FIC: Double Helix, part three

[teru_bozu_ebi]

 

Winter

“Mr. Cho. Wake up.”

Someone’s hand was shaking his shoulder. Tenpou blinked awake to find Dou staring down at him.

“It’s time for your therapy session, Mr. Cho.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“You know the drill.”

“Yes. Yes.”

Dou stood up to give him room. The manacle sets were tossed onto the bed as Tenpou carefully set his feet on the floor, waiting for his head spin to settle. Dou obligingly set out his slippers and Tenpou wiggled his feet into them as he slowly and deliberately placed his hands on the bed one at a time, in full sight. His left foot began to be strapped into its restraint.

Gods, but he hated Cho. This little routine had been going on for at least a year now, ever since the idiot had pulled the checker stunt and put poor Chin into the infirmary. Considering all the crap they kept pumping into his system to keep him docile, it was rather flattering to think that the hospital felt it necessary to do this to him each and every time he went to his therapy session.

Flattering, but accurate.

“Could you pass me my glasses, please?”

“Sure thing, Mr. Cho.”

Once they were on he looked over to the door to see which guard he had today. Kou. Kou and Dou, the dynamic duo again. Li hadn’t been around since... well, maybe he’d been transferred. Or maybe he just wasn’t out of the hospital yet, hard to say. Tenpou wanted to ask, but it was probably better to wait until playtime and ask the Child; no sense in whistling up the wind with these two over that little episode. As it was, the memory of it was still with them in the room, screaming at him in the way they were holding themselves. Wary, tensed, ready for the slightest unexpected movement. Kou seemed especially jumpy, which was rather funny since he was the one that was standing halfway across the room at the moment. But then, besides what happened to Li he supposed Kou had gotten the worst of it. Must’ve been quite humiliating to have a skinny little otaku like Cho knock all that machismo down a few pegs like that. Those bulging pecs hadn’t been quite the same since.

Dou tapped Tenpou’s leg, finished with the ankle restraints. Tenpou stood up slowly and automatically set his hands behind his head while the belt was put on. He looked back over to Kou, who seemed to have a whole new nasty in his hand. Tenpou could only guess as to its purpose; whatever it was, it wasn’t anything like a normal pistol. He had to say the staff had learned their lesson about pistols rather quickly.

“What is that thing you have in your hand there, Mr. Kou?”

He was sure to add a bit more of a ‘sedation slur’ into his voice, but they both noticeably flinched anyway. Dou stopped what he was doing, eyeing him warily. After a sufficient pause he went back to work. Kou seemed rather surprised he was being spoken to. Then again, this was probably the first time he acknowledged the man’s presence since the Pistol Incident. Dou tapped his side and Tenpou slowly brought his hands down and front, eyes never leaving Kou’s new plaything. It looked to be plastic, whatever it was... left wrist restraint on. Kou’s eyes followed Tenpou’s gaze. He lifted his new toy up for a show and smiled. The man seemed inordinately proud of it, so whatever it was, it had to be pretty effective. At least more effective than his fucking gun had been. Right wrist restraint on.

“It’s a Taser. Like a cattle prod, for loonies.”

Cattle prod. Interesting...  he wasn’t exactly sure what a cattle prod was, but the mention of it had Dou snorting at the comparison. Another tap and with it he dropped his hands. Even though they were already hooked to each other Dou still hooked both of them to the belt for good measure before he did the final check, kneeling down and tugging here and there at the various attachments until he seemed at least nominally satisfied. He started the pat down. Tenpou turned his attention back from Kou to watch the proceedings, trying to remember if there was anything that was considered contraband in his pockets. Dou stood up and touched his shoulder again, leaning down a bit to look into Tenpou’s eyes. He talked slowly and clearly, as if he were speaking to a moron.

“OK, Mr. Cho. We’re going to go see Dr. Nii now. You walk OK?”

