Leaning against the wall, feeling the cold edges of bricks scraping his hand, Kwa tried to dredge up any kind of alertness and awareness he could muster from the grounding chill of it. He was just starting to head home. Was about to slip on the calm of the evening like a warm winter coat. Should have been ready to let the tension of today just start to dissolve... It was like he’d been *asking* for trouble. The dark-haired man forced himself to start moving, closing the gap between himself and the figure ahead; trying to stop himself from sounding so obviously exhausted, and knowing that the other man had eyes in the back of his head in regards to his potential ‘weaknesses’...doing it more out of habit than anything else. Coming up next to him, he tried to tune back in to what he was saying. “Glad I stopped by. This is nice, isn’t it?” Kwa froze, listening to the other man’s unhurried footsteps as they seemed to reverberate through his skull. What...what had they been talking about? There was no point asking, was there? Was he going to leave it for him to flounder to fill in, for his own amusement--of course he was. There was no point even entertaining the possibility that he wouldn’t let the uncomfortable, suspenseful silence linger just because. ...The mood of it, the street they were heading down. The walk in general. Right? That was the safest ‘out’...“Huh...oh, yeah, it is. It’s...atmospheric. It’s a nice atmosphere. It’s really nice, Rei.” So obvious how he’d been spun around in circles his whole life--it was seeping into his words. Rei smiled. “It is, isn’t it? Really clears your mind. Doesn’t compare to the *other* view you get every day, but still. Have to appreciate the little things.” Kwa just nodded at that, the movement stilted. He could only imagine how it felt, being clear-headed and all. He really couldn’t hide how this made him feel; the amusement in the eye looking him over was so palpable. Like the key in his back was visible, spinning about. Awaiting the platinum blond’s hands to wind him up and watch him scurry around his playground of the hour. The whole thing being so innocuous: it gave it so much more weight. An outside observer wouldn’t have much to say on it. Just having a walk with a friend. Something so simple. If not for the fact that anything you said out of line, anything you even implied, anything *he* said or implied or any whim that welled up that switched the tracks on your combined train of thought... It spoke for itself, what it led to. Every second he spent with--or as was proven in various ways, *under* Rei only further drilled it in. Right now, it inspired quite the heart-pounding thought--if it’s something you have to affirm so much, doesn’t that beg the question of its true status? More like a performance you’re keeping up to keep up appearances? It felt taboo to even let the matter sit, but... From his mind, or from his mouth--both were game enough when his friend felt like forcing out what he wanted to hear. The only discrepancies pulled out and left to sit before he ground them out underfoot. “Mutter all you want about me, it’s fine.” Kwa made himself keep walking. “I’m serious, here. It’s fine. Just got an easy conclusion to make from it. You’re saying something untoward, and trying to direct it at me, and it’s factually, empirically inaccurate, and therefore completely meaningless and may as well never have happened. So carry on all you want, given how it’s all you’ve got.” Without his stride changing at all, Rei had closed the distance between himself and Kwa again, eyes still elsewhere. “But it creates a new problem. A genuine one. For you, that is. Not me. It’s the question of whether you want to waste breath that’s better served--” As careful as he tried to be with what he said, sometimes Rei just dragged things out of him. In more than one way. “Rei! Rei, please, can’t I just...breathe?” “Well, yeah! But you keep wasting all your breath on--” “That’s not what I meant!” “Isn’t it?” “I’m sorry!” The words exploded out of him. “It’s just...a *lot!*” “But it’s fun.” And that was that, the answer. The drive, the catalyst, the links between it all. *It’s fun.