thingpuncher | @glavesworn.

@glavesworn.

So Midnighter spends the next week thinking about what an idiot he was. He bitches to Jason about it, about how that guy he was talking about was stringing him along, and he expects it to make him feel better, but it fucking doesn't. It just makes Midnighter feel more bitter, more betrayed, and more stupid for even feeling that way. Didn't Nyx say from the start, dates are all he could offer? Midnighter's the one who got his stupid fucking hopes up.

But the way Nyx had looked at him, on the couch or in his bed, the conversations they'd shared late at night, the way he'd held Midnighter's face in his hands... He'd thought, maybe, there was something more.

He'd been fucking wrong.

So he puts his energy into his job-- not that he'd been slacking-- and tries to ignore that fucking empty feeling. Any texts he receives from Nyx will get a brush-off; he's busy, can't talk right now, he's in the middle of something. In truth, Midnighter's just not ready to end it. He needs to. He just hasn't yet.

He waits until late at night, when he's lonely and sleepless and stewed in self pity, for the moment to finally feel right.

hey

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Oh, this is good too. With his front pressed flush against Midnighter like this, Nyx can feel every roll of his hips, every twitch of his cock against him. He slides am arm around Midnighter, trying to match his rhythm, and somehow it's the easiest thing in the world, the way their bodies move together.

"Yeah, please. I want you- every way." Fuck, it's too soon for his own cock to get back in on the action, but just hearing Midnighter's voice describing everything he would do to him- damn.

Midnighter hums with contentment, holding Nyx close and savoring the afterglow, the way Nyx's body moves with his, the way he holds him. "Damn, you're perfect." It's all fondness as he reaches for a box of kleenex he put nearby earlier, wiping them both off with lazy strokes.

He gets his fill of that, the closeness and the way Nyx never rolls away, overheating. Maybe he does like holding people close after sex, 'cuddling'. Maybe if it's Nyx. Eventually, though, time catches up to him. He kisses Nyx's cheek and sits up. "Gotta get dressed," he says, trying to smooth his rumpled hair back. "We got people to meet."

Nyx sits up without complaint, stretching and listening with bemusement as his joints pop. Time was he could've slept on a dirt packed road without caring or noticing the difference, but now all the bruises from last night are starting to pipe up with complaints. He's gotten soft. Or old. Funny thinking about it now; how he'd spent the last ten years only caring about living another day to fight, ready to burn his life out on a word from his liege.

Not all that much has changed, really, except that he's here, waking up in another world next to a handsome man who tells him he's perfect. (A familiar stir within in chest, in his heart, the black depths. Something so good, so sweet... it won't last.)

"Yeah, can I borrow your shower for a sec?" He runs a hand through his hair, grimacing at the braids half undone, "Thought I saw some gel in there..."

Midnighter leans in a little, pulling Nyx in for a quick kiss to his jaw. "Sure, babe. Gotta look your best. Lady we're going to see hates the fuck outta me, gonna hope she trusts you a little more."

He stands, stretches-- his back pops, but it's a good feeling, things settling back into place-- and goes to the closet where their clean clothes are ready and folded. "Her sense of smell's better'n mine, probably shouldn't stink of sex quite so much."

It's said with humor. He doesn't mind in the slightest.

Nyx just chuckles at that. Yeah, he knows all about working for people who hate his guts.

"No promises, but I'll do my best."

He's in and out of the shower in short time, emerging in a cloud of vaguely floral scented steam with his hair done up once more and a tiny towel wrapped around his hips, which almost immediately slips off as he starts rummaging through the closet, pulling out his uniform and letting out an impressed whistle to find it clean. Shirt, pants, boots, jacket, armor, and- right. He fishes the little crystal pendant out from a hidden inner pocket, pulling the cord over his head.

"Ready whenever you are."

Midnighter bathes in the guest bathroom-- because of course the apartment's got multiple bathrooms, and he figures it's probably good to bathe seperately, or they'll end up screwing again-- and emerges similarly clean and vaguely melon-scented. He dresses in his uniform-- complete with cowl-- before looking over Nyx appreciatively. "Damn, you clean up nice." He resists the urge to pull him into another quick kiss, suspecting it won't be nearly so quick.

And then he opens a Door to a farm on the outskirts of Metropolis. It's clearly been abandoned for a while. The tomato plants and fields of corn are all rotted off the stalk, but not unnaturally; it's like someone up and left the place with no intention of returning.

Midnighter explains while he walks through the place. "So, Gloria. She... I really wanna get through this without killing her. It's not her fault she got made the way she was. They put a brain ten times as intelligent as any human in a body with no hands or a way to communicate. I think she puts a stick in her mouth to draw words. Anyway, she sees me, she's gonna think I'm dragging her back for another round of experimentation."

They approach a large cave in the side of a hill at the edge of the property. There's a rattle and hiss emanating from its depths, more serpentine than anything else. A warning.

"I'm hoping if she sees I brought somebody else, she'll at least gimme a chance to talk before trying to bite my head off. If it does turn into a fight, be careful. The fangs're poison."

