A/N- I'm sorry it took me years to return to this fic, my muse abducted me to other fandomes.

I do try my best to finish my stories, so here we are again, wish me luck.

Silver and cold

"In pitch dark
I go walking in your landscape
Broken branches
Trip me as I speak

Just 'cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there…"

There, There- Radiohead

Long live the king

Could he do this? Could he welcome someone else into his body? What of it? It was just flesh within flesh, not like he had any control over it anyway; no one would judge him for it, a matter of survival, the only way for him to stay alive in 950A.

Up to now, he got to see the Red king, Elrick, on some very few random occasions, only from afar and for brief moments. There was not much he could make of the man. Elrick was built like a brick wall, hard muscles and tough attitude. He had pale blonde hair and even paler blue eyes; his features might have been considered handsome if he was not displaying mockery and arrogance all of the time.

The Red king of 950A, what was it about him that made him the ruler of this place? Must be something other than just being the most powerful thug on the asteroid, that alone could not buy him long-lasting loyalty, there were plenty of thugs to go around.

Whatever it was that put Elrick on the throne, there was no denying that he was the king. He had most of the teams obey his every word, and the ones that did not, at least tried to stay on his good side or out of his way. The king of 950A was used to get what he wanted, and he wanted him.

Could he even imagine this? This man on top of him? His mass crushing him down to the mattress? The heat of his body against his skin? His hard cock invading his body?

No, he can't.

But why not?

Elrick is just a man, just another inmate, another murderer and rapist, why should it make any different?

But it would.

It would make all the difference.

Because now it was Kanou's weight pressing on him, Kanou's warmth shielding him from the cold, Kanou's member entering his welcoming body, giving him uncontrolled, shivering pleasure, with every powerful and carful thrust.

"Ayase…" Kanou moaned softly into his ear.

Don't answer, don't let him know.

Kanou licked his ear, soft and wet, his hand crept underneath his body, caressing his belly and descending down to get a hold on his dripping member.

"Mmmm…" Ayase moaned with pleasure as that strong, warm hand started stroking his sex skillfully; he could not help himself.

Kanou's strong fingers stroke his little hard cock, trailing up and down that moist, shivering shaft with just the right amount of force to drive him mad with want.

"Ayase…" Kanou called out again, breathing heavily, then he changed his position slightly and drove into the boy harder, deeper than Ayase thought possible "Oh , you feel so good… so good to me… open up some more… oh yeah, that's it, my good boy…"

Ayase obeyed, spreading his legs a bit wider, push up his ass a bit higher, just to get some more, more of that large, thick cock inside of him, thrusting and slamming into him, bringing him ever more closer to his edge.

"That's my sweet little candy." Kanou praised him with a gasp, moving ever so faster, so harder, hitting his inner spot of bliss with every well aimed thrust.

Tom said that Elrick was bigger, but how could that be? He was already full to the brim, full to his limits, and it hurt in the most exquisite way, any more of this and it would turn into a complete torture. As much as Ayase would not admit it, Kanou fitted into him perfectly, like they were parts of the same puzzle, like they were meant to solve each other, and none other will do.

Kanou continued thrusting, and his hand relentlessly rubbed his throbbing member, and with every move the world had narrowed down further and further into one brilliant point where only they were included, and it was a world of heat and sweat, and wave after wave of pleasure, each building upon the former, each reaching a bit higher and higher, until nothing but a searing spot of light remained, devouring him, swallowing him whole.

He heard himself screaming helplessly, giving in completely to his pleasure, bursting with it, nothing else mattered but that overwhelming explosion of bliss, an orgasm that ran through his whole body, overpowering and relentlessly consuming.

He held on to that pleasure like a drowning man to a straw. He fought to prolong the this mind-blowing ecstasy for as long as he could, for it had pushed all shadowy thoughts out of his mind, and gave his weary soul a much needed rest.

But it would not stay forever, it never did.

Darkness descended upon him again, and his wet cum was dripping all over his underbelly, running through Kanou's fingers, getting sticky and cold.

Ayase recalled where they were, at the belly of the asteroid, on the cold floor of the dome, and they were not alone, and that only a layer of blankets shielded them from the prying eyes of their neighbors, but really now, was anyone truly oblivious to what was going on?

Kanou wasn't finished yet, so Ayase kept his legs spread and his entrance relaxed and open, so Kanou could continue thrusting into him till completion. If anything, he appreciated the man's stamina, a lesser man would just crawl into bed, after spending so much time in the mining site, and would only shiver and tremble with cold and fatigue until sleep takes him over. But not Kanou, he was a man in his prime, and he was hard and hungry, and would not stop until satisfied.