Tenpou frowned at the man; he was sedated, not stupid. Cho had to have a much more severe reaction to the new medication than he did; exponentially so. It would be the only thing that made sense in this over-solicitous handling he’d been getting as of late. Solicitous, and sloppy. If they knew exactly how drugged he wasn’t, they wouldn’t be quite this touchy-feely about the whole thing. Nor would they treat him as if he were a five year-old.

“I think so, yes.”

It had been quite some time ago that he realized the staff didn’t tailor the sedative to whichever alter was in control. They just made the obvious assumption that the same body had the same reaction, no matter who was in charge. An intuitively understandable assessment, but in practice surprisingly inaccurate. No one seemed to realize that One Size Didn’t Really Fit All, and he had to say that suited him just fine. Let them think he was Cho and drugged out of his mind half the time, he could sure as hell play that game. He still shuddered at the memory of how it had once been, so doped up that he had to be spoon fed by sniggering nurse’s aids, openly cracking jokes about him while they wiped the gruel off his chin. As if he was too stupid to understand. He refused to go back to that, those long hateful mornings of sitting there smeared in congee, seething, desperately wanting to wipe those cocky smiles off of their faces permanently. He hated feeling like that, all that impotent humiliation boiling inside of him; it made him feel that he really was no better than Cho. Nothing but an empty crucible, refining rage into a purified hatred. Ready to burn to cinders anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way. He knew he was better than that. At least he had been, once upon a time.

Dou stepped away to allow for a trial walk. Tenpou shuffled a few test steps and nodded. Dou’s hand slid down to support him under his elbow, squeezing it apologetically.

“Lookin’ good, Mr. Cho. Let’s go.”

Kou stepped further into the room and to the side to allow them through the door. Dou maneuvered him out of the room using the hand still under his elbow as a rudder, as if he was somehow having trouble keeping to a straight line. Tenpou let him keep right on thinking it. Hell, Cho probably walked into the walls when left unaided, he wouldn’t put it past the man. It was a slow trip; the restraints allowed only a few inches of movement so his steps were relatively small, but he still preferred to walk rather than be chained to a wheelchair and rolled to his appointment. Call him old-fashioned, but he liked a little exercise now and again, and Cho’s shenanigans were giving him less and less opportunity to indulge in anything beyond the shackle shuffle. Though he had to admit he had done his part to contribute to the current indignities; this last time it hadn’t been Cho’s doing at all. But it’s not like the hospital staff knew that. Nor would they ever, if he had anything to say about it.

Through the security doors, past the Spot. It had cleaned up fairly well, though still obvious to anyone who cared to look for it. The blood spatters had been washed away but there was still a gouge where one of his restraint buckles scoured the wall during the scuffle. A few of the floor tiles had been shattered and had yet to be fixed, the hole an open wound for everyone to pretend wasn’t there. Dou maneuvered him around the missing section without looking down once.

The pistol had admittedly been a stupid stunt on his part, but he was getting increasingly tired of this place and Kou had simply been too easy a target to resist- the man had no idea how to properly carry his firearm. It would have worked much better if he hadn’t badly miscalculated the effect of the additional sedatives on his reflexes. Ever since the checker incident they had taken to double dosing him each time he was scheduled to be moved anywhere, changing the meds every few months to keep him on his toes. He hadn’t had time to sufficiently study the effects of the newest dosage on his motor coordination before a window of opportunity had presented itself. Oh well, no use crying over any spilt milk on that. Or spilt blood. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d made a mistake. Or the last, for that matter. Though it would certainly be the last time he’d make those particular mistakes. Of that he was quite sure.

Once they finally turned down Nii’s hall, Tenpou judged it far enough from the Spot and looked over to study Kou’s bruised face. He had to give the man some credit; he had come right back to work the next day, even with one eye nearly swollen shut. Tenpou hoped that Kou realized it hadn’t been personal. He had simply been the one unfortunate enough to be carrying the pistol.

“You seem to be healing quite nicely, Mr. Kou.”

Kou glared at him out of the corner of his eye and moved ever so incrementally away from his side. The Taser came out front and center. Dou chuckled at Kou’s reaction and shook his head, squeezing Tenpou’s elbow a bit tighter in the process.

