Title: Guard

Author: HephaistionsThighs

Rating: R, Adult

Pairing: Other/Capa; possible Mace/Capa

Warnings: Allusions to non-consensual sex, slash (M/M), violence, language


Mace headed to the shower after his shift ended. His work never really ended, there were routines to check the ship's maintenance continuously throughout the day, but his daily eight hours of obsessively going through Icarus' hardware and making sure everything was perfectly operational had ended for today at least.

When he reached the ship's shower, he was surprised to find it occupied. By the shoes sitting outside the stall, it was Capa. Mace took a shower the same time every day like clockwork, for months and months; there was no reason his shower schedule should suddenly run into Capa's.

He sighed and decided he'd just come back in a quarter hour, when a noise stopped him. Gasping, uneven breaths, heard through the shower door and through the pouring water, quiet sounds that could only be described as... sobbing. Mace hesitated a moment then stepped closer to the door. "Capa?"

A moment of silence, then a shaky voice. "Sorry. I'm-- I'm almost done in here. I'll be out in a minute."

"Are you okay?" Mace thought he maybe should have just left Capa be, the man might have just needed a little cathartic cry. But he sensed that no, something was really wrong.

"I'm fine." But the way his voice broke clearly said otherwise. Mace could still hear his harsh breathing.

Mace's brows furrowed. "No you're not. What's going on?" This wasn't Capa's personal business Mace could just ignore, everything about this mission was far too important to allow for privacy.

He just heard crying, no answer.

"I'm opening the door," Mace warned. There was no lock on it.

When it was open, Mace found Capa backed into the far corner of the small stall, covering himself and shaking. Mace realized his instinct had been very correct about something being wrong. Bruises were forming on Capa's wrists, on his knees, over his ribs, around what could only be cuts from finger nails on his arms and shoulders and waist.

The sound of the shower seemed deafening between them. Mace turned it off. "What happened?" he asked, stunned by the state of Capa's body.

Capa shook his head and didn't say anything. His eyes were red from crying and he couldn't meet Mace's gaze for long.

"Who did this?" Mace asked urgently. It was sinking into him what exactly had been done to Capa. These marks weren't just the result of a fight or even a normal beating. "Who did this to you?"

.

.

.

The other man never saw Mace coming. One moment he was looking into a monitor, the next he had been ripped away from it and thrown into the wall, an arm pressing down on his neck hard.

"Listen!" Mace snarled, "The only reason I'm not about to kill you is that this mission is too important, and we need everyone! But I swear, I will not hesitate to fucking end you if you so much as look at Capa again!"

Mace threw him to the floor, glaring down at him and looking all too ready to carry out his threat, before stalking away and leaving Harvey in appropriate fear for his life.


Thank you for reading. All comments are welcome.