[PROTOTYPE: Sanctum]

Chapter IX

'No one can see everything on the other side of me! I walk, I crawl losing everything on the downfall!'-Trust Company (Downfall)

oOo

"What have you done?" Mark asked again, voice hoarse and strained.

Toby shouldered past Alex and made to go to his brother, only Mark had stepped back and thrown his hands up in front of him as if to ward off an attack. Toby stopped dead.

"Why are you-I can't believe you would," Mark stammered, shoving his fingers through his hair. "All this time! All this time you were working with him?"

Toby blanched and immediately starting spluttering, words getting jumbled and confused somewhere between his brain and mouth and coming out a complete mess.

"You said you weren't a traitor! My God, Toby, what the fuck were you thinking! Huh?"

Finally, Toby found words. "It's not what you think!"

...That's it? What the FUCK!

"What?" Mark asked dazedly, and then his face twisted into an expression of pure disgust and a loathing so heavy it looked unbearable. "Oh, so you're not fucking him? My mistake, I thought for a second I saw his tongue down your throat! Guess I'm just seeing things, right? I mean, I couldn't have possibly just seen my brother trading spit with the guy topping America's Most Wanted list!"

"Mark!"

"SHUT UP! Just shut up, Toby! You've pretty much just cut your own throat! You might as well be dead with the maggots eating your goddamned eyes out and I don't know if I should pretend I don't see you or go get someone of authority to handle this!"

Toby swallowed and shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Alex was immobile, but his eyes were were flickering between himself and Mark, and Toby felt a spike of fear shoot through his blood. Their former warmth was gone, and in its place was left a cold and calculating stare. Heartless and malevolent.

And Toby suddenly realized just how much danger Mark was in. After all, he was just one kid, barely even a man. Just one. He could easily be dealt with and everything would be fine. No alarms, no guns, no nothing.

All Alex would have to do was just barely flick a finger, and Mark would be dead.

"Mark-"

"What? What could you possibly have to say?"

"You need to leave," he said, not daring to step closer. He could feel Alex behind him, could feel the air expand and contract as he readied himself for the kill.

"Leave?" Mark repeated incredulously. "What the fuck do you mean, 'leave'?"

"Just do as I say!" He shifted a little to the side, blocking Mark as much as he could without making it obvious.

"You're not in the position to be telling me what to do, you-"

"Mark, run!" Toby moaned, and, without sparing his brother a second glance, spun on his heel and launched himself at Alex, bowling into him and crashing them both to the concrete.

oOo

Toby did some stupid things in his life. Strapping his brother into a questionably-safe go-kart had been one of them. Coming out to his dad and expecting nothing to change was another, along with skipping his ACTs the first time, not going to college, using his best friend Trixie as a cover-up in high school-and the numbers just kept rising and rising. It made his head spin just to think of it.

But, if he really thought about it, if he forced himself to go down that long list of memories tainted by his foolish actions, then he knew he'd find that the most senseless thing he had ever done was join the army. Nothing but bad luck had come out it from the start.

It broke him away from Mark soon after their fight, widening the gap between them and making every conversation they had strained and awkward at best. It changed him, though he couldn't see or catch what exactly, he could sense he was different and it made him crave that much more for the carefree man he used to be.

There was also how, during the weeks he had been back at base, he had been forced to notice just how two-faced the whole business was. It made him sick. The officials planned not to keep Manhattan and its people safe, or even to destroy the virus, but to keep it beneath their thumb and in their control.

Men were sent out every day, dying and killing (sometimes innocents) because they were ordered to protect and serve (Lies, all lies). No one was really meant to survive it except Blackwatch, the Marines were the decoys-bait.

Toby hated it all, hated everyone involved. He regretted ever signing his name on that dotted line and giving his life, his entire world, over to the greedy pigs sitting behind their desks smiling their secret smiles that said, "Excellent, here's your gun, here's your tags, now be a good little dog and carry out our every command."

For all of his screw-ups, though, there was thing Toby could always count on. He never made the same mistake twice.

oOo

Mark turned and fled.

It was the last time Toby would see him alive.

Toby threw all weight onto the body beneath him, snatching one of Alex's wrists and slamming it down next to his head. He used his free arm to pin Alex down by the chest, his forearm pressed threateningly against his throat.

"Don't move. Don't you fucking move," Toby hissed, knowing that even as he spoke he sounded near hysterical.

Alex's eyes were thrown into sharp relief, his hood flipped back and pooling around his neck. His dark hair was mussed and stuck out at odd angles like he had just rolled out of bed, and if Toby hadn't been so sure he was a ruthless, savage killer, he might have been mistaken him for some harmless man sprawled out on the ground.

Alex's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"You were going to kill him," Toby unconsciously tightened his grip. "He's my brother, I couldn't...I just-"

"He'll alert them, they'll kill you, you know that." Alex shifted and growled deep in his throat when Toby refused to budge.

"I know," he snapped and tensed, expecting Alex to throw him off at any second and make a straight shot after Mark. "But I just couldn't let you murder the only family I have left!"

