the door to the left of his room, curious to see what exactly the Boss had made, but they'd be finding out soon enough, so he could wait until then.

Tao ducked into his room and changed; he sighed as he peeled himself out his wet clothes and put on dry ones - damn, they felt nice after all that time being wet. And he really had gone soft, ha. After checking his computer was still on, Tao left his room again, carrying his wet clothes. When he saw Regis was still there, Tao grinned at him. He heard someone else coming down the corridor, and when Tao turned to see who it was, he snickered when he saw Takeo. Tao waved at him with his tentacles, since that was where Takeo's attention was.

"Need help with your hair?" he asked, and Takeo looked up to shoot him a dry look. Takeo's hair wasn't quite a tangled mess, but it was at least very obviously unkempt after being towel-dried.

"What did he say?" Takeo said.

"My DNA hasn't changed that much from last time," Tao told him, still eyeing his hair. "It was just that nothing had happened before to trigger them that badly." Except when he'd woken up that morning, and that hadn't been as extreme in comparison.

Takeo nodded slowly, but then he huffed when he saw where Tao was still staring. "I can sort it out later," he said, shaking his head.

Tao sighed dramatically. "Do you want the Boss to see you like that at dinner?" Who knew what the Boss would do if he saw it - maybe decide to do Takeo's hair himself, or maybe cut it off?

Tao recognised the conflicted look that flickered across Takeo's face and pushed harder, knowing it wouldn't take much more before Takeo agreed. "M-21 and Miss Seira only just came up too, right?" M-21 should have finished before them, but if he had started cleaning the entranceway first… Tao waited enough for Takeo to nod. "So we've got a bit of time before they're finished, and they still need-" Well, Takeo still needed to change too, so that argument was moot - and he still needed to take his own clothes to the laundry room too.

Regis sighed and held his hands out towards Tao. "I'll make sure your clothes go into the laundry."

Or they could do that. "Haha, problem solved!" Tao grinned at Regis.

"Regis-!"

Regis' tiny smirk wasn't directed at Takeo at all as Tao dumped his clothes into Regis' waiting arms; Tao grabbed Takeo straight after and started tugging him towards Takeo's bedroom.

"C'mon, we have to be quick!" he urged, and while Takeo made a grumbling sound, he didn't resist him at all, like Tao knew he would.

When they were in his bedroom, Tao sought out Takeo's hairbrushes while Takeo changed behind him. Tao brandished the brushes in victory when he found them.

"It's a shame I can't do any experimenting," Tao commented when Takeo was sitting in his chair.

"I'm glad you can't," was all Takeo said when Tao handed him his brush.

Tao shook his head, not caring Takeo couldn't see it. He suddenly wished Takeo kept more brushes, because Tao knew his tentacles weren't as dexterous as his fingers, but he was sure he could still control them well enough to be able to brush different sections of Takeo's hair at the same time.

"Really," Tao said, looping a pair of tentacles around Takeo's ankles, "you should let me some time. It'd be fun!"

"For you," Takeo replied dryly as he started to brush his hair, "I have no idea what you'd do with it."

Tao sighed as he started gently tugging at Takeo's tangles, his tentacles beginning to separate out other areas. "You'd be able to undo whatever I did. C'mon, don't you trust me?"

"With my life," Takeo said, and Tao grinned. "Not with my hair."

Tao's grin turned wry as he continued brushing. "Your hair's more important than your life?" That was a little backwards.

Takeo snorted and shook his head. It wasn't hard enough to pull his hair out of Tao's grasp, but Tao loosened his grip anyway, just in case. "It's because my hair is unimportant I don't trust you with it."

That made a little more sense – his hair would grow back if it was cut; his life couldn't.

They were quiet for a few seconds until Takeo tried to peer at him over his shoulder. "Tao…what are you doing?"

"Hm?" He looked down at his hands and the mass of Takeo's hair left to sort out. That was normal. He glanced at what the rest of his tentacles were doing. Oh, huh. "Tentacle-combing your hair apparently," he informed Takeo. As much as tentacles the width of his wrist could manage, anyway – one tentacle bunched a section of Takeo's hair, a second tentacle slowly went down the centre of it until it reached the bottom, and then they started all over again.

