deercountry | Welcome Back to the Playground

Entry tags:

Welcome Back to the Playground

Who: Reaper & Disaster House Occupants/Visitors
What: He's moved back in.
When: Mid-February
Where: Disaster House; Cassandra

Content Warnings: None yet

Breakfast

Reaper had made no announcement when he finally returned deep into the night. Most of the occupants should be asleep, but even if they weren't, it wasn't as if he would disturb them as he snuck in through the bedroom window to where he had his old room. It was exactly as he had left it, of course. He eased in, set down his items and slept for a few hours.

He was used to being up first - unless Varian had another one of those all-nighters - and he ghosted on silent feet downstairs. After exploring the traps and usual affairs of the household to be assured that not much had changed since he had left months ago, he then went to the kitchen and began his old usual routine of preparing breakfast.

The morning would bring an extra bit of Reaper to the mix as he prepared pancakes with the choice of butter, syrup and jam. For those that might not enjoy pancakes, he cooked up some bacon strips, sausages and very special eggs sunny-side up. There was, of course, opportunities for toast, but those would come with requests.

Once he had the table set and the food had been cooked, he moved to start cleaning up. Wraith, who had been observing the whole affair like a supervisor, suddenly began a famous and classic peacock call to wake the household up. The black peacock would walk the upper halls like the most annoying alarm clock then move to the basement to be certain Varian - if there - would be a harassed enough to come up.

The first words that Reaper would say was, "if you want a cup for juice or water, there's some silver ones in that bag over there." Because he was still stealing cups in the night.

Room

Reaper could also be found back in his room once the breakfast riot had come to a close. As it had been before he moved out, his bedroom door being open meant that anyone of the household was welcome to come in and talk with him or just hang out.

He would be found putting out his limited arrangement of items neatly or digging through his medical duffel bag or even sitting in the window sill - don't ask how he managed to fit himself - to watch the world beyond the house.

If he knew he were being observe or potentially observed, he would keep his usual air about him which tended to be strictly business or on the verge of going to troll someone in the household. If someone caught him at his activities without him first noticing them, his shoulders would be set stiffly or he would be staring off into space like he was pondering some deep subjects. He might even give an air of stress and sadness. However, he'd do his best to hide it as he worked or relaxed.

Wildcard

[Feel free to write a specific starter in the household! He'll be hanging around and will come upon anyone that needs a good bothering or is open to being bothered.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He leaned his neck to the side and allowed Reaper access to the sensitive area there, groaning softly as he felt the sensation of teeth grazing his red-and-black skin. There was no better feeling than what he felt like right now, safe, warm, and bit turned-on with someone that he loved as much as he did his mate. He brought up the hand that had been kissing Reaper's fingers and instead ran it through his long white locks, pressing so that he kept his lover close to him.

"Precisely. The way you interact with them like those in this house is distinctly paternal in nature much of the time." Maul may not have ever been on the receiving end of such interactions himself, given how worthless Sidious was in having anything like that within his soul, but he knew it when he saw it. "There is also that way you go after that boy, Lance. It seems a bit like a father going hard on his son sometimes." Maul at least knew that well enough given how Sidious had pushed him time and again to his breaking point.

"Perhaps I should give up on them then," he said, mulling things over. "Some people believe some animals incapable of changing the design of their hides and they make forever think of me the same way. Focusing on those that want to see me do better and those that have not yet had their minds made up. More Sleepers arrive every month and I am sure I will be able to sway some of their minds." He had to believe that. If he thought that everyone would believe public opinion about him as soon as they arrived, Maul would go crazy.

His long white hair tumbled over his shoulder with Maul's help, bathing them both. His hair was growing even longer than it had been, almost unmanageable in his mind if not tied back. It was nearly beyond his ass at this point and thicker than it had any right to be. His fingers stroked at the base of one horn, and he added one extra bite before he eased his mouth back. It was good to have Maul back; it was difficult to emphasize how much he actually could miss the Zabrak when they were at odds with each other.

"I suppose so," he murmured, not particularly committing to the idea of paternal instincts for the teenagers. It was obvious to everyone, even him, but he wasn't so certain he was comfortable knowing he was settling in. He stiffened at the mention of Lance, then sighed. "Lance needs a tougher hand, or he'll go off the deep end and probably destroy us all. His power needs to be trained, but he hasn't the emotional or mental fortitude for it." And Reaper wasn't one to let someone so powerful go unchecked without being bothered. "I was never that great of a father, but age has made me... a bit better."