Alex bared his teeth, exposing his unnaturally sharp canines in a vicious snarl. "Get off, Toby."

"No."

Please, don't throw me off. Don't throw me off-Oh, God, Mark.

"Get. Off."

"Fuck you."

Alex's eyes flashed brilliantly, and with what seemed hardly any effort, he twisted and flipped them over, pinning Toby harshly beneath him. He glared.

"Don't kill him!" Toby shouted desperately, angrily, squeezing his eyes shut and bucking, knowing it wouldn't do any good. "Please, God, just don't kill him! I'll rip your fucking arms off!"

oOo

Alex growled and snatched Toby's wrists, slamming them back down into the concrete. "Stop it."

Toby bared his teeth much like Alex had done to him, and sucked in a deep breath, readying to a howl as loud as he could. Alex grimaced and, without giving it a second thought, snapped forward and covered Toby's mouth with his own.

When he pulled back, Toby was silent and staring at him with narrowed eyes. He squeezed his wrists a little harder.

"Don't do that again," Toby said, tone low and mutinous.

He gave a small smirk and mock-leaned in, his smirk growing into something resembling a half grin when Toby flinched back.

"Why?" he asked, and tilted his head toward Toby's neck. "Afraid that Mark is going to come running back and see you again? Or because you can't resist?" He insinuated the last with a sharp bite and sensual lick right next to Toby's jugular.

"Alex...I'll fucking kill you." The threat would have sounded more like a promise under normal circumstances, but instead it came out breathy and only a little venomous.

Alex hid a wicked grin against the skin of Toby's throat.

oOo

Toby didn't make it easy for him. Not in the least.

He fought every move and every step, pushing and pulling like some fucked up magnet. With every sharp scrape of Alex's teeth on his skin, he returned in kind with twice the bite. Every shove, he shoved harder, every whispered harsh word, he hissed it back, nastier. It was crazy and out of control, and what made it that much more exciting was the glaringly obvious fact that Alex was loving it.

It was insane and Toby's mind staggered at the revelation before blanking completely.

His entire body trembled with suppressed pleasure as Alex's hands clenched against his hips, holding him still as he ground down into him. Toby's mouth dropped open and his head jerked back, spine pulling taught like a bow.

He yanked back Alex's hood and bit down on the soft skin just under his jaw. "Come on, you bastard. This the best you got?" He slid one hand down Alex's throat and squeezed while painfully tangling the other through the soft hairs at his nape. "Pathetic."

Alex's immediate answer was sharp snarl and he forcefully yanked Toby to his feet before shoving him back into the building. Toby wedged a foot against the wall and vaulted forward, spinning, and slammed Alex in the same place he had just been. He leaned in and crushed his lips against Alex's, licking and biting with a renewed fervor, silently goading Alex to come on, come on you can do better than this.

Alex said something too quiet for Toby to catch against his mouth before slipping his hands between them and shoving them under Toby's hoodie and shirt, searing the skin there with his hot hands. His fingers pulled Toby impossibly closer as he tore away his mouth, pressing his lips against his ear.

"You're not going to walk away after this."

Mark's going to hate me.

"Fine."

oOo

They broke two lamps and knocked over the coffee table, and Toby knows they cracked the window because he heard the glass give when his back hit it. Alex smirked at him when he yelped, but growled like a bitch after Toby socked him in the jaw again. Jackets, shoes and socks were shucked at random, ready to unearthed later but for now not given a second thought.

Mark was going to be mad. He was going to hate Toby for the rest of his life, and yeah, he felt like shit for it because that was his brother he had just abandoned. But for once Toby found himself disgusted at the thought of crawling back to Mark and seeking redemption; he'd done it his whole life, why couldn't he just let it go for once?

Toby barked a laugh as Alex's feet tangled with his own and they tumbled down onto his old mattress in a heap of flailing limbs.

"Watch it!" he hissed as Alex's knee came dangerously close to hitting a very sensitive part of his anatomy. Alex snorted, but carefully kept his legs away from Toby's crotch.

His shirt was forcefully pulled over his head, and Toby felt a little dazed from the abrupt movements as Alex arched his back like a cat and started kissing him again. It was only when Alex's tongue curled around his own and his hands drifted from his shoulders to his chest to his stomach and still moved lower, that Toby bucked and tore his mouth away.

"Off," he growled, and pulled sharply at Alex's remaining shirt. If he was going to be half-naked, then by God, so was this stupid asshole, too. Alex rolled his eyes, but pulled up and yanked off his own shirt with a scowl.

When he moved back toward him, Toby met him halfway and planted his hands behind him to keep himself from falling on his back. Enough with me being the fuckin' girl here.

Toby lost track of everything then, because Alex's hand had slipped between them and was taking off his jeans and straddling him and ohgodohgodohgod.

His arms went numb, and he sprawled back on the bed. He vaguely felt Alex pushing his jeans the rest of the way off, barely heard them hit the floor, followed by a second pair, because Alex started slowly rocking against him in a pale comparison of what was coming up.

He might have moaned, but he'd never admit to it.