“I still say, I ain’t never seen a loony move that fast before in my life. Where’d you learn those crazy-ass kung fu moves, Mr. Cho? I thought you were a schoolteacher or something.”

Tenpou frowned slightly at Dou’s comment. One would think he would be used to it by now, but somehow it became ever more irritating as time went by.

“I’ve told you before. My name isn’t Cho.”

As predicted, the both of them laughed. Nervously, he was happy to say. They stopped in front of Nii’s door. Dou gave it Quirky Double Rap #2. The door answered it with a muffled voice.

“Bring him in.”

The door opened to the perennial grin and clipboard. Tenpou was quickly maneuvered down into the chair. It was surprisingly difficult to sit by oneself with any decree of decorum when shot full of sedatives and trussed like a turkey, so he was actually rather glad for the help. He was about to thank them for it when Nii saved him the effort.

“Thank you Dou. Kou. See you boys in about an hour.”

“You sure you won’t be needing us, doc?”

“I’ll be fine. Won’t I be fine, Mr. Cho?”

Nii looked pointedly at him. Tenpou nodded.

“Alright then. Use the pepper spray if you got to, doc.”

“Don’t worry; I won’t be needing it today, thank you. Good-bye.”

Nii waved cheerfully at the door as it closed. He remained silently perched at the edge of his desk, head cocked like a dog’s, watching Tenpou’s face as he listened to the two sets of footsteps slowly making their way down the hallway and around the corner. Waited for the distant echo of the security doors latching shut behind them. His grin suddenly broadened.

“Tenpou.”

“Nii.”

“Welcome back. It’s been awhile.”

Nii got up from the desk and dragged his consultation chair across the room. Flopped down into it, his legs spreading widely out to either side. Tenpou wanted to tell him a crotch shot wasn’t particularly effective unless the pants were removed first, but he suspected Nii might treat it as if it were a recommendation so he decided not to bother. Nii was staring at him, chewing on his thumb. Waiting. Tenpou waited longer.

“That was you this last time, wasn’t it.”

“What do you mean?”

“What happened to Li last month.”

Nii’s leg started to bounce. Tenpou blanked his face. Added more Slur.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve seen the security tapes, Marshal. Watched them. Over and over... and over. There was no way in hell that was Cho Hakkai.”

Tenpou didn’t bother to answer, though the mention of security tapes was certainly interesting. Time to start looking for the hidden cameras, because there were nothing in evidence at the spot the Pistol Incident had occurred; part of the reason it happened where it did. It seemed they were more heavily distributed throughout the building than he’d previously assumed. Rather bright on their part, setting out a few obvious security spots as decoys. Brighter than he’d given them credit for. Nii leaned forward, chin resting on clasped hands in a distorted version of one of those praying saints paintings that Cho remembered lining the walls of the orphanage. Eyes narrowed, searching for a flicker of admission somewhere, anywhere in Tenpou’s face. Tenpou vacated his eyes, retreating further inside.

So, the Child was watching them on hidden security cameras, certainly something to keep in mind from now on. He wondered if Nii kept any copies of them in his files. He’d always wanted to see what Cho looked like; if they had tapes of him, there had to be tapes of his alter as well. He’d been rather careful up until now, so he seriously doubted the man got much more out of them than masturbatory material. What was disturbing about it was that he was not only quite sure that Nii was indeed doing exactly that- beating off as he watched- but that if he bothered to accuse the man of it, all he’d get for his troubles was a gleeful admission and an invitation to join in.

Nii seemed to take his silence as confirmation enough and leaned back into his chair again. His jaw spasmed rhythmically. It seemed to be beating up an incredibly unfortunate wad of gum.

“I have to say I was impressed, Marshal. Very impressed. Before last week, I would have sworn that it was physically impossible to slam a guard into the ground with enough force to put him into a coma, and then to unarm another, all while heavily sedated and in full restraints. And in the space of thirty seconds. But security cameras don’t lie, now do they?”