He shrugged his shoulders again, sliding his hands down the front of Maul's chest. His cold hands slid into the folds of his lover's outfit so he could experience that warm skin. "Focus on where you can change people with open minds, and they will be more willing to defend you against those that never will be changed. All you need to do is remain upstanding to those that experience it and expect it." He wasn't so certain that Maul would do so, especially with that Zabrak's temper but worthwhile all the same. "Start small and build on those successes. Too much ambition on such matters can lead you to frustration and failure."

That was the thing about men like them. When they softened even just a little bit, it was extremely obvious given how they behaved otherwise. Reaper living in a house full of them right now proved that well enough. He listened as Reaper talked about Lance. "I could help with that. The discipline needed to use the Force translates very well even when someone has a different power set than what I am used to. Though I'm sure he's none too fond of me either given how many times I've tried or actually killed him by now, it would still be prudent to keep on eye on him."

"Not bad advice. Perhaps I should ask you for some more often." But he wouldn't. Maul preferred forging his own path and Reaper was happy to let him do so. He often needed to figure out things himself in order for the lessons to fully stick. Goosepimples broke out on Maul's warm skin as Reaper began exploring his body with his cold hands. The rest of his tension left his body and he became pliable as a relaxed cat, all loose limbs and arched spine as his mind turned towards thoughts of having sex with his lover.

He leaned up and pulled Reaper's hair gently until he was able to kiss him, pressing his own hands up and tugging against the man's clothes in a manner which suggested he wanted his lover to dissipate them so that he could also get at his body.

Lance was an interesting subject for him, but he wasn't certain he wanted to invest so much time on considering it. Now didn't seem the time with their finally shifting from tentative if logical conversation towards something that would rekindle their bond completely as far as he was concerned. "No, leave him be. He needs to learn to cope, and he requires gentle prodding now and again. Corruption will be the unknown factor for him."

He hummed softly at the idea of Maul asking for his advice. He was here to offer more when it was necessary, but he was also not above playing the support role. He had come to understand that Maul was one to forge ahead on his own to discover the necessary results. "Perhaps you should, but I won't be offended if you don't."

He dragged his nails over Maul's chest, using his forearms to push the folds of that thick material wider. His hands were warming with the contact faster than before, and he tucked his legs tighter against Maul's shoulders as the clothing on his upper half wavered and turned to smoke to expose his skin as Maul desired.

He leaned into the kiss as his hands drew up to start to remove the clothing that covered Maul's chest, wanting it off even if it would require help from his lover for that to happen. So inconvenient to not just turn clothing to smoke at will, but the roll of muscles to remove clothing was always a thrill for him.

"I do tend to learn things best by repetition. Lots and lots of repetition." And usually get it pounded into his thick skull once he came to the realization he had something to learn.

He began running his hands over Reaper's skin and began working his way out of his own garments, still leaving him with a few kisses in-between the movements. He took his time, liking the anticipation of what was to come. Eventually, they were all taken off.

Once he was out of them, there was a very obvious difference than what he'd looked like before. There on his skin was a few faint handprints which had most definitely not been there the last time they had gotten intimate. One was on his left arm, indicating a familial bond, and one was on his right shoulder, showing that one was a platonic bond. The last was one the small of his back where his top half met his prosthetic half, indicating a hostile bond.

Edited (That moment when you forget one whole entire thing you meant to write...) 2022-02-26 11:42 (UTC)

"I imagine you can learn by shock value sometimes," he teased lightly as he relaxed fully into their closeness. There was still some unease in him about the original topic of their fight, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He wasn't interested in tackling them right now, not when he could touch, taste, smell and see Maul here in front of him.

In the act of making out and undressing, he had come to his feet, letting some articles of his own clothing be removed by hand and others just melt back into his skin. His hands grasped, tugged and pulled Maul's clothing off, leaving it in a neat enough pile next to them as he dragged his mouth over the Zabrak's neck.

Yet, he paused at the sight of faint hand prints. So Maul had formed bonds it seemed. He wasn't bothered, even walked his fingers over the platonic and familial. In his mind, he had already figured the familial would be Maul's brother and the platonic to be Usagi or any number of other people his lover was close to. "You've been busy the last few nights, I see..." he murmured smirking. He poked the familial positioned one. "Your brother and..." his fingers stroked over the hand, which seemed larger than he would associate with Usagi. Odd. "Who is this from?"

Maul was going to correct Reaper on who the first bond belonged to but then he realized he was also interested in the platonic mark. Maul suddenly realized exactly how this was going to look when he revealed who it belonged to. Things between them regarding the subject of Obi-Wan was still fraught with tension. Maul had put some thought into asking Obi-Wan about bonding with him but only now was he realizing there was going to be consequences beyond that which were dealing with the Jedi directly.