"H-Hang on," Toby gasped out, biting back on a whimper. "You gotta have something. Anything."

He cracked his eyes open and caught a glimpse of Alex's confused expression before the man ducked out of sight and started kissing and biting down his throat. Toby halfheartedly pushed at his shoulders.

"Spit only does so much, Alex. Please-shit," Toby shuddered as Alex rubbed against him again, dragging forth a ragged breath. "Please, tell me you've got lotion or-or...ngh."

Toby finally got Alex's full attention by gripping his hair and jerking, exposing Alex's pale throat to his own teeth. "You don't even know what you're doing, do you?" he murmured against his skin. Alex tensed up the slightest, which was answer enough.

Toby laughed and flopped back down onto his back. "Good God, this is fucking priceless."

Alex grunted and scowled sharply down at him. "I don't see how this is funny."

"Roll over. I'm not going to bottom for a virgin."

"Virgin?" Toby snorted when Alex's expression twisted into a mixture of anger and disbelief. "I'm not a virgin."

"The hell you aren't," he scoffed. "Move it."

"No."

"Damn it, Alex!"

Toby groaned. He felt like crying; he was practically falling apart and if Alex didn't hurry up and do something, he was going to finish it himself, with or without the little fucker.

"Alright, alright, fine," he snapped and shifted, grudgingly spreading a little further. "But if you don't start moving now, I'm going to cut off your dick."

Alex moved.

Toby's mouth dropped open in a silent cry and his back arched off the bed. Guess he used some spit after all. His fingers curled loosely into the sheets, squeezing his eyes shut.

He moved awkwardly at first, and Toby got the feeling that all of this, not just being with another man, but the whole sex thing, was pretty foreign to him. After all, Alex had died, he was just this virus now. A virus with human tendencies and with the pressing urge to feel, but a virus nonetheless.

Was he doing all of this just by instinct? He almost laughed-would have-but Alex, purely by chance, had twisted and hit something in Toby that had his eyes flying open and hips bucking almost violently up against Alex.

He felt Alex pause above him and he cut his gaze to lock with vibrant, pulsing blue, about to verbally rip him to shreds-why the fuck are you stopping?- but swallowed his words at Alex's expression.

Alex blinked, disbelief melting into apprehension into wicked intent and Toby snapped his mouth shut, pointedly tearing his gaze away and choking back a moan as Alex started pushing into him again, harder and a little faster than before.

He was intentionally hitting the same spot again and again, driving Toby down into the mattress and smirking when it became obvious just how hard it was for Toby to stay silent. He fisted his hands tighter into the sheets, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. Alex shifted and thrust roughly into him, and Toby tilted his head back, mouth opening as he breathed out jaggedly, the heat and pressure building and building until he thought was going to burst. His throat ached from stay so silent, but he refused to make a sound.

Alex licked his neck. "I want to hear you," he hissed, emphasizing his words with swift jerk of his hips. "You know you want to, Toby."

Toby gasped and squirmed, feeling his very skin burn with each breath. "N-No way in hell, bah-bastard." He didn't think he could last much longer.

As if to prove his thoughts true, Alex reached between them and took him in his hand, pumping once-swift and God, he was going to go crazy.

"Ah!" Toby trembled and he could practically hear Alex's smirk. He narrowed his eyes on Alex and found that, yes, he was smirking, and he looked rather proud of himself, too. His hand started to move. Toby's eyes rolled.

He could almost taste the challenge he had unintentionally declared to Alex, and he knew he was going to lose. Badly. In a futile attempt at not giving Alex what he wanted, Toby threw a hand over his mouth and bit into the skin. Oh fucking christ-shit.

Actions and feelings blurred into an all consuming ball thrumming in Toby's core and he writhed beneath Alex, losing the fight completely and moaning low and helplessly, hands flying over his head and gripping hard into the headboard because God Alex wasn't holding back anymore and Toby was positive that, fuck yeah, he was going to go insane, no doubt about it.

His world exploded in a sea of blinding light. Alex thrust a few more times before shuddering out an uneven breath, eyes wide and glazed over, and arms shaking with the effort of holding himself up.

Toby blinked, the image burning itself into his mind for as long as he lived. Alex looking lost and confused and exposed in a way that wasn't meant for people to see-though he had.

Just before Alex rolled off him, just before he lost consciousness and would later wake to see Alex asleep for the first time and touch his face in a way completely opposite of the violence he usually offered, Toby found himself wondering if Alex was maybe, possibly, more human than either of them had been led to believe.


A/N: Ugh, jesus, that took forever. Alright well I hope you guys liked it, lemme know.

Now for a special thank you to Joveesia, who helped me through practically everything in this chapter. Thank you so much! This wouldn't have gotten anywhere without her, so go check out her stuff (which is amazing) and leave her awesome reviews :D

Last chapter is coming up next! Not sure how I feel about that yet, this story has been like my little demon-child that I've grown to have a love-hate relationship with. Hmm. Anyway, set up a DeviantART account if anyone's interested, link is on my profile.

Review if you like Alex!Smut!