Nii stared at him, daring him not to respond.  Tenpou stared right through him, unresponsive. The gum snapped a few times in the silence.

“You even managed to throw Dou halfway across the room. The man’s a tank. Easily twice your size. Don’t fucking tell me that was Cho.”

That comment got a blink out of him. Odd, that there was no mention of any qi glow in any of that... perhaps it didn’t show up on the cameras. He was quite sure Dou had seen it, that double-take the man had given right before he was slammed into the wall was undoubtedly a reaction to the light. Seen it, but hadn’t believed his own eyes. Still, Nii seemed totally unaware that he had finally been able to call up a bit of war god qi. It could be a bluff of some sort on his part, omitting an obvious particular to try and draw him out into talking. Tenpou doubted that was the case; Nii wasn’t very good at bluffing, and the man knew he wasn’t. Which meant of course that security cameras did lie. Or at least committed sins of omission. Tenpou almost smiled at the realization of what that implied.

Nii chewed away, waiting. Cocked his head to the side to crack his neck. They sat there in silence while Nii watched for any indication that he might break. He didn’t. It was times like this that the sedative actually proved useful; Tenpou just drifted on the clouds they created and let time slip by for a bit. The gum snapped in irritation before Nii finally lost the battle again.

“Tell me one thing, Tenpou... if you hadn’t been pumped with enough lorazepam at the time to choke a horse, would Li have survived?”

“Probably not.”

Nii’s grin suddenly split his face, his jaw working away as if his life depended upon it. He could feel the man literally buzzing from where he sat three feet away; in fact, he seemed to be fast approaching critical mass. Tenpou wondered whether he would be blamed if Nii’s head should suddenly explode during what was technically supposed to be Cho’s integrative therapy session. Instead of the expected detonation, Nii clucked his tongue and shook his head. Chewing, chewing, chewing, as if the gum was his pressure release valve.

“I knew it. I just knew it... and here, all this time... we all thought Cho was the dangerous one. You certainly had me fooled. But I can see now that we had no idea, none... what we were dealing with. Did we?”

Tenpou blinked but didn’t respond. He’d said his part. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure why he’d given him that much, but the man had seemed so needy... still, he certainly wasn’t going to get anything more out of him on the subject. Nii scooted his chair closer so that their knees were nearly touching. He leaned in, his eyes glittering sharp points of light through the lens glare.

“He’s nothing compared to you, is he? Cho might have the bigger body count... but his violence is nothing more than an unfocussed scream of pain. Mindless. Easy enough to step out of the way as it comes barreling on through. Yours, on the other hand, it’s... austere. Precise. I’d almost call it poetic.”

Nii flopped back into the chair again. Another dramatic head shake, another snap. Chew, chew, chew... it took all of Tenpou’s will not to stand up and scream at the idiot to spit out the goddamned gum already.

“A pity for you the gun wasn’t loaded. It must have come as such a surprise.”

A hand came up quite suddenly, index finger barrel aimed directly at Tenpou’s forehead.

“To pull that trigger, hear that ‘click’...” the thumb twitched, a sound effect helpfully supplied by Nii, “...and then... nothing.”

Nii’s ‘gun’ flopped into his lap, dead and useless. Then his hands spread out in a gesture of apology.  He looked almost sincere. Almost.

“Kou was certainly the lucky one that day, wasn’t he? Luckier than poor Li, anyway. I have to say you knocked quite a few IQ points out of that old noggin with that neat little trick of yours. If and when he gets back, we’ll need to reassign him to something that those newly rearranged neurons can handle. Probably something in the ‘Mop and Bucket’ Division. Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head too much about the boy; believe me, he’s still got a job here. Gotta love those unions.”

Nii’s knee resumed its bounce. Tenpou’s eyes drifted away from the infuriatingly smug shit-eating grin only to land on an obvious bulge in the man’s trousers that he wasn’t remotely trying to hide. Who knew that Nii had a violence fetish to quite this level; he seemed about ready to come in his pants over whatever fantasies he might be having over Li’s severe brain trauma. No wonder he’d volunteered to take on Cho’s case for the state.