Which gave him an idea. "Think of all-"

"No."

Tao sighed. "Ah, fine." The rest of the time passed in relative silence as Tao kept track of what his tentacles were doing, a number of possibilities forming in his mind of what he could do with Takeo's hair later, if he changed his mind. In preparation, he started testing out if he could control more of his tentacles to brush Takeo's hair; he could perfectly control two pairs by the time they finished.

Once they were done –and Takeo had double-checked that Tao had, in fact, not done anything else to his hair- they left for Tao's room. M-21 was standing outside his door and Tao waved to him. He got a nod in response and Tao walked in first, curling a tentacle around M-21's wrist as he passed him.

His computer had switched back to screensaver mode and after Tao had settled into his chair, he put in the password and started to bring up the programs he needed again. Hopefully having other people around would help him keep his mind on track better.

They had a clearer idea what the agent looked like now, and they knew where he'd been and when, so Tao hacked into the same security recordings as before and started to scan them, trying to find the agent.

"There," Takeo said, pointing at one particular window, and Tao grinned.

"Human binoculars," Tao said fondly, the tentacle around Takeo's ankle tightening briefly.

Takeo gave his shoulder a light shove. "Get on with it."

"All right, all right," Tao said, chuckling as he turned his attention back to the computer screens. Now that he had the exact timeframe and place, finding the other cameras would be easy.

Once he'd found the camera angles he wanted Tao hummed, remembering something else he needed to do and started to hack into a couple of other places.

"You need this many cameras?" M-21 asked.

Tao shook his head. "They're for something else."

"What – ah."

He froze the recording. "Yep." Indistinct and blurry from the rain, their own three forms were visible in the corner of the screen, mostly hidden by the shadows of the alley.

Tao noticed something and he frowned, leaning towards the screen, squinting. "That's weird…" Was he seeing that right?

"What is?" Regis asked, and Tao absentmindedly waved behind himself, hearing his bedroom door shut.

"You shouldn't be able to see my bands that clearly," Tao murmured as he lifted a free one to look at it closely, feeling a couple others curl around Miss Seira and Regis.

…Oh, that didn't look good. When Tao had first seen his tentacles, each band had been less than the width of a finger; now, they were bigger than three, his skin tone nearly disappearing between black and white. He could feel a difference between his skin and the bands too, the bands sleeker, giving less. He pressed a little harder and felt little indentations that, when he looked at them closely, resembled scales.

Tao had a sinking feeling he knew what would happen if the bands completely took over the tentacles.

"They're growing," Miss Seira said, and Tao nodded.

"Definitely need to find the agent and his poisons," Tao said, letting go of the tentacle and put his full attention back to what he had been doing.

There was no disagreement to his statement, and they started trying to find the agent together.

They weren't able to find him, however, no matter how much they widened their search, the others making sure his attention didn't wander for too long (the fact they kept his tentacles occupied had probably helped too), and when Miss Seira left to cook dinner, Tao started deleting all the recordings of him in tentacle form.

It didn't take long to find all the cameras that had the incriminating evidence and get rid of it, and once they were done, they left for dinner.

* * *
Tao whistled when he saw the bed. "Damn," he said, wandering further into the room, trying to see it at all angles, "the Boss outdid himself." Then again, this was Boss they were talking about – that was to be expected of him.

Tao wasn't sure where Boss had gotten a hold of solid mahogany wood that size (for all Tao knew, he'd gotten it especially for them; with the amount of money and connections the Boss had, Tao wouldn't be surprised if that was true) but Tao was pretty glad of how spacious Boss' rooms were because even if he had tried to make space for the bed in his own room, he was sure it wouldn't have fit. In a completely empty room, the bed still practically stretched wall to wall, dominating the room with its presence. Yeah, they weren't going to have any problems fitting in the bed together, tentacles or no.

Tao blinked and then turned around, counting heads. "Hey, we're missing someone." Everyone should have finished changing into their nightclothes already… Oh, of course. Tao tapped his cheek. "I'll go get him," he said.