* His whole existence subject to an oh-so-far out observer’s fancies of the moment. So much that he knew of being planned out. Immutable. Fun? He wasn’t going to address that. Least of all to the instigator himself. Disobeying. He’d be lucky to even get the *thought* of it out before he was overpowered, physically and mentally, then made to submit, then subjected to Rei’s fancies anyway. Or made to submit through said fancies. So why did he do it? Was he itching for some rebellion, any strike against his self-appointed god, no matter how meagre? Rei’s hand remained wrapped around his. It felt so soft. His grip was like iron. “This really is a nice little moment. Maybe I should make it last longer. Any suggestions?” he asked, as if most of them weren’t dead before even arising in Kwa’s mind. Was there a method to the madness? And was there any point in trying to understand it? “I don’t know…” He *did* know, and Rei did too. And yet this conversation itself was being dragged out for his enjoyment. He’d already won, there. “It...was nice. But it’s tiring.” Didn’t know what he was referring to, there, either. Fingers squeezed his own. “And what will you do to stop me?” “I’ll say ‘no’.” “Hmm--” “You *heard* me.” It should have come out so easily--if he weren’t so uneasy at trying to find fault with his friend to begin with. He’d...believed so, anyway, maybe due to said friend having planted some mental roadblocks that turned him away from such ‘blasphemy’. But, maybe they weren’t so different in this regard--if one path was left uncovered, it was difficult to pass by without giving it a glance... The minute tightening of Rei’s smile, and the not-so-minute tightening of his hold on Kwa’s hand. The way the air had stilled around them, and not necessarily of its own accord. Everything screamed at Kwa with varying volumes to shut up. He did not. “That’s right. I can say ‘no’. Isn’t that the clincher? Dress it up in whatever way you want, but you can’t hide what it really means? You can try all you want, but you’ll never tame me! And since you’re so obsessed with me, where does that leave you? Who’s the prisoner here?” Of course he was aware of how desperate he sounded. Nothing but desperation in those wild words. But he didn’t care. He just wanted some kind of gain. Wanted to see the aura of self-assured satisfaction hit a snag. Just the sight of one tiny fracture in his friend’s unflappable demeanour. Butterflies were beating their wings away at his stomach. He shifted on his feet. They felt as if they were leaving the ground. It was a lot. Which...was already starting to swirl together into a feeling of nausea. It really hadn’t lasted at all, that spike of...was it exhilaration? Was it just subsiding and being morphed into something else? Something undeniably familiar? ...Had Rei’s smile even changed at all? Was he giving himself too much credit? “Oh, Kwa. That’s just adorable. It’s the smallest things, isn’t it? Whatever gives you a little worth in your eyes.” With a soft laugh, he fixed him with that piercing gaze. “I can’t deny it--it’s good to see you have some fight in you. Even if it amounts to nothing in the end. But I’ll do you a favour, before I teach you a lesson. I’ll call what you did ‘brave’.” He stroked his hand, again. Kwa’s skin was starting to feel clammy. “Very brave…” The platinum blond leaned in. His words were gentle. It detracted nothing from the promise they possessed. “*Let’s see how long it lasts.*” Rei let go of him. As if pushed, Kwa fell backward, and the ground dissolved away like steam before he could hit it. Expecting pain, the plummeting man tried to twist around on instinct, but couldn’t. As the air screamed past him, his judge stood tall at the centre of his vision, expression now unreadable as he departed with the rest of the world. Utter darkness swallowed him up, already bearing down with such weight...and behind, below, *beyond* it all, the continued feeling of falling that set his instincts a-quiver. Kwa narrowed his eyes, feeling them start to water. Could very well be his punishment, this. Left to measure his sanity against this shadowy, sprawling nothing--if it indeed sprawled beyond what he could feel. All else his senses brought him gave the exact opposite impression. Forces beyond comprehension drove into him, tossed him from side to side, slammed him further along in his non-stop journey. There was something about them, about the manner in which any response from him inspired a slight pause, like a breath held, before they returned twice as strong: in a way that suggested he was only allowed to try pushing back for the sake of their amusement. He could barely move his limbs, and he couldn’t see what was restraining them. Sweat beaded along his skin, and he grit his teeth. While another assault to his mind wasn’t quite as one-sided in how he viewed it. He knew what it was, and was relived that the wind wouldn’t let him give it strength by saying it aloud. Tasted it so often that it lingered many a time. The strongest of seasonings paled in comparison. The spicy aroma invaded his senses. Opening his mouth to cry out, he only found it filled with something. Something immaterial yet palpable and loaded with the same tang that made his throat lurch. An odd pressure against his neck--one that seemed to linger before Kwa was sinking, submerged, suffocating... Falling into a brighter, *far* warmer environment, painting