Nii’s back arched as if in arousal to punctuate. He dangled his head over the back of the chair, shaking it incredulously.

“But man oh man... it was even at point-blank range. You meant to execute the man. The back of his skull would have come right off...” another sound effect, another snicker. The head popped back up, grinning from ear to ear. “Believe me, it would have been a mess to have cleaned that up... poor little Flora would have been absolutely beside herself. ‘No no no, Meester Doctore! Me no cleaning up dee brains, no no...’”

Nii shook his head and waggled his hands in the coarsest impression Tenpou had ever been forced to witness, then chortled at his own performance. As usual, Nii didn’t seem to even care if Tenpou participated in any sort of verbal exchange or not; he was off on one of his own little tangents again, happily amusing himself. Nothing to do now but to sit through the performance until the intermission, wait for his hour of therapy to be up. He was severely tempted to see if he could call in Cho to take over for the remainder of the session. Nii would be absolutely furious if he did.

“So now you know our Great Big Secret; the guards aren’t actually allowed to carry loaded firearms while on the hospital grounds. For intimidation only. Oh, I agree, it makes absolutely no sense, but it is what it is. That Taser, however, is fully functional. And trust me; you don’t want to feel its effects.”

Yes, yes, he had figured out that the pistol had been useless by the second empty chamber. No news there. He had gambled, and lost, and now he was back to square one. Back to being chained up with Cho. It was definitely time for him to say goodbye to this so-called conversation; the Child was having far too much fun with his gloating today, and he’d be damned if he was going to participate in torturing himself any further. Tenpou let his mind drift, staring blindly at the man’s lab coat for awhile. It seemed to be brand new; his name with attendant acronyms was now neatly embroidered over the breast pocket. The name of a sleep-aid that the hospital favored was printed on the pocket itself, along with its logo of a sleepy little rabbit. Tenpou’s eyes drooped along with the bunny’s. He suddenly felt very, very tired.

“You want to get out of here, don’t you. So very badly.”

Tenpou’s eyes drifted back up to Nii’s face again despite himself. Nii shook his head in an overdone sadness.

“You can’t, you know- escape. In over seventy years, no one’s ever managed to do it. There’s only two ways out of here; to be killed, or to be cured. Oh, and don’t go thinking that cured is your ticket to freedom, either. Once I sign the papers that say you’re sane, you’d simply be transferred over to the nearest federal prison. No pretty little trees growing outside of the windows to look at over there, you know. Their décor is absolutely atrocious. So, except for that sweet, lovely little plaything your new cellmate ‘Snake’ would be getting out of the deal, where would be the fun in any of that?”

Tenpou’s attention drifted back to the bunny. Though it was something he had always assumed, this was the first time the truth had ever been spoken aloud. It made sense, of course- as much sense as anything had ever made in this place. No wonder Cho was on a perennial Suicide Watch. Kill, or cure... no one was holding out much hope for the latter, so the former seemed the only viable option. One he’d have to seriously start thinking about; he doubted the next reincarnation could be much worse than this one. Funny, that once upon a time he’d wanted nothing more than to escape to Down Below. Now that he was there, he wanted nothing more than to be freed of it. Be careful of what you wish for...

“I truly am sorry, you know. For you.”

That was an odd statement to be coming from the Child. Their eyes met again. Nii’s smile was gone; it was only the second time since Tenpou had met him that some sort of grin wasn’t plastered across his face. Tenpou’s heart skipped a beat.

“I can’t say I’m sorry for Cho- he truly is a menace to society. Plus he’s a royal pain in the ass, and not in a good sort of way, let me just say that for the record... but as long as the two of you continue to bring in those millions from the Koushu Foundation every year, I can certainly play nicey-nice with our prissy little prima donna. I have to admit, having such an infamous celebrity in residence has done absolute wonders for our grant-writer.”

