Chapter 8: Hangovers and Heartstrings

Riki’s eyes opened, he groaned and closed them again. Holy shit! What the hell had happened to him? His whole body was sore, and his head felt like the slightest movement was going to cause it to explode.

He tried again to open his eyes and winced. No. Not going to do that again. “F ... fu ... ck,” he moaned and winced again as the sound of his own voice vibrated off his skull. Tears pricked his eyes. “C ... Cal,” he croaked, and even that seemed to echo loudly in the room.

Miraculously, Cal appeared with two tablets in his hand and a glass of water.

“I love you,” Riki murmured, causing the young boy to blush even as Riki managed to lever himself up enough to take the pills and gulp down the water. “Can you ... just kill me ... now ... please?”

Cal’s embarrassment turned to amusement as he leaned down to ask. “Shall I get...?”

Riki’s hand slapped against the furniture’s mouth and the boy’s eyes widened. “S ... ssshhh ... quiet ... whisper.”

Cal couldn’t help but smile, and waited patiently for Riki’s hand to drop, so he could speak unencumbered. “Would you like a cold cloth, Mr. Riki?” he asked as softly as he could.

Riki dropped his head back onto the pillow. “kay.”

Cal moved to the adjoining washroom and wet a cloth. He returned and placed it against Riki’s flushed face. “Better?”

Riki grunted as Iason entered the room and ordered the night tint on the windows to disengage. Luminously bright, artificial daylight flooded the room in an instant and Riki cried out in protest.

“How is the drunkard this morning?”

“Motherfucker!” Riki whimpered and curled into a fetal position under the sheets to cradle his throbbing head.

Cal managed to keep a blank expression but inside he was howling with laughter and sympathy for the poor pet. “He appears to be in some discomfort, my Lord.”

“Hmmm, a fair punishment.” Iason waved his hand at Cal, effectively dismissing him, and sat down on the bed. He pulled the covers down from Riki’s head. “Time to get up, pet.”

“Fuck off.”

“That mouth of yours...” Iason slapped him hard on the ass and Riki yelped.

“What the hell?”

“Get up.”

Riki reluctantly sat up and opened his bloodshot eyes. “What ... do you want?”

“Do you remember last night at all?”

“I remember that I’m never gonna drink that shit again.” He pulled his knees up against his chest and dropped his head into his hands.

“The medication Cal gave you should start to work shortly.” Iason pulled Riki’s chin up for a long, lingering kiss. “You were very inviting last night, pet.”

“W ... what do you mean?”

“You flirted with me.”

“I did not!”

“Oh yes you did. I was quite intrigued.” Iason lowered his head and nibbled at Riki’s neck. “I may have you drink that liquor more often.”

“I am not drinking that shit again!”

“Mmmmm...” Iason slid his hand over Riki’s nipple and twisted, watching his pet gasp. “Seems you’re still able to respond.”

“Not ... come on ... I’m in no ... s ... shape...”

Iason smiled and cut his pet a break. “Let’s get you in the bath, Cal already has the jets started and you will feel better after.”

Riki could only groan as Iason picked him up, bridal style, then curled his pounding head into Iason’s neck. “Please stop shouting,” he murmured. He didn’t care that he was being carried or that he was buck naked. “I’ll do anything if you’ll just stop shouting.”

Iason wasn’t shouting, but he accepted Riki’s offer and put his voice to a whisper. “I accept your offer and will think of a suitable request.”

Riki slid his arm around Iason’s neck. He remembered some of last night, the dancing, pieces of their conversations, some of it about Mimea, and resigned himself to letting the incident at the beach house go. Besides, what good would it do for him to keep fighting? Iason always won, always got what he wanted.

“You’re still a dick.”

Iason smiled as he stepped into the washroom with his pet. No one else dared insult him, but sometimes he found Riki’s petulant remarks amusing. Very gently, he lowered Riki into the swirling hot water, then disrobed and climbed in next to his pet. He pulled Riki against his chest, understanding that his pet was truly in a state when the mongrel did not even try to resist.

“How is your head now?” Iason asked, continuing to talk as softly as possible, since Riki was barely whispering.

“Feels like it’s going to detach and roll off my shoulders.” Wincing he tilted his head and opened one eye to look up at Iason. “Can you still drown if your head isn’t attached to your body when it goes underwater?”

“That is an interesting query, I will remember to ask Raoul, but let us assume we will not learn the answer today.” Iason entertained himself by massaging Riki’s neck and shoulders. “This will help.”

Riki moaned and let his head drop as Iason worked his neck muscles. “Shouldn’t you...” He hissed as Iason’s strong fingers worked out a particular nasty knot between his neck and right shoulder blade. He liked when Iason used his bare hands on him, the gloves made him feel dirty, and the elite had long, soft and smooth fingers. What had he been saying? “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“No.” He could go into work, but Iason wanted to spend time with Riki, now that they were on better footing again. “I’m interested in what anything covers, so I am yours for the entire day.”

