It's a new story! Bass is good at gentling and breaking wild horses, even stubborn ones.
(Story contains Danroe.)
Un-beta'ed, so quibble away.
- o – o -
Wild Horses
Danny Matheson reminds Bass of a horse. A finicky, panicked, feral horse, but a horse nonetheless.
When he first meets the boy—well, the first time Danny remembers, anyways—he sees the cold fury and hatred in those blue, blue Matheson eyes. He sees how the boy's hands twitch restlessly, like he wants to grab something. Bass waits until Danny and Neville leave before he laughs, long and hard. Danny wanted to kill him, he can tell.
It amuses him to no end.
The second time he sees Danny, the boy's soaking wet and shivering, eyes darting around the room as he looks for an escape. His guards have him pressed to the floor, and one of them has a boot resting between the kid's shoulder blades. Monroe has them let him up, and guides the boy over to sit in front of the fireplace. As he massages feeling back into Danny's hands, Bass patiently explains why trying to run away in the middle of a storm is a bad idea. Trying to run away when it's freezing rain is even worse.
He compliments Danny's tenacity, though. His reward is a slightly surprised look and an eye-smile, just like Miles' smiles. (Miles had never smiled with his mouth, only his eyes. That was before he'd left, but Bass pushes the dark thoughts back and wraps Danny in a thick blanket.)
Danny's armor begins to show cracks by the third month. Monroe's idea that Danny is a wild horse that needs to be broken gently is paying off. He hasn't had Danny beaten in weeks—a reward, he tells the teen, for being so well-behaved. Bass hides his smile as Danny warms to his touch behind a mug of hot chocolate. Danny's eyes widening in surprise and pleasure as he tries his own mug of the same warm liquid is worth it.
Monroe smiles when Danny curls up next to him, and runs his free hand through the boy's hair as Danny dozes off. So far, his plan is working. His wild, proud colt is warming to him.
The general is reminded of a horse he had, once, when the Militia was starting out. Out of some sense of pity, or maybe comradeship, he'd rescued the horse from the man who'd owned it. The beast was wild and angry, and liked to kick. Monroe had sat on the fence every day, holding a bag of carrots. The horse had been tied to a post in the center of the old training arena. He'd been able to see the horse's nostrils flaring as it scented the food—a treat it must have remembered from before the blackout.
It took three weeks before the horse would dance closer to the fence—as close as its lead would allow it to, anyways—nosing for a treat.
Bass beats Danny with a belt, striking the younger man's back and shoulders with the buckle as he explains why he's disappointed with the teenager. Danny lays face-down on the hardwood floor, sobbing in pain and anguish. When Bass finishes, Danny continues to lay there until the general pulls him up and onto a couch. As the general rubs a cool salve into the cuts on Danny's back, he gently explains that he doesn't want to hurt Danny. He wants Danny to behave, and stay where he'll be safe—where Monroe can, hopefully, keep an eye on him. After he's done, Danny turns to face him.
Blue eyes downcast, Danny apologizes quietly, and asks if Bass will forgive him…maybe? Bass kisses Danny's forehead and says he'll think about it. The warm smile, one of relief, that graces Danny's face makes Bass smile in return.
It took five weeks for Bass' stallion to break to his will. It took eight for Danny to break to his touch and beg for Bass' approval, at least on a subconscious level.
Danny comes into his office one day, and sits quietly on the window seat, staring out the window. Bass ignores him, and continues to look over his paperwork. By the time dusk falls, Danny has gravitated to the floor next to his chair, head pillowed on Bass' thigh. Bass finally reaches down and runs his fingers through Danny's hair, a smile of genuine approval on his face. Danny melts into the touch, and Bass knows he's won.
After that, Bass no longer lets anyone touch Danny. The boy is allowed to roam wherever he likes, although there are limits to how far he can go. He still has guards, although Danny knows that they're there to protect him from kidnappings. It's no secret that the general has taken Danny under his wing, and that makes it dangerous for the teen to go anywhere without an armed escort.
Rachel protests, vehemently, when she sees Danny—her son, her baby—kneeling at Bass' feet. Bass just smiles at her, eyes saying I've won; Danny is mine and you won't get him back. Her armor begins to crack, and Bass sees how far he can push those little cracks. Danny complies when Bass pats his leg—a motion for the younger man to sit there—curling up against the man's chest, arms twined around Bass' neck. The general rubs little circles into the small of Danny's back, smiling at the pleased little purr only he can hear.
