The springs in the bed breathed a sigh of relief as Tyrant collapsed onto the mattress. He lay in a more evolved version of a mess, with his hair all tangled and skin drenched in sweat. His arms were positioned limply over his head, and his previously spread legs fell in a bit. Semen and saliva covered his abdomen and crotch.
Similarly naked, Antithesis stood on his knees with a heaving chest and sweat dripping from his forehead. He was still plugged into Tyrant's ass, despite having released a few minutes prior. Had he pulled out, he'd just collapse backward. By no means was he that weak, however, even if they'd just had sex for three and a half hours straight. Or, rather, gay.
"You good?" Antithesis panted.
He tried to shrug, but it just came off as a twitch. "Still...throbbing…"
"Can I pull out?"
"Don't fuckin' care…"
Had he not been exhausted, Antithesis would've rolled his eyes. Instead he just withdrew from Tyrant's ass and fell on his back beside him.
They remained that way for a few minutes, but their breathy silence was broken by Tyrant rolling onto his stomach and partially onto Antithesis. At this point, he didn't care, instead throwing an arm around Tyrant and resting his head atop the tangled hair.
"So loving…" Tyrant mumbled.
"Shut up and go to sleep," Antithesis hissed back.
"So salty. Why for?"
"I'm tired, of you and physically."
Tyrant scoffed. "Fine…" He let out a sigh and nestled a little closer. "You're wonderful in bed."
"I know. Shut up already."
Tyrant lifted his head to frown at Antithesis. "You're so pissy."
"I'm just tired. You are too. Go to bed."
He sighed. "Fine…"
So they slept, and when Antithesis awoke some hours later, Tyrant had all but disappeared. The previously semen-covered sheet was replaced by a clean one, and some clean clothes lay on the floor.
How considerate, Antithesis thought. In all honesty, he was rather considerate for doing that, but he had just left Antithesis alone for a few days with nothing to do but lounge and seethe.
So like normal, just without external irritation or sex.
He didn't know how long he'd slept for, but it had to have been at least five hours, since he felt relatively exhaustion-free. He had to wonder how Tyrant had managed to drag himself out early. After all, Antithesis had pretty much ripped him apart for three hours straight. Then again, Tyrant was probably numb to the pain at this point. Could rectums grow callouses? If so, Tyrant's must've been rougher than pavement.
With a soft groan, Antithesis sat up and rubbed his eyes. A few days alone with no Tyrant or access to the rest of the world. What to do, what to do…
A thump sounded from outside the bedroom.
Antithesis looked to the side. So he hadn't left yet. Wonderful. Undoubtedly he'd dropped something, or perhaps he'd fallen himself. Groaning again, Antithesis dragged himself out of bed and into his new clothes. Luckily they weren't anything too extreme or too tight, so he could slip them on and move in them easily.
When he reached the living area, Antithesis stopped in his tracks. He blinked once and stared into the kitchen area. Standing behind the counter, a ceramic mug in one hand and a coffee pot in the other, was Ulterior.
He smiled pleasantly at Antithesis. "You're finally up."
"The fuck are you doing?" Antithesis asked.
"Making coffee," he replied.
"No, what're you doing here?"
Ulterior looked around. "Making coffee."
"You know what I mean."
"Mmm, I don't think I do. You need to elucidate a smidge." He raised his eyebrows once before sipping his drink.
Antithesis rolled his eyes. "Are all of Tyrant's associates like him?"
Ulterior scoffed. "You act like he has any others."
"He doesn't."
"Nope." He stepped out from behind the counter and made his way slowly toward Antithesis. "Tyrant's a little...off-putting. For many reasons. Aside from me and, I guess, you, he has no one else he's that close with."
Antithesis was nowhere near surprised. "Why're you here?"
"Ah, right, I guess I never revealed that." He smiled once more. "Just to keep you company while Tyrant was gone."
"He asked you to stay with me?"
"No, I came in after he left." He pulled out a key from his pocket. "Made a copy a few months ago in case I'd ever need to show up."
"And he didn't attack you?"
"Doesn't know I have it." He winked and slipped it back into his pocket. "Didn't see me come in, either. I hid around back, and once he'd left, I snuck in."
"To keep me company."
"Mmm-hmm. And to check to see if he's still clean."
"Clean? He's not a child."