“Huh?”

“You said you would do anything if I stopped shouting.”

Riki simply sighed. “Bastard.”

Iason gently lolled Riki’s head back and forth between his capable hands, working out the pressure at the back of his neck. “They were your words, pet.”

Riki didn’t really care, he was starting to feel better and Iason’s fingers were turning him to butter. He could feel himself growing aroused and tried to subtly cover the fact, but of course Iason noticed everything.

“What’s this?”

“Nothing. Ignore it.”

“Not a chance.”

Iason’s hand curled around Riki’s member and gently stroked, enjoying the gentle moans his touch elicited from his pet. His free hand moved to Riki’s nipples, knowing it was one of his pet’s pleasure zones, and in moments Riki was writhing and panting against him.

“Look at how eager you are, pet, even after all we did last night.”

Riki’s ability to respond to him was what made him a perfect pet, but it never ceased to amaze Iason how eager the human’s body could become with the mildest of stimulation. He had seen that the first time Riki had offered him his body to repay a perceived debt. Since that moment Iason had been unable to think of anything else, and it was fate that had him finding Riki a second time. It would have been impossible to walk away again.

“S ... shut ... ahhh ... up.”

Iason smiled as he continued to pleasure the young man in his arms, his keen eyes taking in every one of Riki’s responses, his gentle pants, his moans, the way his body shivered and arched and how his fingers dug into the flesh of Iason’s legs; as they often did the sheets when they were in the bed.

“So, what will you do for me, Riki? What is to be my reward for speaking quietly and helping ease your discomfort?”

Riki could barely register Iason’s words, especially when he felt two fingers slip inside of him. What would he do for Iason? As long as he kept touching him like this, and kept giving him such pleasure, he’d do anything. Anything at all, but he couldn’t say that. “W ... what ... uuuhhh ... don’t ... there ... shit!” He gasped when Iason tightened the ring at the base of his cock to keep him from coming. Damn it! “What ... do you ... ahhh ... hhhhhnnnn ... ah ... want?” He bit the last word out as Iason started to stroke him again and added a third finger.

“Hmmmm ... What do I want? I can have anything I want?”

“N ... Fuck!” Riki almost reared up out of the water as Iason’s fingers hit his prostate. “F ... Fu...” He couldn’t agree to that! He couldn’t promise anything and yet he was powerless to stop the words from tumbling out. “Any ... yes ... any ... what...?” Oh God! Again, Iason denied him and then suddenly removed his touch, causing Riki to whimper in protest.

“Turn around, pet.”

Riki needed a moment to find his balance after the lack of stimulation, then slowly did as he was asked, heard the water slosh over the rim of the lake-sized tub and ignored it as he let Iason pull him onto his lap, so he was straddling him. He had expected the Blondie to press into him, but instead the Elite simply said.

“Kiss me.”

Riki’s eyes widened. “W ... what?”

“As you did last night. Kiss me like that.”

“I ... I don’t remember...”

“Then I’ll refresh your memory.” Iason wound his fingers through Riki’s hair and pulled him in to capture his mouth in the same sweet way that he had kissed Riki last night, but this time Riki’s response was minimal, as it usually was, and his eyes stayed open. “That isn’t it at all.”

“That’s how we kiss...”

Iason teased Riki’s opening with his erection, but did not push in. “If you want me to take you and let you come you have to kiss me the way you did last night.”

“Tell me how then!” Riki demanded, frustrated. “I don’t remember!” He winced and put his hand to his head.

Like a lover, Iason wanted to say, but he knew that would scare his pet. He pushed Riki back into the water and rose. “Never mind.”

“Wait!” Riki caught Iason’s hand. The Blondie wasn’t really going to end things there, was he? His body was on fire and bursting at the seams! He needed release! “I ... I’ll try.”

Iason sat back down, waited as Riki hesitantly moved his face closer. Seeing the concern, the confusion on his pet’s face, Iason offered him what encouragement he could. “You said to be nice, soft, like the music.”

Riki didn’t remember the music they had danced to, but leaned in and did his best. He brushed his lips across Iason’s, once, twice, and then pressed a little harder. Iason’s mouth opened obediently, and he tentatively slid his tongue inside.

He expected Iason to intensify the kiss, as he always did, but it remained easy, smooth. Nice, soft ... rhythmic and sweet. Riki’s eyes started to close of their own volition. He didn’t deepen the kiss so much as fall into it.

A shock curled through his body, wound around his groin and shot up into his heart, then dropped into his stomach. He broke away, splashed back into the water, startled, expecting to see that Iason had brought a charge wand into the bath.

“What’s wrong?” Iason asked, concerned and reached for Riki. “What happened?”

