A/N: The conflict isn't over yet, even after this chapter... P: Enjoy the early update! c: This one focuses mainly on the confrontation, so there's no sexual content this time around. Thanks again for all the reviews, guys! x3
Everything Piers had fought to hide came crumbling down around his ears in a single moment. Chris knew. He'd found out, despite how hard Piers had tried to prevent it. Now here he was, getting stared down by the older man in search of answers, and he wasn't even sure if he could give them.
With hazel locked to brown, Piers kept his silence.
Chris tightened his grip, hands placed over the edge of the tub as he lowered himself from a bend into a crouch, putting the two of them at a closer eye level. Chris was tense, muscles contracting as he tried to take in everything. The things he woke up to, what he'd heard from Finn, and now the look Piers had given him; reluctant, defeated. There was something else mingled within, but the Captain couldn't figure out what it was. Chris breathed in deep inhales, trying hard to calm his own nerves and pounding heart as he eyed the younger man. The silence was unnerving, only serving to riddle his reality with more holes that did wonders to his sanity.
Chris wished it wasn't true. Wished that none of it had ever happened. But the evidence, the look he received from hazel orbs told him every dirty little detail. He couldn't remember them on his own, he didn't even know how much he had done. But one thing was for damn sure.
Chris was responsible.
For everything.
The silence was killing him, "Goddamn it, Piers! Talk to me! I need-" What, to know the truth? He already did. "I want-..." All of it to go away, to go back to being the nasty lie that Piers had kept hidden inside. His legs folded in on themselves, suddenly too unsteady to keep him upright even in a crouch, and Chris collapsed into a sit on the floor. Meaty hands raised to clamp over his face, still in a state of shock. He couldn't believe it. His palms edged upward where fingers tangled in his own hair, head lowered toward the ground.
It was everything Piers had feared, and things had only just started. The sniper observed the older man, every sharp intake of breath, every slump of powerful shoulders. What could he say? That he was trying to protect Chris from what he'd done, yet allowed things to worsen by not doing something to stop them? It was the truth that led them there. "You didn't need to know." Quiet, more simple. Chris would have been better off if he didn't find out, even if he ultimately shredded Piers into pieces. The ace was loyal and dedicated, even when Chris was aggressively drunk.
Chris tore his hands away and his head shot up, gaze immediately returned to the sniper. "I didn't need to know? Piers, I had every right to! Look at you! You're a damn mess and covered in bruises!" The voice came out in a sharpened yell, and Chris had to pause in an attempt to soften his tone and still his breathing. Losing control wasn't helping the situation, but damn it if what he'd just learned wasn't driving him insane. "You should have told me, right from the start."
Piers eyed him from his position, body even more sore and aching than the last time. "Do you really think that would have made things any better?" He retorted, knowing full well that even if he had come clean from the start, Chris would have still found out about it, and thus, he would have still had to cope. Maybe lying wasn't the best thing to do, but telling the whole damn truth wouldn't have caused the reaction to be any less of a devastated one. The Captain would have been torn no matter how Piers had played it, and willingly confessing would have been difficult, especially if it involved sharing his own reluctant feelings on the matter.
Chris snapped at that, "You're damn right! It would have been a hell of a lot easier on us both! Look at where we are now, Piers! I shouldn't... I shouldn't have had to find out this way." But he should have known. He could have done more, or tried to - he wasn't even aware of the full extent of damage.
Piers averted his gaze to the ceiling at that, no longer wanting to watch the other man or see the pain mingled with the anger that burnt in his Captain's eyes. "You shouldn't have found out at all," It was a quiet murmur, barely audible to his own ears. He didn't want this, he never planned for Chris to find out.
"The damage," Chris had said as he forced himself back to his knees, palms returning to a resting position against the side of the tub while he watched the ace. "How bad?"
Piers didn't turn back toward him as he tried to sit up, only for a hand to put itself over his chest with a weight behind it that pushed him back down and pinned him in place. His breathing hitched, memories from before returning to mind as a pleasant tingle rolled across the curve of his spine. He forced himself to shake the thought to avoid an unwanted arousal, raising his arms to pull at Chris' wrist in an attempt to get him off so he could stand up and go. "You already know enough, I'm grabbing my things and leav-"
A second hand joined the first at his chest as Chris leaned over the tub, a slight narrow to his dark eyes. "The secret's already out, Piers. I need to know!" He was desperate, he had to find out everything that happened. What he did, how far he went.
Hazel shot up at that, "Get off!" The sniper's hands were back to tugging at the arms pinning him under their weight, body shifting within the confines of the tub so much that Chris had literally thrown one leg in after the next to practically climb on top of him and prevent him from slipping free. He was so close, sitting over the ace's legs to keep them from kicking. The proximity had Piers' skin crawling with a sudden wave of heat, and he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there before things became even worse. Adrenaline and paranoia blurred his reflexes and state of mind into a defensive mode similar to the night prior. Without even thinking about it, Piers shot out with a closed fist that collided with his Captain's jaw.
Time seemed to slow after that. Piers realized what he did the moment brown settled back over him, shock clearly nestled within their depths as meaty hands withdrew from their position atop the bared chest to grip a hold over the ace's wrists and pin them against the back of the tub next to his head. Piers tensed underneath him, and hazel grew a size larger as Chris hovered over him. The sniper breathed in hard, arms attempting to twist free from under the strong grip. "Captain, stop!" The tone was bordering on sounding frantic. He didn't want Chris to see him like that, didn't want him to know-
"Calm down!"