itself into being around him as he plunged not-so-gently into it. It was like he’d been driven through a layer of steam. The ground gave a fair amount as he met with it, radiating heat and slightly moist. On his hands and knees, the dark-haired man gazed around. Endless ridges and plains of a peach landscape stared back. The sunlight was strong. Curves of the land were marked with grooves and troughs, with liquid pearling between them and sparkling in the light. He could taste *that* tang in the air, still, even though it had dimmed somewhat. His starting sample may have been the strongest. Even if the impact *had* hurt, Kwa wouldn’t have noticed: stumbling to his aching feet, he glared up at the featureless sky. “Rei!” he yelled, volume more from frustration than anything else--Rei would hear him regardless. “What the hell is this?” Hearing nothing but a ringing in his ears, he crossed his arms. Of course, Rei would let him sit and stew, let the apparent solitude, the swampy temperature and texture sluice through his mind and test his nerves-- He was sitting on top of a small ridge, the grooves forming a kind of path for him down it, and the breeze lightly ruffling his hair. A smile was right at home on his lips. He lifted his chin. Waiting for the next query. The man of the hour certainly had an inkling. “This you?” He spread his hands, ponytail swinging as he glanced from side to side. Rei’s smile was unwavering. “Could be.” Kwa’s frustrated question had been expressed with more than one meaning--of course the platinum blond had done this, and of course this was likely some aspect of him, this place. He hadn’t asked due to any flagging knowledge. These were things he could hazard at quite readily now, given all that Rei had put him through. But he still asked the question, and may well have wanted something to spur himself on. It didn’t matter that whatever Rei he was dealing with was a physical representation of the god’s furthest degree of restraint, yet still one leagues above his very existence. All that blared in his feverish mind was the fact that this Rei was in front of him. Closest to his size. A Rei he could try to hurt. A Rei that was closing the gap all of a sudden, gait lazy as he sauntered forward. “See, I worked out that your attention was split a bit, even though there’s only one person here who deserves it. Would have figured you’d have known that by now, but I guess not. The grind never ends for me, I guess. No complaints, though. So I…” He stopped both speaking and moving as Kwa closed the space between them himself, lunging, his fist meeting the side of Rei’s gut. The muscle barely gave, but the force of it still resounded: more through Kwa, who pulled back just as fast, wincing. Cradling his hand with twitching fingers, and glancing up. Up at that cursed smile. Rei’s tight-lipped smile. And, looking back down, his unbruised, not even dimpled stomach. ...The key word was *try.* Tone unaltered, Rei started up again. “I set the two of us up here so we can talk it out. Somewhere--” He lowered his voice--”*private.* Works out just as well for some rougher stuff too, though. I mean, if this is the way you want to do it…” “It’s not…” He cut himself off. He did *not* want to say it. But it was warranted, he’d say. Exhausted, pained, haggard. Dragged off to god-knows-where to have god-knows-what happen to him...that being Rei-knew where. Rei-knew-what... ...It came out anyway, as a whine. “It’s not FAIR!” “Well, of course it’s not!” Rei spread his hands. “And it’ll make it feel so much better once you win. Which shouldn’t be a problem for my brave, strong little Kwa, right?” The taunt registered. Not in the sense Kwa imagined, quite yet, but it landed firm, and Rei’s ever-present, eternally unbroken, oh-so-frustrating amusement was the backdrop of it all. He met him head-on, locking his arms around Rei’s chest, and the platinum blond falling with the tackle didn’t register to him as a deliberate act. The two of them wound up in some sort of ditch, with some sort of puddles splashing some sort of liquid over them as they barreled through them, locked together. It didn’t occur to Kwa that each and every moment was so evidently planned out, guided. Didn’t occur to him that there was another way to view him grappling with Rei, drenched in sweat and panting like a dog. If there were any image that could serve as a snapshot of Kwa’s existence, this was it. Rei above. Kwa below. The dark-haired man underneath still thrashing about with gritted teeth, feet and fists alike meeting mark after apparent mark along the barely tensed muscles above, while not the slightest hint of pain or any heightened annoyance left his opponent’s lips. Only “that’s it, let it all out, little guy,” before taking the continued, desperate blows with unruffled, smug patience. However long it had been, the climax had changed nothing--Kwa was collapsed on his back, every bone in his body aching, every muscle hurting to even twitch. With his throat aching with every breath, he fought the sudden swaying of the world; aware all over again of the domineering warmth, he tried to get a fix on the shimmering, ethereal form framed by the ripples of heat. Still smiling away. His gaze stately and focused. Pinning him down with that soft grasp, that held fast like steel. “If you’re done…I’ve got a few little *kinks* to work out myself.” He tilted his head, hair further shadowing his eye. “*If you don’t mind.