[fic] VF drabble: Three Men
Title: Drabble: Three Men
Characters: Akihito, Asami, Feilong
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to NT8
Warning: not waffy, not funny, slightly angsty
Note: I wrote this several weeks ago in response to kawaiigato's challenge, but as usual it took a wrong turn. This drabble doesn't describe their reunion, but describes their possible thoughts on the eve of destruction, so to speak. I tried to keep them extremely IC.
I have written a sequel of sorts to this that I'll be posting much later today or tomorrow, depending on work. The characters in the sequel are necessarily less harsh though, since it contains romance, so they stand separately.
Akihito collapsed onto his tiny cot, Yoh helping to ease him down onto it. The Chinese man knelt and placed the manacle around his ankle, making sure it was adjusted correctly, and rose to leave.
Akihito lay on his back, unwilling to move, but turned his head toward his guard. "Yoh. How long will this go on? How much time do I have before he sells me? Can't you tell me anything?"
Yoh paused at the door, back to him. "I don't know his plans. But if you're patient and obedient, I'm sure you'll be safe."
"Safe. Is this safe? I suppose it's better than being a drugged whore, but not much better. I'd give anything not to have to go back to that room with him. I'm so tired, Yoh. Of all of it."
Yoh was silent. He turned his face to the side, so Akihito could see it, but Yoh wouldn't actually look at him. Akihito thought he was struggling to say something.
Yoh finally spoke. "Takaba-san. You must be patient and hold on. You're very strong. You can do that."
"Why? Why should I bother?" He heard the weariness in his own voice.
Yoh turned at that and stared at him for a moment, then said sternly, "You must." He quickly left the room, closing and locking the door.
Akihito turned his head away from the door to stare up at the ceiling. He needed sleep desperately, but his mind was racing too much to allow it.
He shifted, trying to get comfortable, and regretted it the moment he did. Pain shot through his lower back.
I'll probably have hemorrhoids the rest of my life.
He wished Feilong would get a bad case of them. And diarrhea. And nausea. And pimples. That would probably push him over the edge, having pimples. He grinned at the thought of Feilong's face if he looked in the mirror and saw bumps all over his perfect skin. It was a lovely but childish revenge fantasy.
But he quickly sobered.
Feilong had been rougher than usual that evening, physically, and emotionally. It seemed like he was starting to lose it more, lately. Like the stress was getting to him too. Akihito rubbed his sore neck, where Feilong held on tonight during sex, as if he wanted to choke him.
He hated Feilong's touch. Partly for obvious reasons, like the pain. But more than that, because he was turned on by it. This wasn't like Asami, who actually spent time, a lot of time, turning him on before fucking him. This was just happening naturally, because he loved the feel of a cock in his mouth or his ass.
His mind skirted around that, no longer willing to look any closer. Asami just trained me to it, that's all.
Trained and abandoned him, according to Feilong. Tonight Feilong had told him that Asami had been seen, healthy and whole, in a Tokyo nightclub with a beautiful male celebrity hanging all over him.
He had been shocked into crying. For a moment. Then he realized how absurd that was, and he'd shouted at Feilong, calling him a liar, trying to hit him but missing because he couldn't see through his tears.
Feilong had laughed cruelly at him, and told him that was the kind of pain he should expect from Asami, because sooner or later, it would happen. He'd be left behind, with no more thought than given to last year's car when it was traded in.
"It's not true," he'd said. "Asami is a lot of things, but he's loyal."
Feilong had sneered. "Loyal? You're seeing what you want to, because he remembered you once, and because you need something to pin your hopes on. He is the worst of betrayers."
He'd unwisely responded, "How do you know? You sound like a woman with unrequited love!"
After that, Feilong had been savage. It was a wonder he could even walk, after that.
And the whole time, though he'd continued to deny it, what Feilong had said sat in the back of his mind and ate at his confidence.
He'd thought a lot about Asami, on nights like this. Not so long ago, he'd said that Feilong and Asami were the same. Now he realized how childish that had been. Asami wasn't a gentle man, by any means. His background and who knows what else kept him harsh.
And yet, on nights like this when he had nothing to do but replay memories in his head over and over, other little details crept into his notice and stuck there. Asami's hand on his head, and his understanding, after Yama had tried to kill him. Coming after him the first time Feilong had kidnapped him, covering him in his coat, protecting him. His embrace in the shower, after that, at least before Akihito had pissed him off again. Vague memories of being carried to bed, that first night at his apartment. The way Asami had saved him from himself, time and again, and had come after him, time and again..
