He paced, almost as if caged. He was actually, Midvalley supposed, watching his blue haired 'leader' as he moved. He was after all stuck here. With us. With him.

Though the sax player doubted Legato minded the last one at all.

Giving a small sigh, knowing there was a fifty-fifty chance that he'd seriously regret opening his mouth in the next moment, Midvalley set his whiskey glass aside. "Legato-sama," he said, hating the honorific even as it left his lips, "May I ask why you're so upset?" He never spoke more politely to anyone than Legato. Even to Knives, because then he didn't speak. He really didn't trust himself too. How could he be sure he wouldn't slip up and call that blonde.... thing.... what he really was?

Legato didn't pause, simply glanced at him with those golden eyes before looking forward again, lost in whatever thoughts a psychopath thinks. Midvalley made a face and picked up his glass, taking a slow sip. Legato was starting to remind Midvalley of a tiger -- he'd never seen one alive, of course, and most people said animals like those didn't really exist -- but he'd seen pictures and heard stories when he was still young. They were supposed to be powerful, big cats, with eyes that could freeze anything or anyone dead in their tracks. They had been apparently kept in cages in.... zoos was it? Or was it something else? Well, whatever it was, they had been kept in cages along with other beasts and would apparently pad silently back and forth, waiting for someone stupid enough to stick an arm inside the iron bars.

Midvalley was definitely not plant engineer material but he wasn't stupid enough to move close to something agitated that had the ability to rip off your arm. Or your head.

Midvalley noticed with a bit of a start, as he'd been musing about tigers and zoos and loosing limbs, that Legato had finally stopped pacing. Those golden eyes were staring at him and Midvalley stared back from over the clear rim of his glass.

"You're just a human, like the rest of them," Legato said after the silence had stretched out.

The dark haired man's lips twitched downwards slightly and he ignored the strong urge to reply 'So are you'. Very little got the psychopath as easily upset as being reminded that he was a human, unless it was Knives doing the reminding. He seemed to soak it up then, like a city soaks up a plant's energy. Midvalley doubted that sort of masochistic streak could be healthy. Of course, none of them were very mentally stable when you got right down to it.

"Ah, I am," he replied easily, draining his glass. It wasn't like he was going to argue with an obvious fact. And he, for one, had no problems with being human. It was damn well better to be a dirty human than it was a fucking monster, in his opinion.

Legato stared at him for another long moment and Midvalley continued to stare back idly. It certainly wasn't one of those subtle contest of wills, he thought to himself, it was just that there wasn't much else to look at. The Gung-Ho-Guns seemed to stay in varying places of luxury; Legato usually took care of it with one of his mind control tricks and even if he wasn't there, the Guns could usually scam or murder their ways into a decent hotel room for as long as they wished. The place they were staying at was pretty nice; good food, huge beds and no bugs crawling in the bathroom. Not bad at all. And not a place Midvalley enjoyed being in. He suspected it came from the years of being a simple musician, before he'd discovered his, ah, talent. Then he'd always been in small, poorly-lit rooms that usually reeked of smoke and sex. Those were the days.

The blue haired man began to move again, startling Midvalley from his thoughts as he noticed Legato was moving towards him instead of resuming his pacing. The horn player blinked a bit, leaning back further on his stool and setting the empty glass down on the mini bar next to him. "Is something the matter, Legato-sama?"

"Ah. Something is." There was a certain dark merriment tainting those words, causing Midvalley to move back further still until his shoulders bumped the wall lightly. When Legato sounded like that, it meant one of two things. One, he had just found a new and creative way to make Vash the Stampede suffer. Two, someone was going to die in a very bloody fashion. Noting that neither the blonde outlaw nor anyone else was around, Midvalley was growing nervous.

"Which would be....?" he asked, keeping his voice as even as possible.

"Pointless to explain," Legato said calmly, placing a hand on the wall next to the saxophone player's head. "Are you afraid, Midvalley?"

The man in question swallowed hard. Wasn't there some sort of saying about animals being able to smell fear....? "Sir?"

Legato's eyes narrowed faintly, even as his lips twisted upwards. "You are."