He pulled away from Reaper physically and turned around to look at him. He needed to judge the reaction of what reaction his lover was going to have by seeing it instead of just hearing it in his voice. "Actually....." Maul was most reluctant to speak now and he could feel his face go flush and tinged green as a rush of Vileblood went straight to his cheeks. ".....That one is from Obi-Wan." Maul waited to see what Reaper was going to do but he couldn't help but feel this was going to set them right back to square one where they'd been when Maul had first told his mate of his feelings for the Jedi. How could he have been so stupid and not thought this through?

Reaper was curious of other people's choices of bonds, even if he wanted to avoid one himself as he didn't trust the magic and most wouldn't want a deep connection with him. And it appeared to him that Maul had used their time apart after the argument to solidify bonds elsewhere, which was fine. Maul had autonomy over himself, and Reaper made certain to never infringe on that.

He raised his eyebrows when Maul pulled away from him, and the sudden change he read plainly and clearly in Maul. The need to watch him. The reluctance. Reaper felt his body temperature plummet because he knew in the seconds before his lover revealed the name who it belonged to. For a moment, he was shocked enough to stare, red eyes moving slightly side-to-side as he processed the information through the shock over Maul's impetuous decision to form a physical bond with the very man that had set off the very first fight they had ever had.

His expression shifted from shock to confusion briefly and then it went a flicker of deep hurt before his expression completely closed as a sense of betrayal and fury twisted inside of him. His jaw set, his gaze hardened and his stance moved from curiousity to bordering on aggression.

"You love him, and now you bond with him," Reaper said with a cold voice, stating exactly what he had seen and been told. Bonded with the 'competition' when the danger of losing Maul remained fresh in his mind, a sore spot they hadn't even attempted to work through because it was too emotionally charged yet. Jealous, yes. Betrayed, yes. Angry, hell yes. "Get out," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"Get the fuck out," he yelled, his solid form seemingly wavering and smoke churning under his skin as if trying to escape.

Maul knew Reaper well enough to know he wasn't going to take this well at all. They hadn't really communicated much about the Obi-Wan situation after their fight and Maul was beginning to realize they should have. Maybe if they had, he could have explained his reasoning better in a way that wouldn't have involved Reaper getting upset or angry. Or maybe this would have happened no matter what he did.

Still, he couldn't think of the what-ifs. What he was dealing with right in front of him was the flicker of emotions he saw run over his mate's face and the brief hurt there was the worst thing of all. He knew Reaper had issues with people abandoning and leaving him just like Maul did, even if he tended to handle it in a different way. He knew that Reaper likely saw this as the first step to that if not Maul fully out the door already.

He didn't move when Reaper yelled at him to get out. "Give me a chance to explain," he said, voice not raising up quite yet but with a stubborn note in it that made it clear Maul wasn't going anywhere for the moment. He had to at least try if nothing else.

Maul was rather like Reaper in several ways and one of them was not backing down from a fight and also necessitating a need to have the last word. Normally it wasn't a problem because they didn't fight, but both of them were soldiers now pitched into another combat situation against each other. He completely knew that their worst traits would come to the forefront.

"No, you've lost that 'chance' when you couldn't even do me the courtesy of explaining this before you decided to have a go at it," he snarled, bearing his teeth. His lips pulled awkwardly though, like the muscles tightened too fast, pulled too much and drew his lips on the left side of his face further to expose more teeth. "He wants you as much as you want him... then so be it. You two can have each other."

There was a reason that Reaper controlled his emotions a bit more rigidly. It wasn't just being a soldier or being a psychopath. It was that his emotions affected the way the balance of decay and regeneration happened.

Maul's switch flipped from feeling guilty and wanting to explain straight to aggressive and defensive. His eyes narrowed and his voice rose as his temper did. "And you call me immature. Here you are, a grown man acting like a jealous teenager. He doesn't want me and has made that very clear. He's never going to want me that way. Do you honestly think so little of me as to believe I'd cheat and then come right back to you?"

Maul's anger was good and riled up now, so he went on without waiting for a reply, trying to hit Reaper where it hurt. "You think because you've successfully managed to push away every other person in your life or they've left after they couldn't stand being around you and your histrionics one more minute that I'm going to do the same." Maul folded his arms, body closed-off and braced like he was ready for a physical fight now. "I've never wanted to leave your side no matter what your mind keeps telling you."

"And I suppose if the shoe was on the other foot, you'd take it swimmingly, wouldn't you? Because you never let your emotions rule you or cause you to act rashly." He glared at Maul, his jaw working as his hands flexed at his side, and he twitched his left eye in discomfort. "Isn't that what happened? Our fight wasn't even resolved and you run back to him."