*” In this state he was in, Kwa was about to say just how much he minded, and to hell with how it would just roll off of his ever-stately friend’s forever unhurt form... “Say what you will, Kwa.” He really could say what he wished. And whatever he could say, Rei could crash on through it regardless, before he even knew it himself or could even consciously carry it out. So it came to be that as Kwa lay sprawled before Rei, nothing quite managing to get off his tongue, glued to the ground in the steaming environs, things were set in motion without even the chance of him having what could be construed as a say in them. The lines of the body above blurring and shifting...and then snapping back into his focus with domineering weight. That being the weight of Rei’s rear, now resting right over his face. The heat and the sway of his hips both blended together, sketching out an alluring dance for the artist. He settled into a squat, curves working to swallow the light. Another aspect adhering to Rei’s way of being--soft yet strong. A hand drew over the surface of one pert cheek, gave it a light smack, and made both godly globes shake slightly before Kwa’s widened eyes. He let out what could only be called a squeak. The smile practically laced the air around them, it was so palpable. Lower. A little further. “You always were the *butt* of my little jokes.” And then, *whumph,* down bore Rei’s butt, grinding his impromptu cushion’s head into the squishy ground, suffocating him between two soft surfaces. Each little swivel of those cheeks eked out another squeak from underneath. Resting their full weight over his face, leaving barely any space to move--and already pressing down with such power, squeezing the last bit of air from Kwa’s lungs, his pained cry muffled by the fabric and only further torturing his pained throat. Only after an exerting and useless push back against the creeping, crushing weight of Rei’s tush, dissolving so quickly into meek huffs of air into the pillowy pressure, did he remember that Rei mentioning *anyone’s* name was a catalyst for trouble; the possible cause of his behaviour for however long, the drive for ‘brave’, ‘strong’ Kwa, overexerted and desperate, going at it with fervour... Which hadn’t left the slightest mark on Rei, nor even a hint of surprise in that visible eye. With his abilities *heightened,* or at the very least believed to be such after the platinum blond’s mind games. Completely stacked against him from the beginning. And he knew it. Reward, punishment, trial or tribulation--all swirled together in these games. What mattered was that Rei wanted to inflict it on him. And so he would. Whether it was denial or just plain stubbornness that kept Kwa’s muscles straining against the weight above him, he couldn’t say. But it was a losing battle, it was nearly ripping his tortured tendons to shreds, and it was ebbing away with each inch Rei gained on him. ...Less ‘gained’, and more ‘pretended to gain while driving down with such blatantly, deliberately restrained power that it hurt almost as much as a more brute-force display of it’. Both kind of blended in the struggling bug’s feverish mind. The words were muffled, but threaded their way through Kwa’s head as if planted there and flowering. “You already knew, didn’t you? You just didn’t want to admit it...I may well have given you what you could call an advantage, and yet here we are~” Oh. The modifiers? His mouth had been ratcheted open for minutes now, turning every attempt to speak into passionate, forced makeouts with Rei’s rear, his drool dripping down the shifting buttcheeks--and even as his overworked muscles continued screaming away, demanding to keep up the image of bravery and strength...Kwa felt like he was losing his grip on the handle. “Things *sinking in* yet, Kwa?” came the stately voice from *somewhere*--a clanging toll in his already ringing ears, welling up from whatever earth Rei had drawn around them. . The platinum blond’s plush rear was practically moulding itself over him, leaving scarcely any space to breathe as he pushed at the clothed flesh with shuddering hands. The feeling of shrinking was conspicuously absent-- “Don’t need to.” It was the smallest thing among what was currently going down, but his thoughts laid so bare before him, as they’d likely been on many an occasion prior, was nonetheless enough to make Kwa’s eyes widen. With another shift, something gave a *crunch.