Midvalley let out a sigh, annoyed suddenly by his almost grinning companion. Yes, he was afraid. Anyone in their right mind would be with an insane man wearing a skull on an immaculately clean -- Knives wouldn't stand for anything less than perfect -- white jacket leaning in over them. However, he wasn't about to admit it. "Legato-sama, it's late. If it's alright with you, I'd like to get some sleep now."

"It's not alright with me."

What the hell WAS this? Midvalley fumed silently. He didn't dare voice it, didn't dare strike out. Even if he had his saxophone on him, even if he hadn't stupidly left his gun in the jacket hanging so far away by the door, Legato could still easily kill him. At least, it seemed, that wasn't what he had in mind. Legato wasn't one to usually beat around the bush when it came to snuffing out a life. Maybe a little verbal torture and then boom -- dead. Was he just trying to scare him then? If that was the plan, then it was working damn well, Midvalley thought with a frown.

"You look upset." The chuckle was there again, rippling through Legato's words. "It's a rather pleasing sight," Legato said, his other hand reaching to cup Midvalley's jaw in gentle but strong fingers. His thumb flickered up to rub over his cheek and the blue haired man almost purred. "Very pleasing."

Midvalley blinked for a moment, it taking him a second to realize what was going on and that he wasn't being hurt. For the time being, anyways. Still.... He jerked his head back from the touch, it meeting the wall with a solid thump. A dull pain sprung up along his skull, but it was a shallow hurt. "I don't swing that way," he said.

"Liar." Legato was laughing silently at him. "I know exactly how you feel about that minister in black."

"A-Ah...." Midvalley gaped for a moment in surprise before shaking his head. "It's not like that."

"Liar," Legato repeated coldly, hand cupping his chin again. "So why don't we make a deal, hm?" It sounded more like a rhetorical question than a real offer. Midvalley frowned again and decided to take the bait despite his better judgement.

"A deal....?" It sounded like a trap, but still.... God only knew how easily Legato could simply _take_ what he wanted; no apologies, no soft words, no deals. So a deal.... A give and a take. This was good, or at least damn well better than the other option.

"You give me what I want," Legato said, leaning in to brush his lips over the other man's, "and I'll give you what you want."

"What I want?" He knew damn well what -- no.... _who_ he wanted. The minister who rang the black funeral bell. The terrorist priest who could be smiling and laughing fondly with a child one moment and gunning down men in cold blood the next. He was interesting. How could anyone be so close to being a living contradiction yet still manage to make perfect sense?

Legato nodded, tilting his head down to plant soft kisses along Midvalley's throat. He grinned a little to himself, enjoying the feel of the other man's pulse quickening underneath his lips. "Mm."

"I.... I don't want...."

"He won't be hurt. Much," Legato said, adding the word almost as an after thought, "So don't worry your pretty little head over it."

'Pretty'? Screw being polite. "Bast--" The insult was cut off as Legato moved back up, capturing Midvalley's lower lip between his teeth. /Quiet now,/ Legato's voiced echoed through his mind almost mockingly, /You wouldn't want to one of the others to come running in here, now would you?/

No.... that wouldn't be good. The Guns weren't actively out for each other's blood, but showing a weakness was practically signing your own execution order. It was alright in front of Legato -- he already seemed to know each of them inside and out anyways -- but another Gung-Ho-Gun? He'd pass, thanks.

A dark hand slid down his Midvalley's front, deftly undoing the buttons along the pink shirt. Midvalley wondered absently where Legato got so skilled as the fingers began to move over his flesh. It certainly hadn't been with him and judging from Legato's barely bottled frustration earlier, and now, it sure as hell hadn't been with Knives. The teeth bit down hard, drawing blood and a sharp noise from the brown haired man. /Don't./ The voice was dangerous, cold, and Midvalley got the feeling that he'd just barely escaped with his arm still attached. Or his lip, as the case may be.

Legato's hands and mouth were slow, deliberate, as he seemed to calm down again. Midvalley didn't know where he got his patience. He was mostly used to a relatively quick screw -- okay, so he had lied about swinging that way, so what? It was a free planet -- and he was convinced that Legato was going to drive him insane. Really, what kind of guy took twenty minutes to unbutton a shirt....