"Nah, not that kind of clean." He made to say something, then paused and said instead, "You really don't know anything about him, do you?"
The disbelief in his tone was relatively unnerving, as well as a little insulting, but nevertheless, Antithesis shook his head. "He hasn't told me much about him, no."
"Ah, I see. Well, I suppose that's for the better." He sipped from his cup.
"You know a lot about him, right?"
Ulterior shrugged. "I've been around."
"So if I was to mention the name 'Royal,' you could tell me something about it?"
Ulterior stared at him. Not playfully, however, but in an annoyed way. "So he let that slip."
"No, a Crawler did. We went on the underground rails earlier."
"Oh, makes more sense. Tyrant wouldn't open up about that so easily." He crossed over to one of the couches and seated himself. "You'll want to join me. This'll get a little in-depth."
Nodding, Antithesis seated himself across from Ulterior.
"Tyrant probably told you that his first name was generically Aesthetic. This is true, but not completely. It's his first Northern name, but he had one before that. As you probably could've guessed, it was Royal." He set his cup down. "Tyrant's family was—is very...respectable. Safe. That sort of thing. Naturally, a comfortably bisexual nineteen-year-old would be bored and rebellious with it. So about that age, he left and started dabbling in nightlife. Drank, smoked, danced, fucked—that shit. Anyway, one night, he got wasted as shit in a club and sang. I happened to be there at the time, and I was expecting a good laugh out of a drunken asshole's performance. What I got, though, was nothing short of amazing."
"Tyrant can sing?"
"He won't, but he can. Very well, in fact. Though his drunken self had more of a screechy, rocker quality to it. Had the whole place jumping. Anyway, I went up to him and asked if he wanted to join a little group that I'd been involved in. I can sing decently, but he really had the extra kick that we needed. Being drunk, he agreed. So we started doing performances, and quickly we became a hit among nightclubs. As one does when one is a musician, Tyrant got involved in drugs. In particular, he took Angel Tears."
"Angel Tears?"
"Ah, right, you're from West originally. Angel Tears was a drug originally intended to make super soldiers in the army. After it failed, it trickled onto the streets, and people got hooked really easily. Basically, it gives users a lot of energy and very little recognition of danger. Anyway, one night Tyrant took it before a performance, and he gave the most intense, energetic one he'd ever given before. People loved it. Thus, Royal was born. He was Tyrant's stage persona, named because at the time Tyrant had royal blue hair and often performed in kingly attire. Actually…" He reached into his pocket and withdrew a sleek phone. "Gimme a minute." He tapped the screen a few times, then smirked to himself and turned it so Antithesis could see. "This was one of the most popular songs that we performed. It also displays how intense Royal could get." He tapped the triangle in the middle of the screen to play the video.
The music was harsh and rhythmic, with intense guitar and drums. On a stage—clearly the video had been recorded by an onlooker—stood a twenty-something that could only be Tyrant. As Ulterior had said, his hair was a vibrant blue, and the right side of his head was shaved. Intense makeup surrounded his eyes, which were occupied by crimson contacts. He wore nothing on his torso, save for a leather shoulder piece from which a purple cape extended. Tight black pants covered his legs, and heeled boots covered his feet. His gloved hands grabbed the microphone, and from his mouth spewed intense lyrics that matched the music's intensity.
Like the legend of the phoenix,
All ends with beginnings
What keeps the planet spinning
The force from the beginning
Something between rage and passion burned in his eyes, and as the song progressed, his gestures became more wild. The song was blatantly about sex, and as he traveled about the stage, he danced provocatively. At one point, he went up beside a member with medium-length gingery hair and a feathered outfit.
"That's you?"
"Mmm-hmm," Ulterior affirmed. "We did this sort of thing all the time. People started shipping us, so we'd make out and grind on each other at times. Fun times, but it was exhausting too."
A few seconds later the song ended, and it ended with Royal and Ulterior locked in a passionate kiss.
"Shit, he is good."
"I know. He won't sing now, though, and he won't do anything slow, either." He slid the phone away. "Anyway, he remained a performer for about...a year and a half. His drug problem worsened, but not to the point where it was extremely detrimental. Eventually three things ended Royal's career, though. First up, he got scares of a few STD's. This is when his whoring about was bad—even worse than now. At times he'd fuck about five people a day. His record was twenty-five in about twelve hours. Didn't choose his partners that well most times, either. Dirty street whores were common. Second, he got caught shooting up with Angel Tears by his younger sister and was shamed into quitting."