"I'll escort you this time," Miss Seira said, and Tao beamed.

"Awesome." He turned to the others. "We'll be back soon; I expect you all to be ready when we start figuring out sleeping arrangements."

Tao was just able to stop himself laughing at the sight of M-21 and Regis eyeing each other, Takeo sighing between them, until the door closed behind him and Miss Seira.

"You already know where everyone is going to sleep," Miss Seira stated, while Tao howled on her shoulder.

"Yep," he said, once he'd gotten his laughter under control. Knowing the dynamics of the house made it easy to figure out. "Not sure where he's going to sleep though," Tao admitted when they started making their way downstairs. Tao could say 'wherever he wanted', but a lot of the time, it seemed like he actually went along with what everyone else wanted first. "If he doesn't have any preference, I'm thinking of him sleeping between me an' Takeo – I think Regis would have a heart attack if they slept next to each other." Or not sleep at all because he was fanboying so hard.

Miss Seira nodded. "That would be for the best."

Tao grinned and then blinked, seeing him coming up the corridor, dressed in white nightclothes. "We were just coming to get you! You ready?"

"Yes," he said, nodding, and Tao let out a 'whoop!', one tentacle snaking its way towards his hand. Tao smiled when they made contact, the tentacle-instincts pleased at the touch, but not wanting anything more. That was reassuring after everything that had happened.

"Okay, we need to get back soon as possible, in case '21 and Regis are trying to out-snark each other again," Tao said, turning back to go in the direction he and Miss Seira had come from, "and it would just be a cruel and unusual punishment to leave Takeo in the centre of it all."

He didn't get a response to that as they went back, but he didn't fully expect or need a verbal one from those two.

They opened the door to the scene Tao expected: M-21 and Regis glaring at each other, their teeth practically bared, with Takeo leaning back on the bedframe, his face resting in his palm.

"We have returned!" Tao declared, and both M-21 and Regis snapped to him, like Tao had hoped they would. Good; they hadn't gotten too into it, then.

"Don't worry," Tao said before either of them could get a word out as he walked into the room, "I know where everyone's going."

M-21 and Regis both made a strangled noise at that, apprehension replacing their stubborn expressions.

"What, don't you trust me either?" Tao asked, slumping his shoulders.

"No."

"Not with something you could turn into a joke!"

Tao turned to Miss Seira, completely hangdog. "You trust me, don't you, Miss Seira?"

Miss Seira didn't say anything for a few seconds. "For this," she said, "I trust you."

"Okay, you're the best now," Tao declared, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, Regis, you've already been replaced."

Regis sniffed. "It doesn’t bother me."

"Tao," Takeo said, rubbing his forehead with a palm, "what are the sleeping arrangements?"

"All right, okay, back to business," Tao said, nodding, and started to tick off his fingers. "Miss Seira's on the outside, Regis is next to her, I'm in the middle, Takeo's next to me, and M-21's on the outside." Because Regis wouldn't stop arguing if anyone else slept next to Miss Seira, and maintaining the biggest space as possible between M-21 and Regis was just ensuring everyone slept.

Tao turned to him while Takeo, M-21 and Regis looked at who they would be sleeping next to. "Is there anywhere in particular you want to sleep?"

He was silent for a while, looking around at everyone. "No, there isn't," he said, shaking his head.

"All right," Tao said, nodding. "Do you want to sleep between me and Takeo?"

He glanced at Tao before he turned his gaze towards Takeo.

Takeo noticed straight away, and his eyebrows shot up when he saw who was staring at him. "Uh, I'm all right with that," Takeo said.

He nodded once. "That's fine."

Tao beamed at them both. "Great!"

They climbed into bed after that and it took a bit of shuffling before everyone settled. It was weird hearing so many other people around him, feeling their body heat, after he'd gotten used to sleeping by himself, but when Tao reached out with his tentacles, it didn't matter. Contentment swept through his mind when he made contact with everyone and Tao tumbled to sleep almost instantly.

* * *
A breeze ghosted over Tao's tentacles and he instinctively tightened them, double-checking everyone was still there. They were – no, that wasn't quite right.