Despite his earlier bite and barely concealed threat, Legato was oddly tender. He definitely wasn't after a quick fling, Midvalley decided, so what the hell did the blue haired man want? His hands were so soft and moving so damned slow.... Normally, the hornfreak would've been almost put to sleep at this point, but any time his mind wandered to the smoky eyes of a priest, a sharp bite or smack brought him back to reality. Legato smirked at him, apparently catching one of his thoughts, and then wrapped a strong arm under his legs and the other around his chest, lifting him.

Midvalley squawked and waved his arms a little, smacking the other man in the head in the process. "Put me down, damn it!!" If Legato wanted a lay, that was fine. Wanted a whore for the night? Fine, he could do that really well. However, he wasn't some slender, pretty faced uke like in those girl's comics!

Legato smirked again darkly, ignoring Midvalley's protests, and carried the struggling man over to the bed. Midvalley was dropped with a soft 'oof', bouncing a moment on the expensive mattress. He glared up at Legato who was casually removing his coat. "We're doing this," Legato began, voice emotionless, neutral, "on my terms." Midvalley moved back on the bed, finding himself oddly nervous at those words, as Legato prowled over to him.

The slow, teasing touches began again and the horn player bit down on his own tongue -- his lip had suffered enough for the night -- hard to stifle his cries. Quiet.... quiet.... Legato's soft laughter echoed in his mind.

/Sshh./

A long, elegant leg pushed between his own and Midvalley attempted to pull back, to get away, but was held tight. /Don't forget our deal, Hornfreak. Give me too much trouble and I'll still give you your priest, but don't expect him to be in one piece./ Those words, flashed along with a rather disturbing mental image, were enough to get Midvalley to hold still as Legato easily removed the rest of his clothing.

It wasn't that he didn't, on some level, want it or enjoy it.... It was just that, again, anyone in their right mind would be afraid of this purring psychopath. But Legato hadn't done anything to _seriously_ hurt him -- scare him, sure, but not hurt him -- and it wasn't like the leader of the Gung-Ho-Guns was horribly ugly or deformed. 'Horrifyingly handsome.' Even that bandit, weeks ago along with the rest of his idiot gang, had noticed it. Midvalley absently wondered if Knives ever had.

But that wasn't the problem. The problem was well.... he was nervous. He felt like a fucking virgin and that was an experience he hadn't had in a very long time. He wasn't sure why, but as much as he did enjoy Legato's lips moving in a wet trail along his chest, part of him kept repeating 'no no no' over and over in the back of his mind, almost like the beating of a drum.

/It's because you're afraid./

Midvalley really, really wished Legato would stop doing that. It was creepy. "Wh-What?" He panted softly, feeling almost dizzy.

/You're not used to being under someone else's control,/ Legato continued to explain in the Midvalley's mind as his hands dipped low on the naked body underneath him, /You're used to being your own person. You're used to thinking what you will. You're used to doing what you will. That has been your biggest fault as a Gung-Ho-Gun. That ends today./

Midvalley growled a little and was about to respond to that before he found himself biting his tongue again harshly as Legato's hand wrapped around his length.

/It ends today./

The pace of their lovemaking, if one could really call it that, increased; Midvalley letting out great sobbing breaths, trying still to be quiet with his arms wrapped tightly around Legato's broad shoulders as that dark hand stroked him. It was about damned time, Midvalley almost growled again mentally, that he started going faster. He was close....

Legato stopped.

Midvalley bit Legato's shoulder hard through the thin material still clothing his broad frame. Legato chuckled a little at that, unexpectedly, and pulled away, releasing the saxophone player who fell onto his back against the mattress with a soft noise. He glared up at the other man who simply chuckled again.

"Fucking bastard," Midvalley hissed.

"Don't get me wrong," Legato said, looking oddly amused, "I'm not done with you yet." Midvalley blinked a little before realization dawned on him as he watched Legato tug off his dark shirt.

He scrambled back against the bed again, the strange nervousness coursing through him, before he paused, gaping openly at Legato's left arm as it was revealed. It was strange.... It definitely wasn't his; the skin tone wasn't quite a match and it had obviously been surgically attached somehow. "Hey, what's....?"

