FicWad

Title: Unexpected Places
Author: MakaiKitty
Rating: PG-13/R
Category: Original Fantasy, "Unexpected Places" storyline
Pairing: Garrett/Kinder, slight Aviann/Lisbet
Warnings: Slash, M/M, angst, H/C, daemons, language, implied (past) violence/child abuse, implied (past) Non-con
Distribution: My website, My LJ and any LJs I choose to post at, AFF.net, FicWad, and DeviantArt. All of my accounts are under the user name MakaiKitty. If you'd like to use it just let me know.
Disclaimer: The characters, daemon realms, and situations in this story are all original and belong solely to MakaiKitty. Please don't steal, borrow, take, or otherwise use anything from my fics.
Updates: Just join my YahooGroup to be informed of any updates to this or any of my other fics - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/makaikittyfics
Word Count: 18,979 words
Status: Complete

Unexpected Places

Sabbien snorted as his master came back into the cave, sopping wet, carrying a hissing daemon over one broad shoulder. Garrett spared the animal a brief glare, but otherwise ignored the obviously mocking look from his six-legged companion in favor of dropping Kinder in a soggy mess onto the mat in front of the fire.

"You didn't have to drop me." Kinder grumbled, looking anywhere but at the kanarian who stood dripping in front of him. "And you didn't need to throw me over your shoulder like a sack of matsatza either, you know. I might not be a warrior like you, but I can walk just fine, thank you very much."

"Well, if you hadn't run out into the storm like a mad man then I wouldn't have had to resort to such inelegant treatment of your pretty little hide." Despite the force of his words Garrett did have the good taste to hang his head in mild shame for a moment, knowing that he had been far rougher than need be in the face of his anger and confusion, effectively causing him to miss the bright blush that raged across Kinder's gray cheeks at the rough yet flattering terminology that Garrett had just used to describe him and his hide.

Garrett continued to mumble about /lunatics playing tag in the rain/, ignoring said lunatic for the time being, as he made his way across the cave to his pack. He pulled out his one towel, raising the dark fabric towards his tangled mass of sunstreaked gold before thinking better of it and tossing the towel towards Kinder's shivering form instead. He laughed when it landed on the other man's head, eclipsing his face completely for a moment before owlish eyes blinked out from beneath it with shocked confusion in their deep blue depths.

"Dry off, you look like a drowned rat sitting there." Garrett joined his fellow daemon by the rapidly dying fire, feeding it a few of the twigs that they had managed to collect and dry out over the past few days, bringing the flames back to life almost instantly. He looked at the dancing red and gold sparks instead of facing Kinder, not sure if he was ready to look the other man in the eye now that the initial adrenaline rush from their chase through the rain had left him. His voice was softer when next he spoke, and Garrett was sure that at least some of his growing confusion was clear in his voice. "Look, I'm sorry, really. This was all my fault. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"I wasn't scared." Neither believed the lie. "I was just worried. I panicked. I didn't mean to run away from you Garrett."

"I don't know what got into me." His grass-green eyes were conflicted when he looked back into Kinder's darker ones, looking for answers that neither of them had. Seeing Kinder wrapped in his towel, navy hair stuck to his too pale skin, body shaking visibly, Garrett's heart sank. /This is your fault/, he scolded himself, wondering how he would ever lead his people if he couldn't even take care of one heartwrenchingly sad little daemon. "I never would have hurt you. Never would have done anything that you didn't want. Never."

"It wasn't me that I was worried about." Kinder replied cryptically.

Garrett would have asked what he meant, but the shivers that racked both of their bodies as a strong wind blew through the cave caused the question to die in his throat.

"We need to get dry."

Kinder nodded.

"At least the rain's finally slowing down." Garrett said, hoping to lighten the mood, not at all liking the sad expression that passed across Kinder's face at the seemingly good news. "It looks like it should stop completely before too much longer."

"Yes," Kinder said with a far away look in his eyes that Garrett couldn't even begin to interpret, "maybe the kulshedra finally reached his mate and made peace with her father."

"Or maybe they're all dead."

Kinder turned stricken eyes to Garrett, too appalled even to speak.