That explained the fancy new lettering in the Community Room. Or to be more accurate, the fancy new lettering in the Houtou Asylum for the Criminally Insane Koushu Foundation Maximum Security Wing Community Room. The entire thing had appeared a short time ago in attractively lit brass lettering above the door; he felt a weird sort of pride now, to think that he and Cho had helped to put it there. Too bad he lost his rights for use of the common spaces for who knew how long. He would have liked to have basked in the glory of their fancy new signage for a bit.

“And with the dozens of grad students falling all over each other in a rush, trying to piggy-back their names on the definitive study of this stunningly atypical case of Disassociative Identity Disorder, my career is certainly assured for some time to come. So Cho does have his uses. But that doesn’t mean I have to feel sorry for the little fucker.”

No argument from him on that; he hated Cho the Drama Queen about as much as Nii hated him. And yes, he had to admit Cho had his uses. They both did; Gonou wasn’t nearly as dead as Nii seemed to think he was, just sort of... incomplete. And he knew how to play chess. If Lady Koushu was so intent on spreading the wealth, maybe she’d spring for that Crazed Supervillain Wing he’d always dreamed of having, complete with chess board and library. It would have at least three occupants ready to move in. Well, sort of. Two-point-five occupants.

“Do you know what day it is Thursday?”

Tenpou blinked at the jarring subject change. He shook his head.

“It’s Christmas Eve.”

Nii still wasn’t smiling, not even with the mention of the impending holiday. Tenpou wasn’t sure what significance the information held for the man; though if he had to guess, the probability was that the Boy had been forced into working on Christmas because of the pistol stunt, and now he had a bug up his butt over the indignity of it all. Tenpou sighed quietly and shut his eyes, wondering just how they planned on taking it out on him this time. Freezing shower... surprise strip search... all the above. Perhaps he’d be forced to wear the reindeer horns at the Christmas party, complete with glowing nose. If he was actually invited, since he was technically still confined to his room. In any case, whether it was Christmas or not hardly mattered to him. It’s not like he or Cho were getting anything; they were both on the ‘Naughty List’ in perpetuity.

He opened his eyes again when he felt Nii standing up. The man didn’t bother to move any further away, he just stood there. Unmoving, staring down at the top of Tenpou’s head while the room’s deafening silence crowded in about them. Tenpou continued to stare blandly forward, ignoring the impulse to shrink away from the body looming over him; the man’s energy always felt so diseased, infectious somehow, and he wanted no part of it. After a small eternity Nii finally turned away and quietly walked over to his desk. Tenpou remained frozen in place, following with his periphery vision. His view was blocked by Nii’s position, most likely intentionally as the white lab coat leaned over and opened up a drawer. He seemed to be pulling something out... Nii stood up, and again just stood there. Finally snorted lightly and shook his head. His voice was surprisingly soft, without a trace of sarcasm. Tenpou had to strain to hear, the words almost buried under the overwhelming stillness.

“I somewhat facetiously asked the book seller what a Chinese war god from the Ming dynasty might read for fun... and I’m surprised to say he actually had a recommendation. I do hope you like it.”

Nii finally turned around. In his hand was a small boxed set of paperbacks. He slowly walked them over to Tenpou and sat them down carefully, balancing them on top of the shackled hands. Tenpou looked down. His breath caught. The Three Kingdoms. Nii snorted again. If anything, his voice was even quieter than before, a slight tremor behind it.

“Strange, isn’t it? That it took the author four whole volumes, for only three kingdoms. I’d say somebody was in serious need of an editing scissors when they wrote that.”

Nii was back to the snide remarks, but his tone held none of its usual edge; it was as if he was trying to diffuse the tension in the room, rather than to create it. Tenpou looked up into Nii’s face, stunned.