And above all, the way Asami had bled for him, urging him to save himself.
Asami was arrogant, smug, sarcastic, egoistical, ruthless - he started laughing. Listing Asami's worst character traits would keep him up the rest of the night. But he was also intelligent, charming, responsible, caring in his own way, and definitely loyal. Not to mention sexy as hell.
Akihito found himself growing hard just at the thought of him, but he was too tired to do anything about it.
He knew Asami would come. He knew it as he knew the sun would rise in the morning. But the man had been injured at least as bad as Feilong, and Feilong still couldn't get around that easily. So it might take awhile for Asami to get there.
No matter. He'd gotten away before. He'd do it again. He didn't have to wait around like some princess needing rescue. Someone had slipped the cuff off him once. They'd do it again. He just had to bide his time. Heck, by then, Asami himself might show up.
He gasped, eyes going wide. What was it Yoh had said? That I must be patient? Could it be? Does he know something?
Yoh had been the only one here to be kind to him. He thought the man was just a decent human. But what if - he almost didn't dare to think it - what if Yoh had some knowledge of Asami? He must. He must.
Asami must be on his way.
Akihito suddenly felt alive as he hadn't felt in weeks, as if he was floating a foot above the bed, as if he could face even the next night with a smile. A smile like the one that was bursting out of him right now.
Crap. He had to keep his thoughts inside. If anyone suspected, that might ruin any plans Asami had.
He worked on thinking about sad annoying things. Tao taking his food. Tao biting him. Tao yelling at him. Tao being in his life. He smiled ruefully. The kid wasn't so bad, except for his Feilong worship.
He thought about the friends he was missing. All the fun things they usually did during the summer, they were doing without him. He wondered if they were worried about him. He hoped not, but he knew they would be frantic by now. His glee fell under the weight of his thoughts, as he'd wished.
But every so often though, the thought of Asami would sneak in and tickle him. And when he finally fell into the first relaxed sleep he'd had since arriving there, it was with a small smile on his lips.
--
Asami sat in his chair in his hotel room in Kowloon, staring across the still dark bay to the brightly lit city. It, like Tokyo, was never dark even in these early morning hours.
He didn't budge from his seat often, except for his physical therapy. For that, he got up four times a day. His therapist would berate him if he knew, telling him twice a day was already too much. But Asami wanted to get strong as quickly as possible. He had things he had to take care of.
He glanced at his pistol, a new one. This one wouldn't fail him like the last. He'd purposefully acquired one like the one that shot him, and he'd mastered it as he mastered everything. If he had to, he would use it and appreciate the irony.
Because the most important thing to take care of was Feilong. He needed to be taught a lesson. And if he was still unwilling to learn, then he needed to be crushed like an insect. How dare he? He might just crush him anyway, on principle, and put Yoh in his place. After all, he'd been grooming the man for just such a job for seven years.
He didn't expect Feilong to go quietly. He had an unexpected well of strength, even if he acted the petulant woman on occasion. No, this would be a fight. Feilong had already shown himself unwilling to listen to reason.
His eyes fastened on the skyscraper where Feilong lived. Where Akihito was.
He tried not to think about Akihito too much. What Yoh had told him made him too angry. He burned at the thought of another man's hands on that erotic body.
He's mine. By all the gods I'll make sure he knows it when I get him back.
But he knew from Yoh's reports Akihito was in no danger of succumbing to Feilong's charms. Apparently, where Akihito was concerned, Feilong didn't have any. His hand relaxed where it had been gripping the chair.
Yoh had reported Akihito's exhaustion, both of body and spirit. Though his spirit seemed to continually renew itself from some hidden well within the boy. He admired that about the boy. It was the only thing that had kept him from crossing the bay before this, knowing that as long as he was alive, Akihito was a surivor.
He'd heard about Akihito escaping briefly, and fighting off some low level thugs. He clenched his fists. His bandaged arm began to ache.
He shouldn't be a part of this fight. Damn Feilong for bringing him into this.
He stood up quickly, too quickly. The room spun about him for a moment. Then he steadied himself. He needed to work out. He needed to build his strength. He needed to be ready, when the time came, to take back what was his, and put an end to this foolishness once and for all.
And then, Akihito, you and I have some unfinished business of our own.
He smiled grimly, and picked up his weights for the fifth time that day. But who was counting?