What Maul said did hit horridly close because it was a fear that had held true over and over again. He expected it to happen all over again with every single individual that he associated with after enough time. "You push everyone away or you destroy them," he replied coldly. That's what both of them did.

He hissed and winced as he grabbed his face as two malformed eyes split his cheek between his fingers. Shit! He turned away. "Just get out."

Maul growled, knowing Reaper was right. He wouldn't have taken this well at all had things been different. He would have been furious. But still the fact that Reaper was taking this so badly was frustrating. "I went to him to make it clear where we stood with one another, you enormous idiot. He's not taking me from you and I'm not going to go running into his arms. I'd explain exactly what happened that led to the bond happening but you don't want to listen. You want to sit there and bitch instead," he snarled out. Looked like he'd finally picked up on some Earth curses after hanging around the residents of that planet for two years.

"The only one pushing someone away right now is you," Maul snapped. He didn't want to leave Reaper for someone else and unfortunately after confessing his feelings for Obi-Wan had made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reaper was pushing him away, wanted him gone, maybe for good.

Despite the fact he was mad as hell, a jolt of alarm went through Maul as he saw something...well, he wasn't entirely sure what was happening but something was happening to Reaper that shouldn't have been. He took a step forward without thinking about it.

"You betrayed me," he hissed like an angry cat. "You spend your life grasping for glory, but you simply can't help except self-sabotage eventually. You can't let him go because you don't trust yourself to do the right thing on your own." He waved a hand in the air, dismissing the argument about him bitching. He wasn't even at bitch stage yet, but he was drawing closer. "I'm pushing you away because you've hurt me, and I wanted to trust you, cabrón!"

It was a survival mechanism, and it had kept him alive for a long time. He was not afraid of going back to that, or so he told himself. He could go back to his mission, except he had given up that mission to return to Maul. What a fucking idiot he had been.

He clenched his eyes shut, and his shoulders rolled forward as he experienced a jolt of agony. Shit, not again... He grabbed his shoulders, groaning. "...I can feel you're still here...."

"You certainly are something. It was all fine for you when things were good between us, but one single obstacle comes up, and you're ready to fold like a house of cards!" Maul yelled out, frustrated at himself for making a stupid, impulsive decision as he always did that had consequences he wasn't expecting and feeling the same emotion towards Reaper for trying to shut him out and push him away.

But all the anger in the world couldn't override the fact he still loved Reaper and it distressed him to see his lover in agony. "Let me help you," Maul said softly, knowing Reaper wouldn't let him get near, but he had to try anyway. He couldn't leave someone he loved like this when t other man was clearly in pain.

"All fine? You call this all fine? I suppose you would because you're perfectly willing to just take whatever you want without any thought for how it affects those around you," he snapped back at him. He would know what that's like because there had been moments in his life where he had done the same thing. Good intentions always seem to pave the road to Hell.

He threw a hand out to wave Maul away, staggering for further distance between them until he could rest a forearm on a wall. Shadows unnaturally began to spread from his feet and up the wall, and he fought for control. It couldn't be. He hadn't had a reaction like this in nearly a decade. Even high emotions hadn't caused this kind of flux, just look at the last fight. He'd been fine then, so what the hell was happening this time?

His mind raced to remember old symptoms, old triggers and how he had pulled himself together. Moira had been there to contain him way back then, but she wasn't here now. "Just go! I need space!" Because his body was volatile, there was a real danger of Maul being life drained if their proximity was too close.

Maul twitched at Reaper's words, knowing they were true. He was always taking without ever giving anything back, damning the consequences just to get whatever satisfaction he wanted in that moment.

But whatever he wanted to say back to hurt the older man was jettisoned in favor of the alarm that spiked inside of him at seeing whatever was happening to Reaper grow worse. He'd never seen this happen before and it was like his powers were out of control, something that Maul didn't even know was possible to happen with his mate.

But there was nothing he could do for him right now. Staying would only make things worse. He turned away. "I still love you, Gabriel," Maul said quietly with his back still turned, deliberately using the name that Reaper had trusted to give him when they were both still in Deerington. "Even if you're being a stubborn old fool right now. That's never changed."

Then he was gone, out the window he came in on silent feet. It was only when he was halfway down the street that he felt the biting cold on his skin and realized he'd left his clothes in Reaper's room. That was alright. The outside might have been Mustafar for all that he cared right now, his thoughts still back in that room with the man he loved.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Welcome Back to the Playground

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject