Adam/Mallick! This pairing has a few followers now. Many have said Mallick is a lot like Adam in terms of personality, and I agree. That's why I (and some others) think they make such a sweet couple. We've dubbed this pairing "AngryShipping." Hopefully it'll stick, because it's an oddly appropriate name. XD This fic is primarily Adam/Mallick, but it has Adam/Lawrence, too. My natural ChainShipping instincts, I guess.
Anyway, please read, enjoy, and... maybe review? Pretty please? Reviews are always nice. XD
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Adam sometimes wondered if Mallick Scott was a pyromaniac, or at least very close to it.
He knew he had problems that were far bigger than his inferiority complex or the lingering dread and psychological issues they both faced from their past experiences with the notorious serial killer Jigsaw.
Adam knew, as every night usually ended with the two of them lying naked and spent on whichever piece of furniture they'd started on, and that was when he could see several new burn marks on the older man's arms and wrists. Adam had to wonder if his friend was into self-harm, too, or if the excitement of holding matches just made his hands shake so much that he ended up burning himself by accident.
Adam and Mallick had many things in common, as they'd learned shortly after meeting. Both were a rare instance of survivors of the horrific torture-traps of a former small, deranged group of serial killers. Mallick was the only survivor of five people who had been thrown into a more-or-less fatal obstacle course in an abandoned building. The 'game' had called for teamwork and cooperation, but paranoia and distrust had ended up causing the victims to turn on each other in desperate attempts to save their own lives.
Mallick himself hadn't killed anyone, at least not intentionally. He felt responsible for the death of the young woman Ashley, as it had been his panicking and refusal to work together with the others that had triggered the first trap and decapitated her. Two of the other victims, Charles and Luba, had chosen to single out Mallick at different times, attempting to murder him in order to save themselves, but had been foiled, Charles by Luba and Luba by Brit, the last victim of the game. Mallick often joked grimly that he'd been picked on the most because of his helpless and vulnerable demeanor.
The woman Brit, who by the end was the only other surviving victim, had bled to death from the final test, a deadly machine that had required ten pints of blood, or five pints each from the last two members of the game, to open the door to the building and let the victims escape. Mallick himself had had his right arm severed from the elbow-down because of his part in that trap and had been very close to bleeding to death himself.
Mallick had told Adam, and the police who'd interviewed him after his ordeal, that he'd been chosen to be in the 'game' because of a serious drug-addiction, but maybe it had been more than that. Maybe the main Jigsaw killer, John Kramer, who had been so good at picking out the flaws and weaknesses in his victims, had noticed Mallick's unnerving fascination with fire, too. Adam doubted he'd ever ask, but that didn't stop him from wondering.
Mallick, unlike the majority of the killers' victims, had actually expected to be in one of the traps sooner or later, and, filled with self-loathing and despair that only a terrible drug like heroin could cause, hadn't much cared to begin with, even claiming once that he deserved to suffer.
He had survived, though. By mercilessly mutilating his right arm in his final 'test,' he'd apparently proven satisfactorily that he had enough gratitude for the life he'd been given to be allowed to keep it.
Adam, on the other hand, had a longer and somewhat more complicated story. He had been victimized about a year before Mallick, when Jigsaw, who had already been dead by the time of Mallick's game and had thus had a cop named Mark Hoffman working for him then, had still been alive and well enough to manage his own traps. Adam, along with another man, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, had been kidnapped and taken to an abandoned warehouse building where he'd been chained by the ankle to a pipe in a dilapidated bathroom. Lawrence had been chained at the opposite side of the room. Between them had been the 'corpse' of a supposed third victim.
This had been among one of Kramer's more complicated traps, as well as one of his earlier ones. Lawrence had been told that he'd basically have to murder Adam if he ever wanted to see his wife and daughter, who had been kidnapped by one of Jigsaw's accomplice's, ever again. Adam had been chosen for the trap because of his line of work, which was pretty much following people around upon request of the person's suspicious family members or acquaintances and taking incriminating pictures of them.
Lawrence had been chosen partly because he'd been too indifferent and uncaring towards his various patients, even when he'd been telling them they were terminally ill. John Kramer, who had been struck with an inoperable brain tumor, had just happened to be one of Lawrence's patients. He hadn't much taken to so callously being told that he was going to die.
The other reason Lawrence had been chosen had been because he'd been cheating on his wife and beginning to become unappreciative of his family. Adam had actually been paid by a paranoid ex-cop by the name of David Tapp, who'd been obsessed with finding the then-unknown Kramer, to follow Lawrence around, as he had believed him to be the serial killer. This connection was what had brought the two men together in the trap.