Eight weeks after he'd acquired the fiery white stallion, Bass had been able to put a bridle on him. He hadn't broken the horse to a saddle again, because he somehow knew it wasn't time. Ten weeks were long enough to break Danny to a metaphorical bridle that Bass could use to lead him around.
Bass is, obviously, rather surprised when Danny comes into his office, kisses him, smirks, and then leaves without so much as a word. The general isn't sure if he's supposed to take it as a challenge, a good sign, or both. He sits in silence for nearly an hour, fingertips pressed to his lips. It takes Tom coming into his office, announcing that Father Nicholas, the rebel they captured purely by chance, has broken, to shake him out of his contemplation.
The general celebrates the fact that the rebel's leader—their chief strategist, actually, but who cares, because the man's finally broken—by taking Danny out. Danny's never been to a restaurant, and Bass drinks in the sight of his Danny staring in awe at everything. Both of them imbibed a bit too much wine, and Bass isn't entirely displeased when he wakes up the next morning. He's got a hangover, but Danny's curled up next to him, a blissful smile on his face. They're both naked, and Bass has enough physical evidence to guess what the two of them did during the blacked-out spot in his mind. He has to lock himself in the bathroom before he can start laughing, although he's not sure if it's hysterical laughter (because Miles is going to rip his balls off when he finds out that Bass slept with his nephew), or incredulous (because he just screwed Miles' nephew and he's still alive).
In six months, Danny walks behind Bass, obedient and quiet. His tongue is still sharp, and Bass smiles approvingly when the boy uses it against Jason Neville. Jason scowls at the floor, cheeks red with anger. Danny leans into Bass' touch, glowing with happiness at the approval from his… Friend? Protector? The teen doesn't know what Bass wants to call what they have, but he lives for the man's approval all the same.
Bass broke his stallion to a saddle in just under a year. It only takes eight months to mold Danny into what Bass wants him to be. That Danny joined him in bed was entirely an accident, but Bass doesn't care. Danny is an eager student, and so willing to please.
Monroe, when he learns of Danny's first experience, has Richards tied to a chair. He hands Danny a pistol—a Heckler and Koch semi-automatic—and orders the boy to shoot his tormentor. Danny pulls the trigger repeatedly, sobbing as all he hears are clicks of an empty chamber. He sinks to the floor, wailing in agony because he's failed Bass. Bass comforts him and lets Richards out of the room. Richards has learned his lesson. (The general isn't too surprised when he hears that Richards jumped off the roof of a skyscraper a few days later. The man obviously knew he wouldn't get lucky a second time, and took the gentler way out.) Danny begs Bass to forgive him for failing. Bass knows that his wild colt has broken completely. It pleases him. He kisses the younger man's eyelids, dries Danny's tears with a handkerchief, and comforts him.
The general is pleased when his wild Danny finally breaks to the metaphorical saddle. Rachel screams and throws things and begs Bass to stop tormenting her baby boy. She gives up everything he asks for, and sobs brokenly in her room when she finally realizes that Danny sees Bass as a lover, rather than a captor. Bass doesn't take pity on the woman, and kisses Danny until the teen's lips bruise and the young man is left panting and needy and whining for Bass in front of Rachel.
Bass knows the true test of his colt's loyalty is when the girl-child and her friends are captured. Danny is given a gun. He checks this time, and sees that there is one bullet. Bass tells him to shoot one of them. A muscle in Danny's jaw twitches, and Bass can see the conflict in his eyes.
His wild colt aims his gun and pulls the trigger.
Bass laughs when the boy's sister howls in agony, a neat hole in her arm. Danny drops the gun and runs from the room. Bass orders Neville to get the girl medical treatment, and follows Danny. He kisses the younger man's tears away, and gentles him with touches for the rest of the evening.
When Bass takes Danny to an old training arena, Danny's eyes light up at the sight of the magnificent white stallion standing alongside one of the rails. Bass helps him up into the saddle, and rests his arms on the fence as Danny rides the stallion around the arena. The general smiles at the sight of his two proud horses, both gentled and broken to his will.
Danny broke in ten months. His stallion broke in a year.
Bass is pleased.
- o – o -
So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Like Bass' thoughts on Danny? Drop a line and let me know.
Author's note: Why is it so easy to refer to Danny as an animal? With Neville, he's a puppy. With Bass, he's a wild horse. What the heck would he be with Miles?