marlowemuses | Fear and Adrenaline, for doctor

Exhausted from everything that had happened since he'd first met Crane, Ashley slept deeply and woke only at the knock. Dizzy, it took him a minute to make sense of it.

Dressing quickly, Ashley went to inspect the food. He was very hungry, and it seemed like normal food. He ate it alone in his room, but then he took down the empty tray to the kitchen, setting it on the counter. It was, for him, a very large gesture of cooperation. Wary, he watched Crane, staying well out of grabbing range. "Good morning."

Crane looked over his newspaper at Ashley, reading glasses resting on his nose. "Good to see we're feeling better today," He said, sipping on his coffee.

"Your first session is in one hour," Crane added. "I will expect you in my office at that time. After that, you are free for the day until curfew."

"What's curfew?" Ashley asked, narrowing his eyes at the doctor. His heart fluttered with fear, but he was now relatively cooperative out of obedience to Scarecrow. "Does that mean I'm allowed to leave the house during the day?"

"As long as you remain within city limits," Crane droned, folding his newspaper neatly. "If you are caught trying to leave town, or stay out after sunset, you will lose that privilege." Crane figured that Ashley wouldn't try and run away as long as Scarecrow still paid his nightly visits.

"I think you'll find me quite agreeable if you don't make this difficult."

Ashley stuck out his tongue and pulled a childish face, leaving the room. He did, however, keep an eye on the clock.

As tempted as he was to skip his "session", he was also achingly curious. After all the accusations he'd thrown at Crane had created no apparent repercussions or results, Ashley was perplexed as to what he was doing here. Crane's claim that he needed "help" was clearly nonsense, but Ashley didn't know why he really was here. Eight minutes late, intentionally, Ashley showed up at the office door.

Crane had gotten his office ready, and dressed in a professional suit, as he killed time. He'd been about to go get Ashley when the knock came.

He allowed the 'patient' inside. "Have a seat and we can begin," Crane waved his hand at the couch.

His office was sparsely decorated, with just a few paintings of admittedly eerie subject matter. Such as a painting of a cemetery or dead trees that looked like long fingers ready to grab someone. He had more textbooks in here, as well as his diplomas hanging on the wall behind his desk.

Ashley sat looking around in interest at the paintings on the wall. He liked them, suited as they were to his distinctly macabre tastes.

Curling his fingers around the edge of the seat, Ashley watched the doctor warily, chewing on his pouty lower lip.

Crane sat on the armchair near the couch, putting on his glasses and opening his notebook, which he rested on his knee.

"Now, Ashley, is there anything you'd like to talk about today?"

Ashley rolled his eyes dramatically. "No, thanks. Not really feeling chatty. You're not very good at conversation, anyway. You don't answer questions."

Relaxing at how harmless the introductory question had been, Ashley lounged back in his seat, watching Dr. Crane with low-lidded eyes filled with dislike.

Crane jotted some notes down. "You don't wish to talk about your family? Or any problems you are having?" He kept his tone professional for now. "Or this boyfriend you mentioned yesterday? Strange how I didn't see him at the party the other night."

Ashley snorted and rolled his eyes at that. "Like you would have noticed if I had a boyfriend." Sitting forward as he sensed an opening, Ashley fluttered his lashes and smiled. "Or would you have? Were you already so obsessed with me at the party, Dr. Crane? When did your fixation with me begin? Have you been similarly fixated on other beautiful young men?"

Crane raised an eyebrow. Of course he couldn't tell the truth, that he'd donned his disguise and just wanted to teach the younger man a lesson, only to get attached. "I pride myself in handling strange cases, and you're quite strange. I must admit, none of my previous patients had your looks. Of course, I did used to work at a prison."

"Dull," Ashley said, rolling his eyes again. "Are you enjoying keeping me in suspense about my fate? Or is this it? Mediocre breakfasts and dull conversations?"

"Is this the part where you think I'm going to admit I plan to take advantage of you? If I were going to do that I'd have already dropped my pants." Crane deadpanned. Unprofessional language, yes. "I think you and I can be friends, Ashley."

Ashley made a face at him. "Make up your mind, doctor. Am I your prisoner, your patient, or your friend? Because people don't usually hold their friends captive and impose curfews upon them. You're fixated upon me. What happens if I don't obey, then? You murder me? Punish me?"

I'd fill you with so much toxin you'd be seeing demons for days, is what Crane wanted to say. "Murder you, no. Punish you, perhaps I might." He allowed the threat to linger in the air. "Your parents are paying me to be your doctor, so for now, let's just call you my patient."

Edited 2016-10-16 05:34 (UTC)

"Fine," Ashley said, curling up in his chair and pouting extravagantly. "I'm behaving, aren't I? I'm here. I haven't broken anything."

"Yes, you've been quite good," Crane said condescendingly. "Now then, you don't have any hidden fears, do you, Ashley?"

"I have a dreadful fear of having dull conversations with boring men," Ashley drawled. "And the dark, I suppose, but who isn't?"

Crane jotted down some more notes. "True, many are afraid of the dark. Or rather, they're afraid of what may be lurking in the dark. There's also the feeling of helplessness that comes with not being able to see. It's a rather primal fear."

Ashley gave the doctor a shy smile to pacify him in hopes of ending the session earlier. "Heights, too. What sort of things do you think might be lurking in the dark?"

"Heights, hm?" Crane wrote that down too. "So I suppose I don't have to worry about you jumping out your window, even if you could open it. As for the dark, well, children often feel that monsters under the bed or the boogeyman might get them in the dark. Adults can have that instinctual fear as well, of monsters in the dark, especially if one reads lots of horror literature or watches too many scary movies. Or there's also the fear of serial killers hiding in the closet waiting for the lights to go out."

"I'm very fond of horror literature," Ashley said. "Which is why I like your library so very much. Since you have so much of it. So, then, does that mean you're also afraid of the dark?"

"I'm glad it's to your liking. You'll find works from Bram Stoker all the way to Stephen King," Crane said, still keeping his tone professional. "Me, afraid of the dark? It takes a lot to scare me, I'm afraid, but we all have a little primal fear in us, including the dark."

Ashley smiled a little at that confession, pleased to find that his captor was at least a little bit human and had weaknesses. "Can I go now? I want to visit my boyfriend and tell him that I'm okay."

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