"Ayase…" Kanou groaned, thrusting ever deeper, and there it was, a hot gush of semen, flowing into his canal, coating his inner walls and dripping out of him as Kanou pulled out and collapsed on top of him.

For a second there was silence, and then a chuckle and a sloppy kiss on his nape.

"I'm so beat..." Kanou chuckled softly. "but still can't keep my hands off you." He wrapped his arms around the boy and flipped them over, so now he was the one to lie on the cold floor and Ayase was cradled on his chest. "We're lucky everyone was more interested in sleep than our show." He yawned and stretched like a lazy, overgrown cat. "Should get some sleep too."

Ayase nodded with a soft sigh.

He could not help but send his hand, threading his fingers through Kanou's warm, humid hair, caressing his sleek, black tresses. He breathed the man's scent, placing his face on that chiseled chest to listen to the strong heartbeat.

The black king was slumbering under him.

So powerful, yet so vulnerable, and human, and oh so trusting.

He could not follow Kanou into slumber; too many thoughts circled his mind.

What of it? What if this was Elrick breathing soundly next to him? Their bodies pressing together, skin to skin? What if it was his pale chest hair tickling at his nose? Would it feel as soft as Kanou's? Would it feel so pleasantly intimate?

No, it would not feel the same at all.

What is the meaning of this? What is the use of this attachment?

If it was the other way around, and Kanou had this opportunity for so called 'trading up', would he be as hesitative? Or would he cast Ayase aside with a heartbeat?

And the time to answer that question might never come.

Ok, do it, a small voice whispered in Ayase's head, it has been about five months now, that you've been locked up in this place, since you have made this deal, don't you want to know?

Know what?

Come on, you know what you what to know.

What do I what to know?

You want to know if there is something there, just because you feel it, doesn't mean it's there. Be brave Ayase, be brave and find out, try at least, because not trying is even worse than not knowing, be brave. Whatever it is would be better than this torture.

Torture?

Not knowing is torture, yes. Kanou or Elrick? Or just anyone will do? You, or any other candy? Who else would do?

Do it! Be done with it. You've got nothing to lose.

"Kanou…?" Ayase found himself asking in a whispering, trembling voice. "Kanou, are you still awake?"

Kanou groaned, his eyes shut, but he was clearly still awake. "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

"Kanou…" Ayase swallowed, his heart began hammering in his chest and he wondered if Kanou could feel that too. "Please, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Do you…. Do you feel anything… for me?" He asked and his voice shrinking with every word coming out of his mouth.

"This again?" Kanou huffed, his body tensed and stiffened. "I thought we were passed this nonsense."

There were teas now in Ayase's eyes, and he hated his weakness that had brought them out. "So… nothing?" he insisted, he deserved the truth. Was there only this deal? Sex for protection? "Nothing at all?"

"Oh, Ayase… grow up…" Kanou hissed through tight lips, withholding his irritation. "If you're looking for tender feelings in 950A, you've come to the wrong place."

With that Kanou placed Ayase down on the bedroll and rolled over to turn his back on him, and soon enough he was snoring.

Kanou or Elrick?

Maybe it was just the same.

oOOo

Ayase could not get any sleep, so he eventually gave up on it and wiggled his way out of the bedroll carefully, without waking Kanou up.

The cold was sharp and brutal against his naked body as he rose to his feet, but while everyone was asleep, it was the perfect opportunity for him to use the washroom, so he took his towel and fetched his bathroom bag from his kitbag.

He skipped through the sleeping men in silence, curled up in their blankets, snoring, mumbling, or tossing from side to side in a fit. The small dormitory was packed with exhausted men who almost dropped off their feet where they were standing, and were soundly asleep after two intensive weeks working almost nonstop at the mining site.

One of the big screens that the Kuba brothers installed on the walls showed the conditions on the outside of the dome- minus 200 degrees Celsius in temperature, atmospheric pressure at zero Atm, and electromagnetic radiation in units and numbers that he didn't understand, but knew was originated from the gas giant below them, and was high enough to cause harm to the health and equipment of the mining teams, so they were all forced to retreat to the pit and take shelter.

They all got back, Kanou included, and cramped up inside the dome, waiting for the electromagnetic storm to phase out. If not for the storm, he was probably not going to see Kanou again, at least not until their time downstairs came to an end. He was kind of grateful for it, but it also meant he won't get many chances to use the washroom in private as long as the storm was raging outside.

The small bathroom was really a gloomy place, devoid of any comfort or color, just a solid cast of naked concrete, where on the one end where rows of toilet seats, with no form of barrier between them and on the other a row of shower heads, without screens or dividers either, and in between them there was a long concrete bench to place the users belongings, there was nowhere to hide here.

He was really lucky to find the place empty, sometimes it took him a few rounds before that would happen, and it was extremely frustrating and painful to contain himself during the wait, but he was still too shy to shower in front of a crowed, let alone use the toilet with an audience.

He was bracing himself in front of the icy waters, when someone else stepped inside, and it made him halt, thinking it might be Tom, but it wasn't.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there. I can come back later." The black team's second in command blushed and started retreating.

"No, Zack, it's ok, you don't have to go." Ayase said with a fleeting smile, then took a deep breath and put himself under the cascade of freezing water.

"Ok, thanks." Zack entered with hesitation, glanced around and when he was convinced Ayase really didn't mind, he settled in and took off his clothes.

Ayase smiled as Zack joined in the shower next to him.

"Damn, that's harsh!" Zack almost yelped as he stepped under the stream of the shower head. "I bet Tom could have put some more effort into fixing the boiler, that son of a bitch."

Ayase nodded, his teeth clattered, he soaped himself up as fast as he could with stiff, numb fingers.

"Lazy mutherfucker!" Zack cursed again.

They both tried to give each other some privacy, averting their gazes and keeping their silence, but Ayase could not help noticing Zack, he was impressively built, a bit shorter than Kanou, and leaner, but a handsome man, with mahogany colored skin, tight muscles and staggering green eyes the stood in contrast to his long, black dreadlocks.

Seems like he developed a taste for the male form, Ayase admitted to himself without a sound, this is what a confinement in an all male facility might eventually do to you, he presumed, even straight men such as Kanou and Zack gave into it after being locked up in here for so long.

It's natural, it is human.

"Man, that was horrible!" Zack stepped out of the stream, turned off the tap and hurried to his towel, shivering with cold.

Ayase did the same, and dried himself off quickly, to get his blood circulation run again.

It was really a drag to get into his unwashed thermal suit again, but it was the only one he had, and without Kanou's purchasing it with his credit, he would have none.

They both finished getting dressed when Zack suddenly freaked out. "Fuck! Would you look at that!" he said and let a heavy huff out of his mouth, there was a heavy cloud of mist following his warm breath. "Temperature's dropping steadily, must be a system fail. I wonder what Tom is doing in his fucking maintenance shifts, because taking care of this joint is none of it."

"Tom?"

"I'd fix it myself if I had the time, fuck this shit!"

"But the storm…" Ayase mumbled

"Yeah, that too, mutherfucker…"

"Zack?" Ayase hesitated, but could not help himself. "Are you ok?" The man seemed so very angry, but placing it all on Tom's laziness was not going to do.

Zack looked at Ayase and then turned his eyes down like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I'm find, kid, just tiered."

Ayase nodded, understanding. "You should get some rest."

"Easy to say, but when the guy next to me is like, a masturbating master? Never have I ever seen a man more in love with his right hand."

"Switch places then?"

"With who? Who'd be stupid enough? Damn Hall…"

"Hall?"

"Yeah, the bastard left that spot and switched with that fucking wanker, but I guess that's his way to get back at me."

"Get back at you?"

"Yeah, for Tom getting the maintenance duty. You see what a clusterfuck this is? Not only Tom scores the maintenance only to fuck it up, but also Hall bails out on me and fucks around."

So he knew, Ayase gulped, well, at least that is one less awkward elephant in the room. "Sorry…"

Zack smiled at him and shook his head, and then he leaned to whisper in Ayase's ear. "And keep this between us, I bet my ass Tom's letting this shit happen on purpose!"

"So why give him maintenance duty?" Ayase asked with puzzlement, a bit too loudly, and Zack glanced at the door, but luckily no one else came into the washroom.

"Politics." Zack explained "There are enough scumbags around here, thinking Tom is a better option than Kanou, would be little less harsh on their asses, get them some more drugs and candy… But don't worry, kid, he'll get what's coming for him back upstairs."

"But we have to do something now." Ayase insisted "Or it would be too late…"

There was not coming back upstairs with Kanou as king, Tom had said that, they were going to have him replaced or die down here instead.

"Like what?" Zack chuckled softly "Oh, trust me, boy, I would if I could. After what he did to Hall? I'm ready to finish him, but Kanou won't have it, so..."

Ayase nodded, but was unconvinced and was getting more and more anxious by the moment. He wanted to tell everything to Zack, to Kanou, but he also remembered that they had so much already on their mind. When would it be the right time? After the storm, maybe? After they achieve their mining rations? When would it be a good time?

Zack felt his distress and leaned even further next to him, his handsome face turned a bit weary and his eyes shone with sadness "Look, I know, but we all have to bite the lip and push forwards, just a bit further, Ayase have some faith, will you?"

Ayase felt tears flowing down his eyes again, damn his pathetic self control, he nodded his head again without words.