--
Feilong sat by his window sipping his morning tea and looked out across the bay to Kowloon. The sun was rising, making even the dirty waters of Victoria Bay seem pure and magical.
Ha. Nothing about this city was pure and magical. He'd learned that years ago after being initiated into the family business through a rite of blood, his first kill. That moment had destroyed more than the thug he'd been sent to erase. It had been the death of his belief in the inherent goodness of man. He'd been made to look the squalor and misery and despair of human existence in the eye, and he'd never forgotten the lesson.
Never but once, once upon a time..
Once upon a time, there was a foolish prince who forgot that castles were built upon sweat and blood and money and power. He was tricked into this foolishness by an evil wizard who came from the cold north, with eyes like ice and a heart even colder. The wizard had cast a spell, one that convinced the prince that his eyes and heart were warm, and that castles could be built on a foundation of love.
Soon enough though, the prince realized what a fool he'd been, when the castle he'd been building on a foundation of dreams collapsed, killing his father and brother in the process, and wounding him near mortally. When he awoke from the nightmare, the wizard had fled back to his stronghold in the north, leaving nothing but ruins where a home had been.
The prince vowed that day to rebuild his castle, this time with ruthless efficiency, making its walls thick with the strength of hatred and anger and power. And then he'd steal the jewel that held the wizard's heart and lure him back, and finally take his revenge, destroying him and his heart in the process.
A grim fairy tale indeed.
He laughed bitterly at his foolishness.
But the time for revenge was near at hand. He was growing stronger. That meant Asami was too. Soon he would come for his boy, his pretty jewel.
Feilong's thoughts shifted to Akihito for a moment. Once, he might have felt sorry for such a boy, a perpetual victim. Now, he couldn't care less. He enjoyed him in bed each night. Who wouldn't? He was lovely, and his sullenness and anger only made him more amusing. It made the taking of him so much more potent. He understood Asami's infatuation with him.
He hoped the man was sitting somewhere thinking about the two of them, fuming at his impotence, and getting ready to recklessly charge to his boy's rescue. He hoped he felt pain beyond his wounds. That would make the killing of him even sweeter, the revenge even more complete.
His heart was beating quickly at the thought. Something told him the time was fast approaching.
The ticking of the clock seemed to be saying "Soon... Soon... "
He raised his cup to his lips, but the tea had turned as cold as his smile.
~end~
Characters: Akihito, Asami, Feilong
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to NT8
Warning: not waffy, not funny, slightly angsty
Note: I wrote this several weeks ago in response to kawaiigato's challenge, but as usual it took a wrong turn. This drabble doesn't describe their reunion, but describes their possible thoughts on the eve of destruction, so to speak. I tried to keep them extremely IC.
I have written a sequel of sorts to this that I'll be posting much later today or tomorrow, depending on work. The characters in the sequel are necessarily less harsh though, since it contains romance, so they stand separately.
Akihito collapsed onto his tiny cot, Yoh helping to ease him down onto it. The Chinese man knelt and placed the manacle around his ankle, making sure it was adjusted correctly, and rose to leave.
Akihito lay on his back, unwilling to move, but turned his head toward his guard. "Yoh. How long will this go on? How much time do I have before he sells me? Can't you tell me anything?"
Yoh paused at the door, back to him. "I don't know his plans. But if you're patient and obedient, I'm sure you'll be safe."
"Safe. Is this safe? I suppose it's better than being a drugged whore, but not much better. I'd give anything not to have to go back to that room with him. I'm so tired, Yoh. Of all of it."
Yoh was silent. He turned his face to the side, so Akihito could see it, but Yoh wouldn't actually look at him. Akihito thought he was struggling to say something.
Yoh finally spoke. "Takaba-san. You must be patient and hold on. You're very strong. You can do that."
"Why? Why should I bother?" He heard the weariness in his own voice.
Yoh turned at that and stared at him for a moment, then said sternly, "You must." He quickly left the room, closing and locking the door.
Akihito turned his head away from the door to stare up at the ceiling. He needed sleep desperately, but his mind was racing too much to allow it.
He shifted, trying to get comfortable, and regretted it the moment he did. Pain shot through his lower back.
I'll probably have hemorrhoids the rest of my life.
He wished Feilong would get a bad case of them. And diarrhea. And nausea. And pimples. That would probably push him over the edge, having pimples. He grinned at the thought of Feilong's face if he looked in the mirror and saw bumps all over his perfect skin. It was a lovely but childish revenge fantasy.
But he quickly sobered.