The voice cut through his thoughts in an instant, but Piers didn't halt his movements. Everything he endured from Chris in his drunken state was bad enough, but to be in a similar situation when the man was sober was terrifying. Chris meant no harm, he only wanted answers; the sniper knew that in his mind, but his body acted on instinct. The struggles only caused his figure to weep sweat from every pore, salty droplets that trickled down the span of his bared flesh as the unwanted heat returned. "Ngh, let go!"
Chris had to tighten his grip, albeit reluctantly. "Piers, please!" He was trying to talk sense into the younger man, get him to settle down and open up to him about what happened. Chris hadn't expected him to react so... Violently. Chris couldn't fathom what he'd done to provoke it. The bruises, the marks... It went beyond those. He knew it, he just didn't know the details. "Talk to me, Piers! Stop acting like this!"
Piers gave a last solid jerk of his body in an attempt to squirm free, still to no avail. He only succeeded in hurting himself as his broken ribs ground themselves under his skin. With a grunt, he relaxed his muscles and fell slack underneath the older man's hold. His breathing was ragged and uncontrolled, and hazel sought to look anywhere but at Chris.
The Captain sighed, a small sense of relief that allowed his racing heart to calm just the slightest. "Now... You want to tell me what that was about, or are we going to sit here until you change your mind?" He loosened his hold just a bit to show that he wasn't trying to hurt Piers, but it remained strong enough that he could keep him in place should he show any more hostility.
Piers closed his eyes tight, jaw tensed as he tried to will away the reality surrounding him. The scent from Chris hit his nostrils in waves, mingled with the still present but feint smell of sex. Chris probably hadn't caught onto it, given everything that happened and the initial shock he'd experienced upon waking up. Piers inhaled, slowly allowing his breathing to steady itself as his own heart began to slow its beating. "Don't ask me that."
"Piers..."
"Captain, no." Hazel reopened, hesitantly seeking out brown. "I-" He wasn't sure he knew the right words to use. "I don't want to talk about it."
Chris eyed him for a moment, watching the flashes he saw within those piercing eyes. Hurt, betrayal, yet there was still something else... "You can't keep doing this." He was firm, but never forceful. Piers had to remind himself that it was Chris he was dealing with, his Chris, who would never intentionally cause him harm. "Whether you want to or not, it's already too late to continue hiding." Slowly, Chris withdrew. His hands retracted from around slimmer wrists to allow them free movement, but he stayed ready just in case.
Piers lowered his arms from the position they'd been put into. "Take a good look, Captain. If you want the truth, there's plenty of evidence." That there was. But Chris hadn't seen the trickles of white that mixed with those of crimson and seeped from his torn pucker, nor did he see the still aching burn from the cigarette that marked over his ass cheek.
Chris had, however, noticed the trail that descended from the corner of plump, swollen lips since the start. A hand reached out to cup under the sniper's chin where he angled his head ever so slightly to the side, while the rough pad of his thumb roamed over the white. "Is this...?" He was afraid to finish the question.
Piers looked away, hazel aimed off to the side somewhere. "I don't know." It certainly tasted like it.
"You don't know? Piers, how the hell-"
"You knocked me out." Piers cut in, causing the words to die on the Captain's lips as he spoke. "With an arm around my throat. Still so sure you want the whole truth, Captain? I wasn't conscious to know everything that you did, but I can sure as hell taste it!" Piers raised a hand to slap away the one at his chin, and hazel returned to brown with a sudden narrow. Sharp. Accusing.
Chris inhaled unsteadily. He'd choked Piers? Even while the man was bound at the wrists? Chris couldn't imagine that, or how terrifying it would have been to be on the receiving end. Not to mention whatever Chris had done afterwards... "Piers, I-"
But the younger man wouldn't let him speak, "Get off me." Deft hands nudged at the larger frame, insistent that he move. The argument had his body heat rising, the hold Chris had previously taken over him to keep him pinned had familiar tingles of excitement coursing through his system. Piers needed distance, he couldn't let Chris know about his unwanted, twisted sense of masochism... How he enjoyed the abuse, enjoyed Chris being an uncaring asshole that forced him into submission. Anger was his mask, the cover for the red hue that showed itself over his skin. Piers glowered at his Captain.
Chris hesitated under the heated gaze, before a deep sigh resounded and he backed away, standing up just to swing his feet one at a time over the side of the tub down to the tile of the floor. "Piers, I don't-... I would never-"
"Get out." Piers may have been in Chris' home, but it hadn't been willingly. He earned some privacy after being so utterly humiliated by the older man, whether he remembered it or not. He also needed to cool himself down before his body started to betray him further with a raging hard-on. That was the last thing he needed to be caught with in front of Chris, especially now.
Chris wasn't sure what he felt. Hurt and regret made themselves well known, yet anger laced itself in with them at the sniper's reluctance to explain more. Chris needed to know what he did, how badly he had damaged Piers and if there was a way to fix it. "Fine," His voice returned, stronger now. "Clean up. I'm calling in for the both of us, you're not leaving until we talk more about this." Chris turned with that and retreated through the door, closing it behind him before the ace could utter any form of a reply. He collapsed on the edge of the bed with his head dipped low, eyes shut tight.
No more alcohol. No more pain.
Piers... What the hell did I do to you?