Zack nodded too and straightened up, now it was his turn to get uncomfortable; he blushed a bit despite the cold, and breathed out another cloud of humidity. "Hey, Ayase… could I ask you for something? Would you do me a favor?"

"Yes." Ayase hurried to reply. "Anything."

"Not anything." Zack chucked again. "But could you talk to Hall? He won't speak to me, but maybe he'd listen to you."

"Sure."

Zack looked away into an unknown point in the room, lost in though.

"Zack?"

"Yeah…" The man shook his dark main and smiled again. "Tell him that… that he is… he is more important than he thinks. Tell him that he is very important … damn that's so jumbled… Tell him that I really need him… to talk to me again. Ok? This is… Sorry, Ayase, you really don't have to get involved with this mess, but I'm kind of desperate, so...?"

"I will, I'd try to talk to him." Ayase smiled through his tears now, he was happy to be in a position he could try and help Zack for once, and he liked Hall, and they both deserved it.

"Good, thank you. Now I'm off to do something about the heating system, 'heating' my ass… No rest for the wicked…"

oOOo

Ayase could not sleep after that cold shower, and would not venture through the sea of sleeping bags to find his place next to Kanou again. Grow up, he said, don't look for stupid warm feelings, he said.

It was cold and silent, and Ayase wanted to be alone for a while. He had one option to explore, and he wanted to do it for a while now, and now was as good time as any, to climb up the stairs to the second level of the pit. It was just a labyrinth of staircases and steel mesh flooring but Ayase knew there were places to hide there, he'd seen others do it before, so he wanted a try of his own, and good chance he's find a hideout there, now that everyone is cramped down, sleeping.

But no such luck, there was someone already there, as he was finishing his incline, another boy, occupying a small patch of a porch like area and he was already settled there, with his sleeping bag spread on the flooring.

"Who's there?" the boy jumped with fear.

"Sorry." Ayase whispered "I didn't mean to… I can go back down if…."

"Hey, Ayase, right?" the other blonde now relaxed and smiled at him. "Kanou's candy…. You can join me if you want to."

"Mmmm…. I'm not sure…"

"Sure, you can." Candy, the boy from the blue team, smiled at him still and waved his hand in an inviting gesture. " I don't mind your company." He patted the room next to him.

Ayase sighed and joined him in silence.

"Want some?" Candy offered him a small case full of white powder. "Special K." He explained. "You sniff it up your nose, it's a great high."

Ayase hesitated, then shook his head. "No, thank you."

Candy just chuckled softly. "You're missing out." He shrugged "More for me, then." He brought the small case near his nose and inhaled gently.

Ayase watched him without word.

Candy shook his blonde hair and closed his eyes, giving in to the drug. "What?" he asked when he opened them back and Ayase was still pouting at him. "I need this after fucking half of the crew here. You'll need it too when you're everyone's whore, just wait a few more months and see."

"Why?" Ayase asked after a while.

"Why what?" asked Candy, slowly lowering his body onto the sleeping bag.

"Why did you come between Zack and Hall? They were lovers, you know, before."

"I don't know who Zack, or Hall are, and I don't really care." Candy sent a delirious smiled up the ceiling. "I'd fuck whoever pays me. Pay me and I'll fuck you too." He giggled; his hand released the now empty case on his beddings.

Ayase smiled softly at the idea. "No thank you." He whispered.

"I knew you won't" Candy eyes him with amusement. "So why are you here?"

Ayse took a deep breath and gazed at the darkness. "Couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, Downstairs can do that for you, heck, 950A would do it for you. That's where K comes in handy, two sniffs take you straight into wonderland. There, there…" Candy patted on the empty space besides him "Let's cuddle together for warmth, I'll tell you a bedtime story and we could get some sleep. Wanna?"

Ayase deliberated for a moment, but found no god reason to refuse.

He joined Candy under the covers and both boys snuggled together against the chill, with Candy spooning him from behind.

"Bedtime story." Candy whispered in Ayase's ear. "Interested?"

Ayase blushed in the dark and nodded.

"There once was a king of blue…." Candy started "And he was kind and brave and just." He whispered softly to Ayase in a dreamy voice "He one day took a candy too, and they fell madly in love."

Ayase shivered and closed his eyes.

"But they lived in a dark hopeless place, and the king had to go to war. He came back injured and damaged and a child, and was a king no more."

A lonely tear fell down Ayase's cold cheek.

"The candy's heart died along with the king's mind, but their bodies still hungered, and so food demanded, thus turned the candy into everyone's whore."

"It's a horrible bed time story." Ayase commented after Candy went silent, but then he realized the boy was already asleep, so he closed his eyes and tried to join him as well.