Eventually, Adam and Lawrence had managed to work together enough to figure out the basis of their game and why they'd been chosen, which had sparked feelings between them ranging from annoyance, acceptance, betrayal, loathing, friendship, and, finally, a deep bond that would never be broken. Lawrence, desperate to save his family, had used the hacksaw provided to cut through his foot - a hacksaw that was too weak to cut through the metal pipes or chains that trapped the victims, but not too weak to cut through the much more delicate flesh of a human - and had tried to kill Adam, but instead had only wounded him in the right shoulder.
Shortly after, another of Jigsaw's victims, Zep, whom Adam and Lawrence had believed to be the actual killer, had arrived and attempted to shoot Lawrence for failing to kill his cell mate before the designated time limit ran out. Adam, however, who had been lying still and terrified this entire time, had suddenly sprung up and, in a fit of desperation and fear, had managed to beat the man to death with a rusty basin lid.
Adam would never forget what had happened after that — not that he'd forget anything that had happened that horrible day, but this had been particularly memorable. Lawrence, literally bleeding to death from his severed ankle and still worried sick about his family, had crawled over to Adam and grabbed the sobbing man's trembling body and held it close, touching his head to his in a weak but fervent gesture of comfort. He'd then assured the younger victim that he was going to be okay and that he would go and find help for him.
Adam, at the time, had clutched at the surgeon with every remaining bit of his rapidly-diminishing strength and begged him not to go, but Lawrence had pulled away, stopping first to tell him, once again, that they'd both be all right. What had happened then, Adam hated to think about more than anything. No sooner had Lawrence gone had the 'corpse' lying in the middle of the room risen to its feet and revealed itself as the real Jigsaw killer, before leaving Adam to die in his prison.
The killer hadn't bothered to stop Lawrence, probably because he hadn't thought the man would be any threat in his current condition. Lawrence, however, determined and desperate to live up to his promise, as well as to protect his family, had managed to crawl his way to the corpse of David Tapp, who had fruitlessly attempted to follow Zep down the maze of sewers that led eventfully to the room where the game had taken place.
Using the cell phone he'd found on Tapp's person, Lawrence had then succeeded in calling the police and telling them in slurred mumbles something of his and Adam's ordeals. The police had promptly traced the location from the cell phone, and help had arrived within two hours, though Lawrence had taken several more to reach the phone. Both Adam and Lawrence had been rescued, but the Jigsaw killer had failed to be found as John Kramer, whom Adam and Lawrence had identified, had disappointed immediately after. Lawrence's wife and daughter were also safe, having managed to escape the wrath of their kidnapper, Zep.
Adam and Lawrence had both suffered severe blood loss and mental trauma, but they welcomed that gladly over the even worse things that could have happened. After some time in the hospital and a few interviews with the police, the two surviving victims had been free to go. Lawrence had hugged Adam before they'd parted, and it had taken every last bit of self-constraint and willpower for the young photographer not to break down and cry like a baby in the other man's arms.
The two continued to see each other occasionally, going out to lunch or a movie, which Lawrence always paid for, or occasionally to each other's houses, plus calling or emailing each other semi-regularly. Lawrence had also paid for Adam's medical expenses such as the removal of the bullet from his shoulder, which had been horribly expensive, and refused to acknowledge the large sum of money as a loan when Adam had offered to pay him back with monthly payments from the first legitimate part-time job he could find.
Lawrence now stayed with his wife and daughter, attempting to reconcile and admit to the mistakes he had made, although he didn't seem to enjoy talking about that aspect of his life too much. Adam had met Alison and Diana a few times when he'd gone over to visit Lawrence, and, though Diana got along quite well with him, Alison's opinion of the ex photographer was lukewarm at best.
The last time Adam and Lawrence had seen each other physically had been about a month ago. That didn't worry Adam overly, since they had gone through longer periods without seeing one another, but that didn't stop him from missing the damn guy like grim death when they were apart. Missing Lawrence had been the main reason he'd previously taken to going to the bar after his job; he'd attempted to try to drown out some of his sorrows with alcohol.
That was how Adam and Mallick had met: in a bar. Adam had run out of money and Mallick, noticing, had ordered him the drink he'd wanted. Adam, surprised by this act of intimacy, had muttered an awkward thanks and attempted to move away, but Mallick had stopped him, eventually getting him to talk.