Riki gaped at him. That? What was that? What the hell was that? He rubbed at his lips, and found his hand was trembling.

Iason moved forward. “Riki? What is wrong?”

“N ... nothing.” He rose, startled to find his legs were less than steady as he climbed out of the pool. “I ... I’m just ... it’s too wet here.” He almost stumbled on the tile as he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around him and stepped back into the bedroom.

Iason rose, stared after his pet, perplexed. “What in the world?”

Riki dropped to his knees the moment he was back in the bathroom, struggling for breath as his chest tightened. Fear? Panic? Arousal? What in the name of fuck was that? He heard Iason coming and managed to get himself upright and to the bed, crawling back between the sheets and turning on his side, away from the washroom entrance.

He felt the mattress shift with Iason’s weight, and then a cool hand touched his shoulder.

“Riki?”

“I ... I don’t feel well.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. He really wasn’t feeling quite himself and he still had no idea what had happened or what this ... this weird feeling was in his chest and stomach. His earlier arousal had completely faded, all thoughts of sex had fled in the aftermath of ... of ... whatever that was.

“Poor pet.” Iason soothed a hand over Riki’s hair. “It is probably just the after effects of the liqueur, it will pass soon.”

“Yeah.”

Iason bent, kissed Riki’s cheek then rose again. “I’ll have Cal bring something to settle your stomach.”

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

Riki turned to him. “Let’s just lay here for awhile, until it passes.”

Iason paused, as if shocked by the request, then crawled in beside Riki and pulled the younger man into his arms. “All right.”

Riki settled against him because, at that moment, he just needed to be held; even if it was by Iason. “How ... was your trip?”

“Busy. I was able to accomplish quite a lot.” Iason stroked Riki’s hair. “How was your week?”

“Quiet.”

“I see. And you didn’t miss me at all?”

“No.”

Iason smiled. “Of course not. Well, I won’t need to go away again for awhile.”

“Hmmmm...” Riki was starting to drift and ignored the small spike of relief that speared through him at Iason’s words. “So ... you’re here all day then?”

“I am, yes. Was there anything you wanted to do?”

“Sleep. Just ... sleep.”

“And after we sleep?”

Riki’s eyes fluttered closed. “Other ... things.”

Iason nodded and felt Riki’s body slowly go limp as his pet fell into a deep sleep. He lay there, holding Riki and caressing his hair as he tried to understand what had frightened his pet so badly in the bath. It was possible that it was just as he said that he’d suddenly felt ill, but Iason believed it was too sudden to be the real reason. Riki had lost all color in his complexion when he had wrenched himself backwards. Iason couldn’t fathom what had caused it.

“I can’t fucking do this anymore. Iason, please...” Riki gripped Iason’s shirt. “Get me out of Eos! If I’m going to die a slave, let me die in the underworld. Outside!”

It had been almost two weeks since Riki had been accosted and had ended up in the health-centre. Two weeks since Riki’s desperate plea to escape the suffocating rules and restrictions of Eos. Iason had taken his outburst to heart and had driven him to meet with Katze. He explained that Riki would be working for the black-market dealer again, to give him a sense of freedom and to get him out of Eos, but there would still be restrictions.

Riki was still a pet, and he was still on a leash, even if it was an invisible one. He would earn a pay cheque, which would just be pocket money, as Iason would still provide for his basic needs, but no one other than Katze would know about Riki being the pet of a Blondie.

Basic needs, according to Iason Mink, included a luxurious and spacious, split level, two-bedroom apartment in Apathia. It was not as extravagant as the condo in Eos, but it still had to be befitting of a Blondie, for when Iason chose to visit, and so the parlour, kitchen and the master bedroom had been decorated to his tastes.

Riki was provided with a credit account to furnish the rest to his liking, allowing his pet to make the place his own, in some areas at least. The problem was that Riki didn’t want to use Iason’s money, and he also didn’t really know the first thing about decorating. Katze had finally convinced his new employee to put some more furniture in the damn thing, for no other reason than to stop it echoing so badly when they were in there.

After Riki received his first ’official’ paycheck, and along with his winnings from the casino a few weeks before, he purchased a plain, single bed, sheets and blankets, a small bureau, and a desk to house his laptop for when Katze gave him work to bring home. It was in this room that he slept, instead of the master bedroom that Iason had decorated, with its massive bed and silk sheets.

The smaller room reminded Riki more of his apartment in Ceres and despite the perverseness of having such incredibly plain furnishings among the truly grand trappings Iason had ordered, it gave Riki a feeling of independence and served as a reminder to who and what he really was.

Riki entered his new, eerily quiet apartment, removed his boots and leather jacket, then crossed the large, furnished, living room, and stepped up into the kitchen. He pulled out a package of instant noodles and set the kettle on to boil the water.