"Sorry." Garrett raised his hands in a gesture of calming surrender, but all the while the smirk on his face was at war with his words. "It was just a bad joke. I couldn't resist," he promised. "I'm sure that they're all well and fine, off living their very own happily ever after even as we speak." Seeing Kinder visibly relax at his words, his face lighting up with a hopeful smile, Garrett felt more at ease than he had since before Kinder had run from the cave and into the storm. The smirk, however, quickly returned just as his next words left his mouth. "Now, if we're not going to kiss... take off your clothes."

The reaction that he received wasn't at all what Garrett expected. Shock, amusement, or disgust would have been expected, but the look of betrayal followed by resigned acceptance was enough to wipe any remaining humor off of Garrett's face. And, if the man's expression was enough to dampen his mood then Kinder's next words were enough to break his very heart in two.

"It took longer than I'd expected." Kinder sighed sadly, rising from the ground as he began to peal his wet shirt from his body. "So, how do you want me?"

"No! I-"

"It's all right." Kinder assured him. "You can have me. I'll probably even enjoy it with you." Now it was Kinder's turn to smirk, but his expression quickly returned to one of blank emptiness before he continued speaking. "You can do anything to me that you want... just don't kiss me. I can promise that you wouldn't like what would happen if you did."

"I didn't mean-"

"You don't have to explain anything to me."

"Would you stop it!" Garrett growled, drowning out whatever else Kinder might have said, leaping up and putting a hand on Kinder's wrist before he could succeed in removing his pants.

"Would you rather take them off yourself?" Kinder's voice was utterly passionless as he spoke, his tone so dull he could have been talking about the mold on the walls of the cave instead of sex with Garrett. It worried the would-be warrior king more and more with each passing moment. This wasn't the sweetly timid man that he had come to know over the past weeks, nor was it the sometimes opinionated and impassioned daemon that he sometimes saw glimpses of in the other's less guarded moments. It caused him so much pain to see the sudden change. "Or maybe you have something else in mind? Funny, you didn't strike me as the violent type. At least not in this regard."

"Is this how you've survived this long?" He hadn't meant to ask the question, he almost didn't want to know the answer, and his hand shook where it still held Kinder's wrist. "Is this why you were so damn scared when I first found you?"

"I've done what I have to do." The tone remained the same, but Garrett noticed that Kinder couldn't look him in the eyes as he said it. That in itself would have been more than enough of an answer. "You still haven't answered my question. Will you strip me or should I get on with it myself? I really am actually quite cold, so I would appreciate an answer sometime soon, please."

"I'm not going to fuck you!" Garrett regretted the way that Kinder flinched away from him when he shouted, but he couldn't stand to hear the other daemon talking the way that he was. He let his anger, frustration, and fear wash over them both. And with it came his shame as well. He was loath to admit it, but Garrett was sorely tempted by Kinder's offer. He found the other man beautiful, and alluring, and he was fascinated by the soul of this sad yet resilient young daemon. But not like this. He would never want the other man like this. Not only would Garrett never consider treating someone so casually, so cruelly, but he especially couldn't take advantage of someone who had obviously been so used to receiving treatment no better than an animal from everyone that he had ever relied on. Kinder had become far too important to him during their confinement for that.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Garrett repeated more quietly, "I am not going to fuck you, so stop talking like I am, Kinder. Please."

"Then what do you want?" Kinder seemed honestly confused, and Garrett wondered if the shivers that were once again shaking the slender frame were from the cold or if they were caused by something far more sinister. "If you don't want to fuck me then what are you going to do with me?"

"The hell if I know." Garrett answered with a heavy sigh, walking past Kinder with only the briefest of glances to the navy haired daemon, not letting go of the other man's wrist even as he moved further into the cave. He might not know the true answer to Kinder's question but for the moment, at least, he knew what had to be done. Muttering all the while under his breath, Garrett used his hold on Kinder to drag them both into the back of the cave and through a hidden passage in the stone wall that they had recently discovered. "How did this conversation get so out of hand so fast?"

Garrett thought that he heard Kinder mutter under his breath as well, answering the question that he hadn't really meant for him to hear, "The hell if I know."

TBC ...