* A groan was swallowed up, suffocated before it could reach the sweltering air-- And the pressure abated. The darkness replaced by blinding rays of sunshine. The scent of the platinum blond so ground into his prey that it lingered even as he moved away, standing tall. A god revelling in his pounded-in power and position, thoroughly dominating the mess of a man below. Kwa tried to hoist himself up. He couldn’t. Tried to bring his legs in. Move his head. Nothing. Not the slightest twitch. Only pain. Only his eyes, trying to resolve the being of light and power before him into some kind of recognisable form. The harbinger of it all rendered itself into his vision; a line of godly toes that just hung there, not quite touching his face, weaving patterns in the sickly air that captured Kwa’s watery-eyed stare. Thinly gilded with sweat, they possessed a lustre like the finest of pearls. Their scent made his mouth water. It dribbled down his chin. The soft digits continued to cast their spell. The largest brushed his nose. They were warm. It was all so warm. So hot. So...very hot. It was burning. Still no air. Couldn’t even scream. Only able to lie there in tortured despair, the heat that had enveloped him for all this time now rising to scorching degrees and flaying the skin from his bones. The air was twisting into wild shapes, some which could have been put in motion by his own fevered mind. The foot never made contact. Its toes continued their dance. Above it, the distant fire of Rei’s eye blazed blue. A sun that never lost its light, even as the ant twitching beneath it was seared away. “I’d say you were helpless, but that’s just redundant, isn’t it…" Trapped. Can’t move. Too hot. *Too hot--* Tensing up. Relaxing again. Allowed to struggle, now, so he could be pulled back at the brink and tortured more. If he could just scream, then he’d certainly show him-- The air wasn’t as thick, and yet he still struggled. Familiar sounds and scents were around him, yet he hadn’t fully figured out the implications of them. His eyes were taking their sweet time putting the blurry shapes around him together. Into what he was beginning to register as his own bedroom. Each movement slowed. Kwa lay on the mattress in silence. His skin was soaked with sweat. His chest rising and falling. His breathing so loud in the stillness of the room. Propping himself up slightly, he recognised the weight on his body as the sheets, having ensnared him further instead of falling off the bed. He looked around. The clock was ticking softly away in the corner. So still, except for his slowing breaths being mirrored by the slumbering form across from him. The fact that he could move a muscle again took a moment to register, and prompted no outward celebration when it did. He tested himself out gradually. Untangling his limbs from the bedsheets, he let one arm hang off the side of the bed. With a glance at his husband’s serene, sleeping face, he felt his breathing start to even out, back into a natural, background rhythm. Kwa always had dreams that felt quite real. With a deep breath, he pushed the covers back on his side and climbed out of bed. His feet were carrying him out the door, on a path he knew in his sleep. He followed it without really thinking about it, through the dark yet familiar corridor, and without much success in ignoring his lingering fluster, heading right alongside him to the bathroom door. Either his feet were pounding out that discomfiting tune, or his head was. Every step being about as stiff as-- The muzziness still persisted. As he reached the bathroom, Kwa took a second to lean on the doorframe, staring off at nothing in particular. It was an action he’d taken. It was so small, but it was under his control, at his command. He’d done it. He shook his head, smiling at himself. What *was* he doing? He pushed off the frame and stepped into his bathroom, dragging his feet. Must have left the light on. He wiped at his brow, as more of a afterthought as anything given how his hair still stuck to it, matted. Leaning over the sink, he turned on the tap, and watched the cold water swirling around for a bit before he dipped his hands in and ran them across his face. Then he looked in the mirror, at his shadowed eyes, before letting his gaze wander further. The reflection told him nothing he couldn’t already gather by a quick look around, but he remained poring it over regardless. The cold of the floor against his aching soles, the door swaying