It had taken him a few days to adjust to the fact that he was now responsible for getting himself up in the mornings, buying his own groceries and supplies and doing his own laundry and cleaning. Cal was no longer there to provide this resource and it irritated him at how accustomed he had come to the Furniture’s aid. Of course, the laundry and cleaning weren’t a big thing because all he had to do was drop his clothes in the provided wall chute and they were delivered, cleaned and folded, via similar chute to a collection cabinet in the master bedroom. All he had to do was take them out and put them away.

Although he wasn’t overly pleased at having to cook for himself now, it wasn’t that terrible a hardship as he simply purchased pre-made or instant food packages, which were on a far superior level than what they permitted in Ceres. He also had the choice of ordering take-out, but he didn’t want to do that too often because the less people who knew who and where he was the better. The food was okay, but it was nothing to write home about.

Despite feeling like a prisoner in Iason’s home, he realized how spoiled he had gotten from the fabulous, rich and nutritious food Cal provided. Guy had always been the one to cook in their apartment in Ceres, and it irked Riki to consider himself dependent on others to feed him regularly; first Guy and then with Cal. He still found himself calling out for Cal now and again, then was immediately filled with anger and self loathing for allowing himself to get used to such ridiculous treatment. Hadn’t he constantly fought against it, constantly demanded to be left alone to wipe his own ass and do his own thing?

When Iason had set him free the first time he had cried for two whole days, then had gone several more days afraid to step outside; afraid Iason was mocking him and would be waiting, or that he would meet with a fate even worse than what he had suffered with Iason. He slept or smoked almost constantly, partially waiting to see if anyone would stop him. Eventually, he became self-sufficient again because he had to, and because at the time he was still fighting against everything that had happened to him.

This time felt different. Rather than the overwhelming rage and disgust that had filled him for that freedom year, which prevented him from enjoying his time back with his old gang, here he was a little more prepared and accepting. This time he understood the reality of what his life was. He still wasn’t thrilled or happy about it, but he didn’t throw a tantrum over every small thing anymore and there wasn’t as much anger boiling inside.

He had never expected to see Iason again after that first time he’d been released, and had been devastated when Iason showed up and demanded his return, proving that his year in the slums hadn’t really been freedom. It had proven that Riki no longer belonged with Bison, or in the slums, and the only thing holding him there then was Guy.

Even though he had made the conscious choice to leave Guy behind when he went to work for Katze, and he spent so much time wanting to get back home, to Guy during the years he had been Iason’s captive, it was ironic that upon his return home he found it impossible to be with his former paring partner the way they had before. Iason had made that impossible as well.

He had hurt his friend and former lover by leaving, had hurt him further by returning to Ceres, then denying Guy the right to touch him, to love him. Guy didn’t know what had happened to him and Riki had been too ashamed to admit to it. He didn’t deserve Guy’s love, or his touch or anything his friend offered. He was dirty, useless. Nothing but a pet and he could not get beyond that state of thinking to allow Guy back into his heart.

Iason had used his love for Guy against him, had forced him to sever all ties Riki had to his old life and Riki still resented him for that. He’d been given a choice, a choice that was often given in the slums; and instead of choosing self preservation; as he would have any other time, Riki had chosen to save his friends and return to Iason. He had never been a child, not really, but that choice had shoved him full force into adulthood, forcing him to face his reality for the first time, without any misconceptions.

Now, here he was free again, more or less, but this time it was different. While there were still limits to what he could do here, and where he could go, he was still subject to Iason’s whims. Katze kept a close eye on him, but he didn’t really mind that. He liked Katze, and it was still better than being holed up in that damn condo in Eos, or having to face the hatred and condescension of that city any time he left the apartment.

Here, no one knew who he was, he could walk around without being glared at or talked about. He could sit in his apartment and do whatever he felt like doing, smoke to his heart’s content; although the stipulation was still that he had to smoke on the balcony outside as Iason did not want the apartment to reek of smoke.

He could go to a bar or a club, but only if Katze went with him; and at least he didn’t have to be collared as he had in Tanagura. Of course, he was not permitted to interact with anyone or take a man home for a quick roll; which was why Katze had to chaperone. Here no one knew he was a pet and so when he and Katze went out, they just looked like two friends hanging together and it gave Riki a good feeling. It gave him a very small sense of normalcy and helped ease the pain of losing his gang.

The shrill whistle of the kettle brought Riki out of his thoughts and he poured the hot water over the noodles. He grabbed a fork, the noodles and a bottle of sake, then returned to the living area and dropped down on the cream and soft blue sofa that Iason had chosen. He propped his feet on the glass coffee table and slouched into a more comfortable position against the cushions.

As he ate, he wondered again about what Katze had told him earlier, about the risks that Iason was taking to provide this little excursion of freedom for him. He knew he sometimes caused Iason trouble, and had the memories of punishments to prove it, but Iason never seemed the least concerned about it otherwise.