Nii’s eyes met his, intense. His gaze burning right through the skin, just like he was that magnifying glass... a tentative hand reached out to cup Tenpou’s face, the thumb stroking slowly across his cheek, questioning. Tenpou didn’t pull back as Nii leaned over. That first sweep of tongue made its way about his mouth, more acrid, old smoke than anything else. He was surprised to realize that after having been without cigarettes for so very long it really was somewhat reminiscent of licking an ashtray. The perversity of it was that at the moment he wasn’t averse to licking the damn ashtray clean in hopes of a second-hand nicotine fix. He’d done worse. Nii’s other hand joined in, stroking up the length of his neck with the back of his knuckles, skimming under his jaw, cupping the back of his head to draw him further in. Tenpou shut his eyes and let it happen. If there was a way out of this place, this had to be it, even if only metaphorically... their lips slid and clung together, the wet sounds entirely too loud in the quiet room. Nii’s breath was ragged and hot on his mouth. Tenpou could feel the man’s quickening heartbeat pounding through his fingertips.

Nii stood up, back to studying Tenpou’s face. He wiped his wet mouth off with his sleeve. The smile had yet to return.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Thank you.”

Nii leaned down again and gently took the box of books off of his hands. Sat them carefully on the vacant chair seat, took a hold of the restraining belt and pulled up. Tenpou wove about a bit on his feet, in far too close quarters to properly balance. Nii held him as he settled in, kissed him again. Tenpou found himself kissing back; the body contact felt too good not for him to do so. He had never thought of himself as needy, but this long-term isolation had made him hungry for almost any sort of sympathetic touch at all. Even Nii’s.

Nii’s breath was already coming in percussive bursts, so very excited... still holding onto Tenpou’s arms he dragged him over to the desk as quickly as the shackles allowed. Shoved him hard up against it, leaned in and kissed him again with enough force that they nearly fell backwards together onto the desktop. An impatient hard-on ground up against Tenpou’s thigh, making the reason why Nii had moved their therapy sessions out of the consultation room and over to his private office all too evident. No one would be walking past in the dead-end little hallway, not unless Nii called for them himself. Tenpou could scream to his little heart’s content and nobody would ever hear him.

Without warning Tenpou found himself flipped over and his shoulders shoved down towards the desk top. He managed to stop his momentum a moment before his forehead made contact with the wood. The fat patient file skidded across it, teetered a moment on the edge before it toppled over and disappeared with a clatter. Nii began to impatiently work at his pants as Tenpou wiggled about to find a more comfortable position, unable to move his arms any further than a few inches from the restraining belt. He realized he couldn’t even spread his legs for leverage; his feet were already at their maximum extension. He had almost found a decent spot when a wrenching movement from Nii just sent him sprawling again. He gave up, went limp. Nothing to do, but submit... He could hear Nii’s high-pitched whine of hunger somewhere far in the distance. Hot hands cupped and kneaded his bared cheeks, pulling them apart.

“Lord in heaven above, you’re so perfect... so very perfect...”

The hands left him and were replaced by a body leaning heavily into him, crushing his hands against the desk. He grunted as the circulation in his arms was cut off. A moment later the pressure left and a hand pulled him apart again. Cool slippery fingers quickly sank in, stretching him open. Tenpou grunted again at the cold invasion. That was rather quick; he must keep it in his coat pocket, on hand for body cavity searches, or maybe these sorts of emergencies... next to that all-purpose handkerchief of his... slowly Nii’s fingers pulled out, slowly they sank back in again, twisting, impatiently spreading him apart.

Tenpou took in a deep breath and relaxed as best he could. It’s not like this was some sort of a surprise; to be honest, it was a miracle the man had held off this long. He’d been sniffing around this little bitch for years now, and Tenpou doubted anyone on staff would even care enough about Cho to stop him if they ever found out. No, it was more likely that they’d just unzip and get in line... Nii leaned over as he worked his fingers in deeper, hissing breathlessly into Tenpou’s ear.

“I can feel you squeezing my fingers, pretty... you want this so bad, don’t you. Bet it feels good... to be finger-fucked like this, laid out across my desk...”