slightly, the drain gurgling just outside, someone behind him, the water on, the blinds ruffled by the breeze. Kwa reached for the tap again, turning the water down a little. Then whipped around, eyes wide, the room coming into his vision in frantic bursts, empty and unchanged. The tap trickled away. The blinds were blown about. Water and air. Kwa was hyperventilating. His breath rolled over the glass, obscuring his bloodshot eyes and sweat-matted brow. The sight of it was... He sagged against the sink before catching himself, exhaling with continued force. He was on autopilot again. Listening to his breath rattling in his chest. Gripping the cold surface tighter than was necessary. Leaning over to open the cabinet. Falling into the sink. There was no transition at all, no warning--plummeting forward this time, the room warping around him, it took a moment of Kwa cringing in anticipation of his face hitting the bowl to realise that this was not in fact happening. His whole body was underwater, then his dark locks were framing his face as he lurched back up, gasping. White walls reflected his alarmed expression back at him, and white water splashed down to drench him. Time slowed, allowing him to take in the rise of porcelain around him, the thrashing of the water into waves strong enough to pull him under and that of what swallowed up the rest of his vision. Reflected both by the water and by the walls of the sink, they came. Five enormous masses reared over the bowl, casting its occupant in dauntless shadow as a blinding light blazed from somewhere behind them, that of the room utterly outclassed. They were rendered more visible as they bore further down, the wrinkles of toes revealed as they towered above. The ball of the foot followed, plush flesh pressing into the edge of the sink. All of it radiating power. Even as he struggled through the waves and the darkness, trying to stay afloat, Kwa gazed up at the solemn overseer: mouth open and likely speeding up his watery demise, fully prepared for the battalion of godly digits to just carry on down, breaking through the sink like it were wet paper and sending him to a shattering fate, lying among pools sparkling with shards, the veritable glacier of foot flesh heedless of them as it moved immutably on... The toes loomed. They were resting there, flexing idly. Light crackles came from them, otherwise imperceptible movements causing quite the cacophony for their tiny audience. Like the water was changing, somehow, his limbs harder to steer through it, less clear, more-- And it was there again, all-pervading, having waited at the ever-weakening barrier of his subconscious before barging in with aplomb--that absolute miasma of masculinity, that stench of superiority that would have marked his assailant had he not had him clocked from the start. There was no standing or swimming against it. It locked its hungry hands around him. Invisible forces set it in motion. Faster and faster, the imbued whirlpool swirled, working to marinate him alive. So cold, and so pervasive. As if it were the epitome of masculinity, the stamp of a god on mortal ground. Invasive. Entering him, filling him, dominating him. The far smaller man’s vision was darkening, the reflections in the walls and the pool blurring together, all a mishmash of thrashing limbs and lashing waves. Fading in all areas but that of the sight above, of the digits holding a persistent, arresting presence. Branded behind his eyelids as they closed. They were curling over the horizon. Breaching the boundaries of his vision. Searing, slick, sovereign. Coming down to smother him completely. Condensing the room, the house, the entire world into the space between them. At the centre of it all, looming on high, that sky-blue eye-- The light was on, and it hurt his eyes. Kwa lay in bed. The covers were half off the bed. The clock was ticking. His fingers swept across his brow again. They came away damp. He exhaled through clenched teeth. Kwa forced himself to take a deep breath. He sustained it for a moment. It rattled in his chest. Then it broke off into a cough. “Kwa! Kwa, are you alright?” A hand hovered near him, unsure whether to give its reassuring touch. Shin stared. “Take it easy, okay? Deep breaths. What’s set you off?” Voice rasping, the dark-haired man fought with his own tongue to respond. “How long, uh…” He didn’t finish the question, not too sure about what to even say. Where to begin. Shin was, however, attuned. “A while. You were making a lot of noise. Not sure if you were asleep, but still. You’ve been doing it for a while.” His voice was thankfully soft. “What’s going on, exactly?” Kwa’s head met the pillow. “Rei is just...too much, sometimes. A lot of the time. When he wants to be.” Which was most of the time. “Well, that’s