"Shit, really?" Holy fuck, that sounds... incredibly twisted, kind of like some of the shit they're hearing about the experiments being run out of Niflheim. Except, apparently here, they're successful. A chill runs down Nyx's spine.

"Who did this to her?" Another thought, a less pleasant one as Nyx follows Midnighter up to the mouth of the cave. "Uh, why would she think you're bringing her back?

"Yeah. You know, make a more intelligent weapon?" The rattling hiss from the cave grows louder, and Midnighter stops, standing on front of it. Puts a hand on Nyx's shoulder. "She probably thinks I'm here to drag her back because we were made by the same people. I'm trying to help the Gardener clean up her messes, though, you know. Repent? Not everybody sees it that way."

And then he turns to the cave, stepping purposefully in front of Nyx, a protective habit. "Gloria! Come out. I'm not gonna hurt you!"

And that's when a giant jet-black snake slides out of the cave, and if a snake can have an expression, hers is livid. The genetics that went into her mixed a rattlesnake with a cobra-- her hood is open in full, teeth bared, and the rattle at her tail is a potently loud warning.

Nyx tenses immediately at the sight of the giant snake- he's seen something like that before, deep cave-dwelling daemons with a fondness for sorcery and eating anything it could fit its jaws around. Worse are the ones that still retained a little bit of their humanity-- the last one he had hunted had spent the whole time crying for her daughter, who she'd almost certainly eaten immediately after her transformation.

His fingers itch for the handles of his blades, but he keeps his hands at his sides, trying to follow Midnighter's lead.

Midnighter holds up his hands, trying to pacify. It's not what he's made for, but he'll try anyway.

"Look, Gloria. You sick of living in a cave and eating cows, yet? It's only a matter of time before somebody finds you and rips you apart."

Gloria hisses louder, shaking with anger.

"I know you're strong!" Midnighter guesses that's her objection. It'd be his. "And you're smart, too. And I know whoever comes after you isn't gonna know that."

Gloria's hood droops a little, considering. The rattling stops. She motions her head toward Nyx, tongue flickering out, before turning around. She reaches toward a tree-- one missing more than a few branches-- and rips off another, using it as a stick to write a large question mark.

"I brought him because he's important to me," Midnighter answers.

Gloria narrows her yellow eyes.

"He's my fucking boyfriend. I wouldn't bring him if I didn't trust you. I don't wanna fight you."

Gloria seems to consider this.

Feels like he's kind of a third wheel in this conversation, so Nyx just stands there and tries not to look threatening, biding his time. At least until--

Boyfriend?! Nyx stiffens with- surprise? Shock? Uncertainty? Boyfriends. Is that what they are? What he and Midnighter have between them, it's not just friends, and last night's events had made that plenty clear. But he hadn't put any thought into categorization, into names or labels, and it's still kind of a shock just hearing it baldly laid out like that, Midnighter just fucking saying it with all the confidence in the world.

'He's my fucking boyfriend.'

Swallowing hard, Nyx awkwardly raises a hand, gives a little wave of greeting.

"Uh... Hey."

Gloria turns her head to the side, yellow eyes looking Nyx over. She drops the stick and slithers closer, feather-light tongue tasting the air inches away from Nyx's face. She nods carefully, and turns to look at Midnighter.

"You wanna pick up that stick and talk like adults, here?" So he's not great at negotiation.

Gloria's glowing eyes narrow, and she begins to coil around Nyx, not tight at all, but certainly possessive. Midnighter glowers. "Hey- hey! What are you- fucking testing me? That's a great way to make me change my mind about the mercy thing, Gloria. Hey! Are you fucking listening to me?"

Gloria expands her hood over Nyx in an almost protective gesture, and Midnighter has the grace to sound... hurt.

"Are you... protecting him from me?"

The giant snake- Gloria, she's got a name and he should use it- slithers right up to him, forked tongue flicking in his direction. Up close and personal like this, Nyx finds his shoulders relaxing, and he manages a quirked brow and a crooked smile as he looks up at her. There's curiosity in those golden eyes, intelligence in the tilt of her head and the flick of her tail, nothing at all like the bright-burning malevolence and hunger of the daemons he'd encountered before.

Coiling around him is-- unexpected, but Nyx laughs, looking up at Gloria and setting a gentle hand against her scaled flank.

"Hey, appreciate the thought but you don't need to worry about me. I'm a big boy, could kick his ass if I wanted to."

But it's more than that, isn't it? Whatever Midnighter had done in the past, where he came from, who he might have been, Nyx doesn't know. Doesn't care. All he knows is what they've got in the present, warm skin against skin, lazy mornings and kisses, a beer shared between the two of them. And more than that...

"I'm safe with Midnighter. He's a good man. One of the best I know."

If a snake can roll its eyes, Gloria just did. Still, she doesn't do a thing to hurt him, just moves her head forward to grab one of Nyx's knives out of its sheath. With a level of dexterity befitting a snake, she twirls it around in her mouth until the blade is over her tongue, and the hilt sticks out. She uses that to write in the dirt, an elegant hand in scrawling cursive.