Tao slowly opened his eyes and he stared up at the spill of light across the ceiling, seeing Boss' familiar silhouette.

"Hey, Boss," Tao whispered, easing himself up onto his elbows. Takeo and M-21 shifted in their sleep and Tao absentmindedly stroked them with a tentacle until they settled down again.

"Go back to sleep," Boss murmured.

"I will," Tao said, already drifting in the haze of not having the persistent buzzing in his mind. But there was something missing. "Hey, Boss…?"

Boss had already started walking towards them. "Mm. Of course." One of Tao's tentacles disentangled itself from underneath the blanket, reaching for Boss, and Tao's breath stuttered when he made contact with Boss' palm, coiling the tip around his wrist.

Something eased in Tao's mind, feeling complete and whole now that every member of his family was in his grasp.

"Now go to sleep," chased Tao as he dozed off again.

* * *
Tao woke up bit by bit, feeling utterly relaxed. The scent of musty old books hung in the air, reminding Tao of one of the rooms he'd found while installing the cameras around the house that had been filled with Boss' books - that had to be his scent.

Tao lay there for a minute, not wanting to do anything, just listening to everyone else breathe, but he shook his head; now wasn't the time to laze about, so Tao gently slid his tentacles away from everyone, trying to not disturb them, bracing for the headache as he did so.

It didn't come.

Huh? Tao tilted his head, waiting for it to hit, but it still didn't. That was…weird. Why didn't it – was it because he'd slept with everyone within touching distance? Apart from Boss, and that reminded him…

Tao eased himself out of bed, making sure everyone was covered afterwards and then snuck out the room. Boss had been working non-stop since Tao had gained his tentacles, not to mention he'd also made their bed for all of them, and knowing Boss, he probably hadn't slept in all that time.

Tao ducked into the kitchen for a second, grabbing the rest of the dasik from the fridge. After he'd finished them and washed the plate, he looked at the spare slippers in the entranceway. Well, if he was feeling this good, maybe his instincts wouldn't be too insistent when he changed his legs back?

Tao let out a long breath and tried to transform his tentacles back – it was the smoothest transition he'd had, and faster too. He revelled in having toes again as he leaned against the counter, grinning down at his legs.

When he pushed himself away from the counter, he didn't feel the instincts thrum at him at all, or as he walked over to the entranceway either. He chuckled, relief filling him as he put on the slippers and then walked down to Boss' lab.

"Boss?" he called out when he arrived. The lights were on, but that was normal since Boss was always testing or making something.

"I thought I told you to go to sleep," Boss said from one of his machines, watching lines of text scrolling up the monitor in front of him.

"That was a couple of hours ago," Tao told him, shaking his head. Well, that answered his question of if the Boss had slept or not.

Tao saw Boss start a little, before he frowned. "Was it?"

"Yep," Tao said, walking up to him, and Boss sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You're human; humans need sleep, remember?" How human Boss was was up for debate though, but he said he was human, and he didn't lie about anything.

Boss looked at him wryly over the rim of his glasses.

"And if you don't, you're more likely to make mistakes," Tao continued, stopping beside him. And that was something Boss wouldn't allow.

"You're being rather adamant about this," Boss said, an eyebrow cocked.

He shrugged, spreading his hands wide. "I'm not the only person who needs your help – the school needs you too." He didn't have to mention him; that was a given.

Boss blinked at him, and then sighed again, taking off his glasses. "Ah, I have a board meeting in a few hours."

"Then you definitely need your sleep!" Tao said, making shooing motions.

Boss smiled at his antics, before the lab door hissed open, and Tao turned to see the rest of the RK-5 stumble in, him at the back as well.

"Tao-"

"You could-"

"I'm all right!" he told them, arms raised to placate them.

Tao was sent some very dry looks.

"No, I am!" he said. "The headache's gone and I can think clearly again. I just came down to make sure Boss gets some sleep."

They turned to look at the Boss, who shook his head. "Very well," he said, a small, wry smile on his face. "I'll rest now."

"Great!"

They left the lab together once Boss had finished checking on a few results.

"Sooo," Tao said to the others once the Boss had left them to go to his room, "breakfast?"

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