a bit rude.” It was a testament to what Kwa had grown not-so-much used to but resigned to that he didn’t immediately fall out of the bed, brain and body trying to drag him in different directions and fetching him up no place different. With his eyes widening, scared to even blink, he stared at the spot where Shin had been, face half-buried in the pillow he was now squeezing--if he’d had fur, it would have been standing on end. “I mean, sometimes? I’m too much for you *all* the time, and you know it. Do I need to up my game?” Then he really did find himself looking up at Rei, the intruder of however long reclining like the deity he was, wrapped in the sheets as if modelling for a camera. Not, however, giant: he’d wound up on the floor, and he didn’t know how. But he didn’t for a second believe that Rei wouldn’t reduce him to those dimensions in...well, a second if he wished. “Nah, what am I saying?” His voice never changed: tone always the definition of calm amusement. “It’s your denial that’s the problem. Could have it gone with a few words, in a few seconds. Like it never existed. Only an obedient little servant, toy, whatever I need…” Rei slunk out from under the duvet, eye flashing with mischief as he seemed to glide across the bed. Without his gaze leaving Kwa’s, he swung himself over to sit on its edge; first one foot, then the other dangling in front of the stock-still figure. He rested his elbow on his leg, and his cheek in his palm as he leaned in. “But, more fool me...it’s more fun to break you in the hard way.” Kwa knew that apologising wouldn’t hold Rei back. Not that it would have, to begin with. “Or, should I say...no, I’ve *got* to say. Hard, by *your* standards. Just remember not only who’s going to win in the end, but who’s already won and is just drinking it in.” Such obvious truths--and yet, when spoken by one whose words wrote reality, they gained a strength that etched itself into your very soul. Burned and blazing, even behind scrunched-shut, watering eyes. It finally resolved itself into a constant pressure at his neck, one firm and solid. Like he’d been transported outside his own body, he saw himself for what he was, crouching at his god’s feet with a golden leash connecting him to them. The ring around the largest toe before him not the brightest light he’d seen in...whatever period of time had passed. But it didn’t need to be. Swallowing, he felt the weight at his throat seem to tighten. His chest did the same. Kwa had, for however brief a moment, felt like it was meant to be there. The ring glinted, as if in emphasis. Shaking fingers ran across it, scared to even test its presence. No etchings or adornments. It was obvious enough in its purpose, and didn’t need it spelled out for anyone, much less the two parties looking it over here. Rei’s eye glinted. His foot pulled back, and the leash drew taut, drawing the paltry-sized pet along with it. Kwa stumbled, staggered and eventually sprawled across the carpet, skin rubbed red-raw, limbs trembling. He looked up. Rei looked down. “Whose word is not only law, but an affirmation of such before it was even said?” “Wha--” And just like that, he couldn’t breathe. Words likewise cut off, Kwa gagged and clawed at the unyielding metal, his legs shaking as he tried to stay kneeling at the very least. It wasn’t Rei lifting his foot--it was the collar itself, tightening somehow around his neck. There was no motion he could sense, no shrinking or growing of the ring. Just a locked trap, set off and proceeding to hold him down in agonised speechlessness. The action was accompanied by some sort of tension in the air around them, creating a snapshot of this moment. The giant’s toes wriggled, minute *cracks* and *pops* of air through joints like a sickening symphony to Kwa. All too easy to imagine the cracks coming from his own body, between those toes. Given the tears at the corners of his eyes, and the difficulty of swallowing down his violent gasps, he was surprised it hadn’t already started. “Who owns you: heart and mind, body and soul?” “N--” Gone again. Kwa spluttered, already red in the face. He collapsed backward, the helpless movement only pulling the chain tighter and agonisingly wringing his windpipe. Gazing down at him like he was offering him a favour, a chance to throw away his inhibitions and just accept his position, Rei’s fingers were clasped together as if he were indeed granting some offer that couldn’t be refused. Despite that, he wasn’t inclined to hurry his little slave along that much. It was certainly fun, letting the matter *hang.