The wood was hard and cool on his forehead as Nii pushed in, shoving his torso up and across the desk. Nii pulled him back, using the belt. Tenpou closed his eyes and turned his head away from the door, trying his best to not think of the boxed set of books that lay waiting for him in the chair; he didn’t want this particular moment to be popping into his head when he finally got a chance to sit down and read the thing. Closed his mind off to everything but the rhythm of the bodies, the ghostly feel of the lips hissing their litany of obscenities, hot breath bleeding through the fabric between his shoulder blades. Nii’s rhythm was ragged, hurried; there were probably less than a dozen thrusts before he was already moaning and spilling into him. Shaky arms slid up his sides, taking in what little skin they could.

“Oh my god it’s so good, so good...”

Grabbing a handful of his uniform shirt, Nii lifted Tenpou’s torso up off the desk, seating him on the spasming dick as deeply as the odd restrained position would allow. Hot slippery fingers squeezed his neck in a loose choke hold as Nii pulled his head back and down. A mouth trailed up wetly from behind, still breathless in his ear.

“Oh yes... yes... I scratch your back, and you scratch mine, isn’t that right, my pretty, pretty Marshal...”

Trembling arms wrapped around him, touching. Memorizing. Another couple erratic thrusts, their hips bumping against the desk in a clumsy dance. Tenpou shut his eyes and waited for the man to be finished.  His body was tingling, aching for something more, but Nii hadn’t bothered to touch him yet and it was quite evident he had no intentions of doing so. The man would probably be watching him on his security cameras after this, just to see if he had gotten excited enough to need to jack off. In fact, Nii was probably banking on the fact he’d be doing just that, and had the popcorn already waiting for the show... Tenpou didn’t want to think too much on that at this point. Nor did he want to dwell on why it seemed better to him that way; that, somehow, if Nii was watching him, it wasn’t as if he were doing it all alone. All in all, there were lots of things about this that he really didn’t want to think about. Better not to think at all for a bit.

Nii pushed him gently back down on the desk as he softened and slipped out. Tenpou laid there, a floppy pile of limbs. Nii’s little rag doll. He felt the handkerchief dabbing away at his backside before his pants were set back into position. Nii snickered as he worked.

“Have you heard the one... where one alien abductor says to another, ‘You know, we’ve been abducting humans for years now, taking them back to the ship, probing them anally, and setting them free, and all we’ve found out is that one in ten of them really don’t seem to mind.’”

He was yanked back up and turned around. Sat down on the edge of the desk- a rather painful position all of a sudden- as Nii began to tidy him up. It didn’t take all that long; the restraining belt had kept it pretty much in place. But it wasn’t just for him. Nii was taking the time to recompose himself, bring his breathing back down to normal levels, lose the flush in his cheeks. A few long strokes down his front to flatten the fabric before Nii’s hand returned to cupping his cheek. The other pulled the hair back from his face.

“There you go, good as new. As beautiful as always.”

A final kiss, clumsy and self-conscious. As Nii stepped away and combed a hand through his own tousled hair the thought crossed Tenpou’s mind that the man might have been fucking Cho this whole time, and he’d have absolutely no way of knowing it. It’s not like Cho would ever tell him, and Nii would bank on their animosity towards each other to keep it a secret. The suspicion made him much more jealous than he would have liked to admit. But then again, Nii never gave Cho anything. All the little gifts that were piling up in their room had been given to him; they were his books, not Cho’s. A small smile curled about his lips at the thought.

Nii was on to checking his own clothing, trying to scrape a bit of something off his pants using a tattered finger nail. If the smell wouldn’t out them to Dou, the stain sure as hell wouldn’t- not everyone in the universe was as fixated on Nii’s crotch as he assumed they were. The pants could wait until after he was gone. Tenpou wanted Nii’s attention again. Now.

“Merry Christmas.”

Nii looked up at him in a surprised shock for a moment before the Smile snaked its way back across his face. He broke out laughing. Manage to return the favor between the giggles, nodding in a mock politeness.

“Well... and a very Merry Christmas to you, too.”

With that, things clicked back into a somewhat more recognizable form between the two of them. Nii was still giggling over it when the Dynamic Duo finally knocked on the door to shuffle him and his Christmas present back to their room. That man sure did love his jokes.

on to spring