Legato's eyes slitted in what Midvalley could only assume was remembrance of a fond memory. "A gift from my Master," he almost purred, bringing his left hand up to his lips to gently lick it's palm. Midvalley watched, fascinated and disgusted -- it was like watching a sand steamer plow off a steep cliff. Legato nuzzled the odd hand for another moment before seeming to return his attention back to his current situation and Midvalley.

He smirked for a moment before removing the rest of his clothing, prowling across the bed on all fours after the horn player who was still in almost shock at Legato's actions and words. He reached for Midvalley with his left hand and the dark haired man physically winced, moving away again. It didn't take a freaking genius to piece together who the original owner of that limb had been when it a 'gift' from Knives. Legato smirked again and wrapped it around Midvalley who whimpered a little. Yes, he prided himself on being pretty open minded -- really, look at some of the people he worked with -- but this.... the flesh of one of those monsters....

Legato wrapped both arms then around the other's waist, pulling him back in close and pressing himself in between Midvalley's legs. Midvalley's 'fight or flight' instinct kicked in suddenly at that. The entire night's cryptic words, threats, bites and touches flooding his senses and the two scuffled a bit; Midvalley mostly kicking and flailing, though still making sure to be relatively quiet, as Legato patiently waited for the other to tire himself out.

Finally, Midvalley stilled, panting and glaring a little at his silent companion. "Are you done now?" Legato asked, raising an eyebrow. The glare sharpened but Midvalley remained still, causing the corners of Legato's lips to quirk upwards. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. I hope you didn't tire yourself out too badly," he continued, picking up a small bottle from the bed sheets. Midvalley didn't have the foggiest idea when it had gotten there, and how it had managed to stay there, but it also certainly wasn't the most pressing concern he had at the moment.

Seeming to go back to his previous habits, Legato's slicked fingers were slow and gentle as they pressed inside of Midvalley. He arched, but didn't struggle. Fighting back didn't seem to be working today.

/You're catching on./

The fingers were removed as Midvalley blinked, trying to figure out what the hell _that_ was supposed to mean, and he barely noticed as Legato tugged his legs up. He did notice, however, when the blue haired man began to push inside of him. Midvalley groaned despite himself and arched again, panting loudly in need.

/Sshh./

"Fuck you," Midvalley gasped.

Legato grinned and pressed inside fully. /You've got it backwards./

The pace was steady, though not quite slow. Legato, while having an enormous amount of control over himself, was still only human. Even if you weren't allowed to say so. Midvalley wrapped his arms back around the other man, focusing on the delicious sensations instead of how deeply disturbed he still was on various levels and Legato's strange behavior. Their breathing both began to turn shallow and quicken, hips meeting hips faster as Legato's control began to shred and Midvalley could feel a familiar heat starting to gather just below his stomach....

When Legato stopped.

The fucking bastard stopped.

Midvalley gaped openly at him, staring and panting. Legato looked back at him, a little sweaty and panting shallowly himself, but otherwise.... in total control. "Was there something you wanted, Midvalley?"

Midvalley did the only thing any self respecting man in his current.... interesting.... position could do.

He rolled his hips coaxingly against the other man, whimpered loudly, lapped the sweat off of Legato's throat, clawed at his back and begged like a dog.

Legato chuckled and kissed along the side of Midvalley's face to his ear. Nuzzling the small lobe, he murmured, "You're really just a human after all." Before Midvalley could respond, though likely not verbally, Legato began to push inside of him again and the saxophone player quickly lost most of his coherent thought.

Legato didn't stop this time.



---



On random note, that I just felt like addressing : While glancing at the reviews for a Midvalley fic here at ff.net, one of the reviewers questioned why people felt that Legato would rape Midvalley. I'm of the opinion that Legato possibly would (although not necessarily -- I personally don't think it would be _rape_ but it all depends on how you interpret the characters) because he's housing a lot of frustration and anger at not getting what he wants from Knives (be it sex, actual care/love from him, whatever. When someone means that much to you, it's nice to know that you're not just trash to them; which Legato sadly is to Knives, imo). Add all of that quiet hurt to a murderous psychopath and you don't have a pretty picture. / end Joydrop's two cents