Something about the man's demeanor had comforted Adam. He hadn't been able to place it, but there'd been a strange familiarity and closeness in Mallick and the way he'd talked that had reminded him of Lawrence and himself. He'd later realized that this 'demeanor' was probably something all surviving victims of Jigsaw's games had.
Mallick had made some witty remarks about Adam's poor finances and offered to treat him to lunch the following day. Adam, who at that point hadn't spoken to Lawrence for a few weeks and was feeling lonely, had reluctantly accepted.
It had been at the lunch, which had been at a fancy, expensive seafood restaurant, that the two men had found out the other had been in one of Jigsaw's deadly 'games.'
Their common grounds had first been hinted, oddly enough, with each of their right arm injuries: Adam's scarred shoulder, which still hurt quite frequently, and Mallick's whole right arm, which, despite having been fixed as well as his father's vast bank account had allowed, was still very noticeable.
This had, naturally, eventually led to them talking, however reluctantly, about their ordeals. Obviously, talking about what he'd gone through had forced Adam to talk about Lawrence, too, and he'd been surprised at how hard that had seemed. It was hard to talk about a man you cared about so much that you knew you'd give your life for him, even if he had his own life and family to take care of before you. Mallick had seemed to understand, though. He'd smiled, almost sadly, and remarked: "Sounds like one hell of a guy."
'One hell of a guy...' Wasn't that the understatement of the century? Lawrence was much more than one hell of a guy. He was... Fuck, he had been everything to Adam. After all, Adam had no friends or relatives that cared enough for him to be of a great comfort. As pathetic as it sometimes seemed, Lawrence had been Adam's only real motivation for getting up in the morning.
Until he'd met Mallick, of course. He cared for him, too. More than he could ever express, since he had never been that good at putting words together. But he still knew that a great deal of his heart - God, that sounded so corny... - would always belong to Lawrence, no matter how much he loved his rich-boy, ex-drug-addict, possibly-pyromaniac boyfriend. You just couldn't go through what Adam and Lawrence had gone through together without becoming indisputably attached.
Mallick had given up drugs since meeting Adam. He'd been on the verge of giving them up even before that. Jigsaw's 'games' did that to you. Mallick had realized that he was destroying his life, that he'd been given a second chance that none of his other fellow-victims had gotten. When he'd first met Adam, he'd been down to a couple of marijuana puffs a week, a great improvement over what he'd been doing before. Not just with marijuana, but also with crack, heroin, speed, ice, and every other illegal substance in the book.
Adam himself had cut right back in his own unhealthy habits, which for him had been cigarettes, since his ordeal. He'd done so at Lawrence's request, as well as for similar reasonings of 'revaluation' and 'second chances' to Mallick's. Before his 'game,' he'd spent over half his dishonest earnings on cigarettes, fluctuating between two and three packets a day. Afterwards, he'd managed to force himself into taking that same amount weekly. And, after meeting Mallick, he was lucky to smoke one packet a week. Well, "lucky" wasn't really the right word, since the young man was happy to be almost-rid of the vile things, but still.
Adam knew, though, that despite Mallick's resolutions and 're-finding' of himself from his ordeals, the guy was still unreasonably fascinated by fire. He had a lush, old-fashioned fireplace in his apartment which he insisted on lighting every night, unless the weather was so hot he was forced to admit that the air conditioner was a better idea.
When the fire was lit, Mallick would stare into its flames, his eyes transfixed. Adam hated it, but he couldn't think of anything to do about it. The obsession wasn't harming anyone, after all. Not even him. After staring into the fire for ten minutes or so, Mallick's need seemed to be satisfied, and he would make up for the period of silence and neglect by fervently grabbing Adam around the waist, wrestling him to the soft, lavish carpet of the room, and submitting himself to kissing and touching his lover like he hadn't gotten any in years.
If Adam had known the real reason why Mallick couldn't let go of his apparent obsession with fire, he probably never would've let himself get so attached to the guy in the first place.
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Ugh, kind of a boring chapter, I know. I don't think I've ever used the past participle so much in one chapter. XD But don't worry; this chapter was just to set the mood of the fic. The next few chapters will be going over how Adam and Mallick met in greater detail, their bonding when they realize they were both victims of a Jigsaw game, and, of course, the red-hot ass-fucking that their friendship pretty quickly turns into! ;) And yes, Adam does eventually find out that Mallick accidentally killed a bunch of people with his previous drug-obsession. LOL, spoilers FTW, huh?
