Notes: I'm cross posting all of my stuff from Ao3 for reasons…anyways. Enjoy the fic!
Content warnings for this chapter: Violence, Mentions of abuse, attempted sexual assault, canon-typical violence and MURDER.
Jack hadn't taken much time to rest before he took Rhys to a nice place to buy him a whole new wardrobe. Rhys had gotten over his own personal obstacles with being pampered and had come to find that he really liked it. He, by that he meant Jack, had ended up spending five hundred dollars on; skinny jeans, cardigans, and among copious other things, fun socks. Jack had ushered him into the caravan to change.
"You clean up good, babe." Jack murmured, as he took in Rhys' form in clothes that actually fit him. He kissed Rhys hard on the lips, gripping at auburn locks and curling his fingers in them. He ended it with a gentle nip on the others low lip, leaving them both with swollen lips.
Rhys looked good, really good and he had to suppress the urge to bend the younger man over the nearest hard surface in the enclosed area of the caravan and just ruin him. He suddenly pulled back and relaxed his grip on his soul-mate with an elongated sigh, ignoring Rhys' disturbingly cute pout.
"What's wrong?" Rhys stuttered, "What did I do? Did I do something wrong?"
"Why...would you think something like that Rhysie?" He replied, "You're goddamn perfect."
"Well, I'm obviously not or you wouldn't..." he trailed off, not wanting to come off as clingy even though his inner voice was telling him, Well that ship sailed a long time ago.
"I wouldn't...what?" he urged, "Come on sweetheart, tell me what I'm doin' wrong here."
"Why don't you just fuck me already?" he blurted out, slapping his arm over his mouth immediately after. "I just...you haven't done anything other than kiss me and I'm not used to..." he gestured vaguely, "Whatever you're doing to-with me." Rhys was on a babbling rampage, so embarrassed logically that he subconsciously covered his face in his hands. "You're so nice-"
"Oh, trust me pumpkin. I'm not that nice."
"But you're nice to me! I just don't want you to get bored of me and leave me."
Jack made a thoughtful noise that turned into a laugh, he pulled the younger man close and squeezed Rhys' bum flirtatiously "Oh kitten I'm trying so hard not to just fuck you into next week every time you do something cute or bend over and show me that pretty ass, which not that I think about it you might have been doing on purpose" Rhys giggled, and he grinned at his soul-mate. "but..."
"What?"
"Kitten you just don't get it do ya? You're somethin' special and I wanna do this right by you." at Rhys' confused face he added, "Have you ever dated anyone? You know, flowers, chocolate and horse-drawn carriages. All that jazz?"
Jack had never actually cared for someone enough, in a romantic sense, to do all that. He had never been in love with his wife, she was just gullible enough to believe his excuses. He had felt next to nothing when she died while having Angel.
"Not...really?" Jack made a motion for Rhys to explain himself so he went on. "I mean usually if someone liked me my step-father would scare them off. He was...possessive I guess." he shrugged, like it was something normal.
"There was this one guy, though. A couple of years ago, he was older than me...maybe twenty? Anyways, he acted like he liked me and he was definitely more popular around town- everyone in Sanctuary knows each other-and I thought it didn't make sense but..." he giggled nervously, wringing his hands together. His fingers twisted almost painfully in his lap, "I just really wanted someone to be nice to me and he was pretty cute so I..."
"I get it, cupcake." He said, but Rhys wasn't listening. He kept on babbling the story like he couldn't control what went out of his mouth.
"I thought we were going to go bowling. You know, like in the movies?" He smiled sadly at Jack, "Um, that's not what...He threw money on me afterward and called me a whore. I had never been so humiliated in my life."
Jack grit his teeth, realizing that the list of people who were going to die because they hurt Rhys was getting bigger and bigger. It was a little bittersweet, on one hand it really helped with his compulsions, on the other hand he really hated the idea that anyone would have the audacity to treat his cute little soul-mate badly even before Jack had met him.
"What was his name?" if he could get a full name, there was a chance he could get one of his investors, Ms. Hammerlock to get him an address. She was handy like that, and never asked too many questions. Rhys on the other hand, didn't want to talk about everything else that that whole ordeal had brought up and decided to end the conversation.
"I don't remember." he said curtly, "and I would rather not talk about it again? If you would mind?" Jack assented to that with a kiss to Rhys' jaw. "And...you don't have to be like that with me, Jack. I would honestly much rather it if you didn't"
At that Jack chucked darkly, and pulled his lover into another bruising kiss. "Cupcake-look at me, okay?- I will fuck you. There's nothing I want to do more and if you keep that minxy attitude up, it will be pretty soon, but the first time I do this...it's not going to be in this caravan."
There were few things that infuriated Jack more than someone trying to touch what he viewed as his, so of course this sort of thing had to happen on such a good day. They were finally on their way back to Opportunity but they had decided to make a supply stop. Rhys had ended up wandering off, most likely unintentionally. His soul-mate spaced out a lot, so he ventured that Rhys just went off in his own world and his body moved with him.
"Hey Rhys." he snapped to a vaguely familiar face that had him feeling dread, although he couldn't quite place it.
"Still crazy?" the guy snarked, boxing Rhys in with the expectation for some sadistic fun with younger male. "Or just crippled now?" he eyed Rhys' stump pointedly at which point Rhys cradled it self-consciously. He had never gotten a prosthetic for it, his family never spent money on him if they could help it and if the phantom pains weren't enough people always looked at him like he was a sideshow attraction.
His assailant grabbed him hard forcing him against a concrete wall and it hurt. He hadn't been hit in at least six weeks, about as long as he had known Jack, and now he was being manhandled so roughly that unwanted tears sprung from his eyes.