Feilong had been rougher than usual that evening, physically, and emotionally. It seemed like he was starting to lose it more, lately. Like the stress was getting to him too. Akihito rubbed his sore neck, where Feilong held on tonight during sex, as if he wanted to choke him.
He hated Feilong's touch. Partly for obvious reasons, like the pain. But more than that, because he was turned on by it. This wasn't like Asami, who actually spent time, a lot of time, turning him on before fucking him. This was just happening naturally, because he loved the feel of a cock in his mouth or his ass.
His mind skirted around that, no longer willing to look any closer. Asami just trained me to it, that's all.
Trained and abandoned him, according to Feilong. Tonight Feilong had told him that Asami had been seen, healthy and whole, in a Tokyo nightclub with a beautiful male celebrity hanging all over him.
He had been shocked into crying. For a moment. Then he realized how absurd that was, and he'd shouted at Feilong, calling him a liar, trying to hit him but missing because he couldn't see through his tears.
Feilong had laughed cruelly at him, and told him that was the kind of pain he should expect from Asami, because sooner or later, it would happen. He'd be left behind, with no more thought than given to last year's car when it was traded in.
"It's not true," he'd said. "Asami is a lot of things, but he's loyal."
Feilong had sneered. "Loyal? You're seeing what you want to, because he remembered you once, and because you need something to pin your hopes on. He is the worst of betrayers."
He'd unwisely responded, "How do you know? You sound like a woman with unrequited love!"
After that, Feilong had been savage. It was a wonder he could even walk, after that.
And the whole time, though he'd continued to deny it, what Feilong had said sat in the back of his mind and ate at his confidence.
He'd thought a lot about Asami, on nights like this. Not so long ago, he'd said that Feilong and Asami were the same. Now he realized how childish that had been. Asami wasn't a gentle man, by any means. His background and who knows what else kept him harsh.
And yet, on nights like this when he had nothing to do but replay memories in his head over and over, other little details crept into his notice and stuck there. Asami's hand on his head, and his understanding, after Yama had tried to kill him. Coming after him the first time Feilong had kidnapped him, covering him in his coat, protecting him. His embrace in the shower, after that, at least before Akihito had pissed him off again. Vague memories of being carried to bed, that first night at his apartment. The way Asami had saved him from himself, time and again, and had come after him, time and again..
And above all, the way Asami had bled for him, urging him to save himself.
Asami was arrogant, smug, sarcastic, egoistical, ruthless - he started laughing. Listing Asami's worst character traits would keep him up the rest of the night. But he was also intelligent, charming, responsible, caring in his own way, and definitely loyal. Not to mention sexy as hell.
Akihito found himself growing hard just at the thought of him, but he was too tired to do anything about it.
He knew Asami would come. He knew it as he knew the sun would rise in the morning. But the man had been injured at least as bad as Feilong, and Feilong still couldn't get around that easily. So it might take awhile for Asami to get there.
No matter. He'd gotten away before. He'd do it again. He didn't have to wait around like some princess needing rescue. Someone had slipped the cuff off him once. They'd do it again. He just had to bide his time. Heck, by then, Asami himself might show up.
He gasped, eyes going wide. What was it Yoh had said? That I must be patient? Could it be? Does he know something?
Yoh had been the only one here to be kind to him. He thought the man was just a decent human. But what if - he almost didn't dare to think it - what if Yoh had some knowledge of Asami? He must. He must.
Asami must be on his way.
Akihito suddenly felt alive as he hadn't felt in weeks, as if he was floating a foot above the bed, as if he could face even the next night with a smile. A smile like the one that was bursting out of him right now.
Crap. He had to keep his thoughts inside. If anyone suspected, that might ruin any plans Asami had.
He worked on thinking about sad annoying things. Tao taking his food. Tao biting him. Tao yelling at him. Tao being in his life. He smiled ruefully. The kid wasn't so bad, except for his Feilong worship.
He thought about the friends he was missing. All the fun things they usually did during the summer, they were doing without him. He wondered if they were worried about him. He hoped not, but he knew they would be frantic by now. His glee fell under the weight of his thoughts, as he'd wished.
But every so often though, the thought of Asami would sneak in and tickle him. And when he finally fell into the first relaxed sleep he'd had since arriving there, it was with a small smile on his lips.
--
Asami sat in his chair in his hotel room in Kowloon, staring across the still dark bay to the brightly lit city. It, like Tokyo, was never dark even in these early morning hours.