* “Who is the centre of your life, and the decider of your fate?” “Rei--” It wasn’t the answer, and Kwa tried to assure himself of that. He was just begging Rei for...something, and well in the knowledge that he wouldn’t receive it. Basic, stubborn, survivalist. Whether he’d accepted the choking as his life, imposing it over his existence even during its absence, or the collar had cut off his breathing regardless of what answer he gave, the result was the same--Kwa writhing and coughing, merciless pressure on his throat, merely comprehending the suffocating pain a Herculean effort as opposed to trying to bear it. In one swift action, he was flung high, the air stealing away any screams of pain before they began, and slammed to the ground with such violence he was surprised not to see any blood. A toe planted itself over his head, the tiniest movements rolling it back and forth like a marble. It hurt to even breathe. And trying to speak? Where would any words go, if they were formed. Unnoticed. Or, more likely, plain ignored. Rei tilted his head, breath pelting Kwa like a gale from impossible angles. “Who is your *god?*” He didn’t even try to respond. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking, the carpet drawing its own red lines along his palms. His throat convulsed, mouth opened. Involuntary. Desperate. Air. Gone. He’d bitten his tongue. Mouth a mess of reddened foam, he could only utter the meekest gurgling noise, only half-aware that his body was suspended off the floor now and swinging in obeisance to some incredible outside force...that of Rei’s leg swinging over the bed again, and his body lounging back across the rumpled sheets. He was where Kwa had been, Shin was across from him, and Kwa’s whole world was painfully, ceaselessly, breathlessly turning, no air that wasn’t squeezed out from him in seconds, no sight that wasn’t a blur. Whole body convulsing, the tiny pet clawed and kicked at the air. Found purchase on the mattress, and then lost it again. Eyes rolled so far back into his head, only the whites showed, spider-webbed with red. The sight of Rei’s back and soles was burned into his mind. Needed to get up there. Needed to kneel at Rei’s feet and kiss them in apology. ...No! These weren’t his thoughts! Or were they? Were these realisations implanted in him by Rei, not to rewrite him, but to remind him of the absolute truth? The truth that stood immutable while so many other paths curled around it, cut short, twisted. The truth that could be argued with on the surface, right before it burst forth in its entirety to beat him down. The truth that hurt so much. Whether his mind or his neck gave out first, drawing the curtains on this performance, none could say--neither from a lower point, descending forever, or from a loftier view that didn’t care. The pain was all he could get a grasp on--and he couldn’t say whether he was glad that nothing but blood and drool could escape his lips at present, for he didn’t know what he’d admit to if he were able. But it would be nothing too buried: no depths too deep for a god to surmount without acknowledging it. Kwa was laid bare. He always had been. He couldn’t fight it. He didn’t want to. He just let it happen. All while dangling like an accessory, clawing at his collared throat and feeling darkness come for him. Taking him away from the questions. For now. It was raining outside. In the darkness and stillness of the bedroom, the raindrops drummed like a marching band. Wryly Kwa wondered how many other factors were altered before slumping down again. His head was pounding. The pillow heated up with such speed under his panting that he knew he couldn’t lie there for long. Black hair laced its surface as he stared up at the ceiling. Whatever happened could just happen. The ticks of the clock seemed to measure out his breaths: about three to an inhale, and the same for letting it out. “Thought it would be easier to sleep in this,” Shin muttered next to him. He pushed himself up, before regarding Kwa. “Okay, you’ve been restless before, but this is a new level. Is something wrong?” His husband didn’t respond at first, gaze fixed on one patch of ceiling in particular. “Kwa, you’re--” “...Wrong?” Shin blinked, tilted his head, and waited. Kwa blew air through his nose. Heavily. “Wrong?” he said again, his next words airy. “Something’s wrong? How would I know if it was?” “...Alright, given what we go through all the time, it’s hard to tell sometimes, but…” Shin’s gaze flickered lower, and even in the lack of light his blush was evident. “Well, it looks...okay, it's nothing I haven’t seen before, uh…” For a moment, Kwa was about to say something about that being pretty childish, until he realised that Shin hadn’t looked *that* low. His breath caught. He looked at the taller man. Then he looked down. Drawn by invisible strings, his hand rose, fingers brushing across his neck. And before he touched something that sat firmly against his skin, Kwa knew in his heart what it was.