That's all very well and good, but I have other concerns, and find you a far more trustworthy creature han the man who brought you here-- likely without giving you the full scope of the situation you were walking into! My freedom is to me paramount, after I wrenched it from the men I was sold to as an amusement. I do not believe for a second it will continue, should I go back to my creator with my-- excuse the metaphor-- tail between my legs.

Midnighter steps around the bulk of Gloria's scales, trying to get a look at the message for himself. "You really think I'm gonna let somebody put you in a cage?"

Gloria's eyes narrow. That is exactly what she thinks.

Nyx glances up, startled, as Gloria deftly plucks the kukri out of its sheath. The writing is even more impressive-- definitely better than anything he could've managed with his own blades, even if he has to peer over the bulk of her coils to read it. As for the message itself... it's true that Midnighter hadn't told him much about the mission, such that it was, before they'd headed out. But Nyx hadn't really cared-- after all, he trusts Midnighter, and he's used to getting thrown out on deployments with little in the way of details and a fuckton of MT's to mow down, so...

"Hey, don't worry. I'm used to getting info on an as-needed basis." He pats at Gloria's mottled black scales, smoothing a gentle hand along her body. "Besides, whatever the hell he says, I'm not gonna let anyone put you in a cage either. Not a gorgeous lady like yourself."

Said with a saucy wink, and all things considered that's a new one for him, flirting with a snake. But it's true. For all that Nyx barely knows anything about Gloria, he at least knows this much-- he sure as fuck isn't going to let anyone slap shackles on something- no, someone as magnificent and graceful as the serpent before them.

Gloria hunkers down around Nyx protectively, her hood extending over him a moment. I can see why he finds you charming. You're surprisingly kind, someone who willingly spends their time around a sociopath.

"Can you quit shittalking me when I'm right here?" Midnighter speaks up, standing in front of the words Gloria just wrote. "I'm not locking you away. The Gardener wants to see if she can put you in a human body, okay?"

Gloria rears back, dropping the kukri (which Midnighter catches handily) and begins to hiss.

Midnighter sighs. "Taking that as a no, then."

Charming and kind. Nyx snorts, amused by Gloria's assessment of him. Makes sense though, that a snake might know not all that much about people. As for Midnighter's proposal... it's crazy sounding, but it makes sense. Gloria's reaction, however, doesn't. Confused, Nyx glances up, his hand still on her flank.

"What's wrong with being human?"

Gloria just glares at Midnighter until he mutters, "oh," dumbly and hands the knife back. Same as before, Gloria scrawls out her answer, strokes angry and rushed, but still in an elegant hand.

Why must I change? Would you want to become a snake, if it were more convenient for others? I want no part in your grotesque bodily functions and sickening urges. I am fine enough as I am, and those who take issue with it are at odds with my nature, not I with theirs.

"Sooo, you wanna be the thing everybody thinks is a fucking monster, is what you're saying?"

Nyx gives Midnighter a look for his response, like come on. He's no diplomat, but even Nyx knows how to be more persuasive than that. His own response comes slow, a little uncertain, but now that he has an idea of what Midnighter wants to do... he's trying.

"I mean... guess if you put it that way, it's true. You're not wrong the way you are. But there're nice parts about being human too. Not just convenience, but... getting to talk to other people, that's a big part of it. Can go wherever you want-- get your fill of the city, live in the woods, by the beach, fly or drive, whatever. The food-- better than whatever you're eating, I bet. Crown City has dumplings like you wouldn't believe." Running out of ideas, he flounders a bit, casting a look over Gloria's smooth serpentine body. "Uh, roasting fish on a fire. Braiding another person's hair. Taking the prince's car out for a joyride. Having hands. Lots of good shit."

Another, longer pause, and he glances upward with a crooked smile.

"You don't get lonely out here?"

Gloria snorts. What would I know of loneliness, having never seen its alternative?

"Yeah, yeah, poor, pitiful you," Midnighter grumbles. "Like you've never eaten a person. Don't gimme that look, I know you have. And I know it was self defense, she had a gun, whatever. What I'm saying is, eventually, somebody's gonna come by who ain't as understanding about this shit as me. What then, Gloria?"

She deflates, slightly. I do not wish to be cut into again.

Nyx looks from Gloria to Midnighter and back, feeling increasingly out of place here. If he weren't still well wrapped in heavy black coils, he might have considered excusing himself and beating a quick retreat.

It's not awkwardness, not really; Midnighter had invited him here as backup, and he's not miffed at having nothing to add to the conversation, to diffuse the current of tension between the two of them. It's just... so personal, shared history and old pain, and Nyx realizes now that maybe he'd been a bit too hasty in offering Midnighter his help. After all, he's no good with emotional shit like this. Fuck, just look at the mess he'd made of their whole... everything.

But with all that being said, he's beginning to feel increasingly like maybe he should side with Gloria. Just what the hell was done to her anyway?

"Midnighter... who, no, what the hell is the Gardener?"

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