He didn't budge from his seat often, except for his physical therapy. For that, he got up four times a day. His therapist would berate him if he knew, telling him twice a day was already too much. But Asami wanted to get strong as quickly as possible. He had things he had to take care of.
He glanced at his pistol, a new one. This one wouldn't fail him like the last. He'd purposefully acquired one like the one that shot him, and he'd mastered it as he mastered everything. If he had to, he would use it and appreciate the irony.
Because the most important thing to take care of was Feilong. He needed to be taught a lesson. And if he was still unwilling to learn, then he needed to be crushed like an insect. How dare he? He might just crush him anyway, on principle, and put Yoh in his place. After all, he'd been grooming the man for just such a job for seven years.
He didn't expect Feilong to go quietly. He had an unexpected well of strength, even if he acted the petulant woman on occasion. No, this would be a fight. Feilong had already shown himself unwilling to listen to reason.
His eyes fastened on the skyscraper where Feilong lived. Where Akihito was.
He tried not to think about Akihito too much. What Yoh had told him made him too angry. He burned at the thought of another man's hands on that erotic body.
He's mine. By all the gods I'll make sure he knows it when I get him back.
But he knew from Yoh's reports Akihito was in no danger of succumbing to Feilong's charms. Apparently, where Akihito was concerned, Feilong didn't have any. His hand relaxed where it had been gripping the chair.
Yoh had reported Akihito's exhaustion, both of body and spirit. Though his spirit seemed to continually renew itself from some hidden well within the boy. He admired that about the boy. It was the only thing that had kept him from crossing the bay before this, knowing that as long as he was alive, Akihito was a surivor.
He'd heard about Akihito escaping briefly, and fighting off some low level thugs. He clenched his fists. His bandaged arm began to ache.
He shouldn't be a part of this fight. Damn Feilong for bringing him into this.
He stood up quickly, too quickly. The room spun about him for a moment. Then he steadied himself. He needed to work out. He needed to build his strength. He needed to be ready, when the time came, to take back what was his, and put an end to this foolishness once and for all.
And then, Akihito, you and I have some unfinished business of our own.
He smiled grimly, and picked up his weights for the fifth time that day. But who was counting?
--
Feilong sat by his window sipping his morning tea and looked out across the bay to Kowloon. The sun was rising, making even the dirty waters of Victoria Bay seem pure and magical.
Ha. Nothing about this city was pure and magical. He'd learned that years ago after being initiated into the family business through a rite of blood, his first kill. That moment had destroyed more than the thug he'd been sent to erase. It had been the death of his belief in the inherent goodness of man. He'd been made to look the squalor and misery and despair of human existence in the eye, and he'd never forgotten the lesson.
Never but once, once upon a time..
Once upon a time, there was a foolish prince who forgot that castles were built upon sweat and blood and money and power. He was tricked into this foolishness by an evil wizard who came from the cold north, with eyes like ice and a heart even colder. The wizard had cast a spell, one that convinced the prince that his eyes and heart were warm, and that castles could be built on a foundation of love.
Soon enough though, the prince realized what a fool he'd been, when the castle he'd been building on a foundation of dreams collapsed, killing his father and brother in the process, and wounding him near mortally. When he awoke from the nightmare, the wizard had fled back to his stronghold in the north, leaving nothing but ruins where a home had been.
The prince vowed that day to rebuild his castle, this time with ruthless efficiency, making its walls thick with the strength of hatred and anger and power. And then he'd steal the jewel that held the wizard's heart and lure him back, and finally take his revenge, destroying him and his heart in the process.
A grim fairy tale indeed.
He laughed bitterly at his foolishness.
But the time for revenge was near at hand. He was growing stronger. That meant Asami was too. Soon he would come for his boy, his pretty jewel.
Feilong's thoughts shifted to Akihito for a moment. Once, he might have felt sorry for such a boy, a perpetual victim. Now, he couldn't care less. He enjoyed him in bed each night. Who wouldn't? He was lovely, and his sullenness and anger only made him more amusing. It made the taking of him so much more potent. He understood Asami's infatuation with him.
He hoped the man was sitting somewhere thinking about the two of them, fuming at his impotence, and getting ready to recklessly charge to his boy's rescue. He hoped he felt pain beyond his wounds. That would make the killing of him even sweeter, the revenge even more complete.
His heart was beating quickly at the thought. Something told him the time was fast approaching.
The ticking of the clock seemed to be saying "Soon... Soon... "
He raised his cup to his lips, but the tea had turned as cold as his smile.
~end~