"He has a sister?"
"Not the focus," Ulterior said. "Anyway, the third thing was kinda twofold. It ended his singing and sent him here. Royal grinded on a couple of authorities and showed his dick while he was performing in West, and they sent him to prison. Well, being all spindly and shit, Tyrant managed to escape. After picking me up along the way as a potential bullet shield, he ran off to North. We had to live amongst the Crawlers for a few days to avoid detection, which led to our relations with them. After it was clear, he started developing interests in style, became Aesthetic, and eventually evolved into the sex-crazed piece of shit that we know and tolerate."
Antithesis sank back in his seat a bit. Tyrant was a lot more dimensional than he'd originally expected. Suddenly he felt flat and boring, though he'd lived a wild life prior to North too. Knowing Tyrant however little he did, however, he was probably hiding a lot more than Ulterior had revealed.
"And you? What was your belief on his drug use? Did you try to stop him?"
Ulterior smirked briefly. "Well, if I told you that I was against it, I'd be lying. No, I did try to stop him, but only when it would directly affect me. So, for example, if he wanted to shoot up in a public bathroom with a bunch of authorities nearby, I would gently advise him to do so elsewhere. Perhaps tone down his antics if he was in a more respectable establishment. Did I try to stop his drug usage completely? Nah, not really. They were gaining us popularity and profit, two things that I would've liked to keep flowing. If that meant that drugs had to flow through his veins, so be it."
"What if he would've been killed by the drugs?"
He snickered at that. "You really are from the good parts. Angel Tears is an interesting drug. It has very few downsides, and virtually no destructive side effects. The only major dangers lie with using it, since it's known to promote recklessness and numb pain. Even if Tyrant used it daily for ten years, the only damages he would sustain would be products of his own doing."
Antithesis's eyes narrowed. He saw why Ulterior had done what he'd done, but leaving Tyrant in such a dangerous position...for some reason it didn't sit right with him. He didn't particularly care about Tyrant's health, but he did recognize the cruelty of Ulterior's actions. Perhaps Tyrant was right—Ulterior was a bastard.
"You don't like me anymore, do you?" Ulterior asked.
"I never said I liked you prior to this."
"Ooh, feisty, we are." He smirked. "Regardless, Tyrant managed to get out of everything relatively fine. He's adapted well in North, even managing to control a district. Plus, he's far happier here than he could ever be in West. If anything, me letting his drug 'problem' go on was a good thing."
"And yet you came here making sure that he was clean?"
"Oh, of course. I do worry a little bit for him. Drug problems up here are common, but since he's a district leader, it makes him especially vulnerable. I wouldn't want one of my trade networks to get shot in the face, would I?" He smiled innocently and sipped his drink.
"And you found what?"
"Oh, he's definitely clean. Though sometimes it's hard to tell. Angel Tears make his little rampages now seem tame. I was somewhat concerned whenever he saw me in his palace earlier. Usually he tries to strangle me, not beat me with a chair. He was probably just putting on a show for you."
"Or he just hates you."
"Why would he hate someone that saved his life? He's not suicidal. To my knowledge, anyway." He leaned back in his seat. "Tell me something, Antithesis. Do you care about Tyrant?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Somewhat."
"Do tell."
"He's been showing me how to survive here, and I haven't been here long, so I'd prefer to keep learning. Once I'm a little more integrated with this place, I plan on ditching him. I don't care what happens after that."
"Mmm. Just making sure."
"Why? Does it seem like I'm attached to him?"
"No, but others have been. Occasionally he fucks people and they like to cling to him. Then he throws them out, and they get all resentful or brokenhearted."
"Ah. I have no concerns about being brokenhearted. The only thing he'll break is my patience. But I'll return the favor by breaking his ass."
Ulterior chuckled. "I love you so much. I can see why Tyrant does, too. You're definitely the most interesting companion he's brought here."
"I'm flattered."
"Such a shame, though," Ulterior continued. "You're so emotionless that it isn't fun to watch your reactions. Ah, well. You'll unravel a little in one way or another."
Perhaps it was a good thing that he was emotionless; his last few words shook Antithesis a little more than he would've liked.