"F-f-f-fuck off, man I-i-i d-d-didn't do anything to you." he struggled fruitlessly in the death-like grip, not liking where this might be going. "Let me go." he pushed at his assailant, struggling more for his own dignity than anything.
"Aw come on Rhys, really? You don't remember me? But we had so much fun together." he laughed cruelly, "Well, I did." it suddenly occurred to him who it was and he panicked.
"My boyfriend's right around the corner." he blurted out, hoping it was true enough, Jack always seemed in ear shot of him and that was more of a bonus to him than a negative. As if by providence, his soul-mate came upon the scene looking positively furious. The assailant dropped him like he burned him, looking over at Jack in a cursory manner.
Jack didn't know whoever this guy that loomed over his soul-mate was but, in addition to
the possessive need to destroy anyone who so much as looked at his cupcake wrong, judging by the way the smaller male all but cowered at this guy, he had a feeling he was going to have a good fist to face talk with him.
"Cupcake!" Jack shouted overtly loudly to the younger man, he was instantly at the others side with his fingers intertwined with Rhys' before he looked over at Rhys' assailant, "Whose the trench coat mafia reject?" he snarked, ready to kill this guy with his bare hands if he said one wrong thing.
"What are you his sugar daddy? Guess that makes sense." Oh you are just begging for me to have my hands wrapped around your insignificant throat. His inner monologue quipped, for once in agreement with his urges.
"He's just some guy from my past." Rhys interjected, not really in the mood for flagrant displays of dominance this early in the morning. "Can we just go now, please? I'm sorry for wandering off." he looked at Jack pleadingly as if to say, I know he's an asshole but he's just not worth it.
Jack seemed to listen, as he snaked an arm around Rhys' waist and started to pull away from the scene.
"Yeah cupcake, let's go." they were about to leave when the asshole-in-question decided to open his mouth again.
"Go on Cupcake. Earn your keep." Rhys flinched at the undertones in the words.
His soul-mate moved him off to the side and sidled over to Rhys' assailant. Jack let out a high-pitched mock chuckle before he took a swung at the guy, it didn't take him much effort to wrestle the other guy to the floor. He straddled Rhys' assailant, high on adrenaline and blood-lust.
"Hey Rhysie?" he asked, looking at his wide-eyed soul-mate. Jack seemed perfectly calm in that moment, looking at Rhys reassuringly.
"Yes, Jack?" he squeaked, a little concerned with what was happening.
"Honey can you step back a little more? This could get messy." Rhys nodded meekly, figuring that Jack might be capable of more than he first thought.
"What's your name? Dick?" at the garbled reply, he added "Yeeeeaaaah, actually I don't care." he bashed the other mans head into the dirty concrete floor. "here's what's going to happen, dick. You're going to apologize to Rhys. And if-" another punch to his jaw, with a resounding smack.
"ONLY IF, I find it satisfactory will I let you go. You-"
Smack.
"Smarmy."
Smack!
"Annoying"
Smack!
"piece of shit-"
Smack!
"rapist."
SMACK!
The final hit made a cracking noise, his nose bashed in, cartilage and blood oozing out of the wound. Jack looked at Dick in revulsion. "You like beating up on defenseless kids? Hmm, is that it? You get your jollies off by hurting someone who can't fight back?" Dick looked pathetic, bruised and bloody and begging for his life. He pulled back his arm, his own knuckles bruised and scraped from all the action. Jack was having the time of his life, there was nothing he enjoyed more than beating the shit out of some asshole who really deserved it.
"Now apologize." Dick was calling out for Rhys to help him but the expression on his face was emotionless, cold. Jack smirked, realizing that Rhys is a little more like him than he had first thought.
"Ah-ah-ah. Rhysie's not gonna get you out of this. Apologize."
"oh god-I'm sorry Jesus Christ I'm so fucking sorry! Please just oh my god don't kill me." Dick babbled, Rhys watched him in vague interest. He had never been the powerful one before and it felt so good. "Jack?" at Jacks hummed response, he asked "Can we just go, he's-he's not worth the trouble."
Jack nodded, giving Dick a final punch.
"See was that so hard?" he cooed patronizingly, patting Dick's cheek before he moved over to Rhys. Jack knew that he had probably beat Dick to death which wasn't how he usually killed. Crime of opportunity, he reminded himself, you didn't have your fancy wire and let's be real here. You weren't intending to kill this guy otherwise his windpipe would be broken instead of his nose.
He wasn't going to let his Cupcake know that he had killed someone for him, not yet at least.
"You okay?" Jack used his thumb to catch a thin trail of blood from his soul-mates lower lip. "Listen I'm sorry you had to see that I-" for once Rhys was the one to cut him off, "Oh me? I'm fine, you should see the other guy." he joked, but he was shaking. Jack immediately comforted Rhys, murmuring things like Kitten it's okay, you're alright. You're safe. It's okay babe.
"You're not scared of me, are you Rhys?" Not Rhysie. Not kitten. Not cupcake. Just Rhys, and thel ack of some sort of petty endearment worried the younger man.
Rhys shook his head and bit his trembling lower lip hard enough to draw blood as he nuzzled into the older man, "I wanted-I wanted him to die. I h-h-h-hoped that you killed him. d-d-does it make me a bad person?"
Jack shook his head no but Rhys wasn't sure, he felt ambivalent at best, on the one hand this guy really deserved it. On the other hand he didn't want to think that he was capable of that kind of violence.
Jack ushered him in the caravan, realizing he might have to drug Rhys so he wouldn't have to know about how Jack was going to get rid of this guy.Well, there's an upside here. He thought morbidly, There's a lake nearby.
