Hello! Welcome to 'Artist's Patron'! Had this planned for a long time but decided to finally write it for 'Share The Love' month over on tumblr brought to you by Aerle and MyLadyDay!
Of course, the one beta'ing this and who helped with everything was Mai Kusakabe! Go read her stuff! :D
As per the guidelines for participation in 'Share-The-Love', I must choose an element, either a primary one (Wind, Water, etc) or something from like the periodic table.
My choice for this story is: Metal.
Now metal can be a lot of things, it can be shaped, it can be heated and cooled. It can conduct electricity and it is even in our blood streams. Metal can be as fluid as mercury or as indestructible as titanium.
Metal is a changeable alloy, it can be a seemingly worthless pile of scrap but also be used for highly useful or destructive designs, such as a the pipes in your plumbing or the bullets in a gun. Or it can be silver and used in pretty trinkets. The most worthless of metals can be dipped in paint and made pretty, or you can find pure gold in the deep recesses of the earth.
I won't explain about the storyline as of yet, I think you'll just have to read to find out. -mad cackling fades into the background-
Kid readjusted his new coat around himself, thankful he'd decided to buy it as it was pretty cold out right now. Plus, he hadn't been able to resist trying the fur coat on when he'd seen it on his way home last week. When he had put it on, the young artist could've sworn he'd died and went to heaven from the utter softness that encased him, loving the way the maroon fur contrasted with his skin and highlighted his hair.
It had been totally worth nearly not being able to make rent that month.
Speaking of rent, the redhead was making his way to his usual art supplier to begin working on his newest project, already having stopped at the junkyard earlier.
He felt something land on his nose and blinked before looking up from the empty street he was on, as it was currently working hours on a weekday and this being close to the business side of town. 'Huh. Snow in October. Guess it's gonna be cold as fuck in the next few months as well.' The snow was only a light powder, so he doubted it would even stick to the ground long enough to cause build up, but it was a sign of a freezing winter ahead.
'Should probably get a new heater...' The one he had was cheap and shitty so the odds were it would crap out on him soon, and the damn thing really wasn't worth buying the parts to fix it again.
Kid abruptly sucked in a deep gasping breath when his chest was suddenly painted in a wet hot warmth. He cursed and looked down to see the already chilling coffee quickly washing down the leather front of his coat and soaking into the hem of his shirt and dyed cotton pants further down. "What. The. Fuck?!"
Red irises snapped up to glare at the one who had just nearly ruined his coat — thankfully it had missed the fur completely, otherwise he would have billed the fucker for the dry cleaning after taking it out of his ass.
The words he had just been about to yell at the other stopped dead before they even left his lips as he stared at the man.
The exotic, well dressed, and drop dead gorgeous looking man, who was already apologizing.
"I am so very sorry! Please, let me-" The tanned man had brought out an expensive looking handkerchief and was quickly mopping up the front of Kid's coat, squeezing the fabric of his shirt, dangerously close to brushing his lower half, to absorb as much of the beverage as possible before stopping. The redhead was quiet throughout the process.
"If it's damaged, I'll gladly pay for it," Was that a suggestive smirk the other aimed at him? "With money, of course." It had been and the artist felt his ears burn slightly. "Here, my card."
Kid took the card and only glanced at it, 'Trafalgar' something, before awkwardly replying. "Um, it's fine, it doesn't look like anything I can't take care of, but I'll, uh, let you know?" The redhead felt a little dizzy, probably because of how close the other man still was.
"I insist, and even if it's not damaged, perhaps I can take you to lunch sometime. As an apology, of course." The redhead felt a little unbalanced with how fast things had gone from wanting to punch someone to suddenly being asked by said someone to lunch.
"Um," Oh great, he sounded so intelligent. "I'll let you know." He repeated and awkwardly waved the card a little, before tucking it into his pocket.
"Good. Should we see each other again, I hope it to be under more desirable circumstances." The man, Trafalgar, almost purred. Wow, the guy was coming on strong.
Kid was also beginning to have the sneaking suspicion that the coffee hadn't been an 'accident', both due to the other man's outrageously forward behavior and the fact that the medium cup of coffee practically dumped on him hadn't even gotten a drop on the fur of his coat.
But the redhead found he couldn't really say he minded.
"Y-yeah. Well, I, uh, have to go, store's closing soon..."
Trafalgar nodded and moved around him to head in the other direction. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Eustass-ya."
"Yeah, same." The artist shook his head to try and remove the haze that had filled it, even taking a few unsteady steps, when something odd occurred to him. 'How the hell does he know my name?' The redhead didn't recall ever giving it to the man.
"Wai-" The world suddenly tilted and Kid was on his knees, questions forgotten as the light dizziness from moments ago crashed into him with the force of a ton of bricks. "Wha-"
His vision was swimming and he didn't even register the cold seeping into his pants from the ground.
A pair of hands appeared on him, carefully supporting him and gently lifting him into a standing position.
"Don't worry, I'm a doctor." The voice of the man from earlier echoed in his ear. "Can you tell me what you're experiencing? Any pain? Difficulty breathing? Any urge to vomit?" One arm was around his waist while the other hand was used to check the pulse at his throat.
"N-no pain, air's fi-nne." Kid's head felt thick and it was hard to form a sentence. "Jus- d-dizzy... Ti-tir-ed." He was leaning heavily on the shorter man, but surprisingly the other supported his weight easily.
"My car is right over here, you can sit down, all right? See if that helps, if not, I'll take you to-"
Kid blinked and he was sitting in the back of some car, he absently recognized it as an expensive model of some kind, though he wasn't able to focus enough to figure out which one exactly.
"Your eyes are dilated, you're disoriented, and will most likely have a slight headache when you wake up. I apologize for that as well." Apologize? Why? Kid couldn't speak anymore, his tongue felt heavy and he felt so tired, but something was screaming at him to stay awake, muffled warning bells were ringing in his head.
"I'd like to introduce myself properly, but there will be plenty of time for that later." The redhead's vision was blurry but he could make out the other pulling something out of his pocket, some small cylinder, a small part of himself recognized it as a needle. "I only gave you half to make sure you wouldn't have any adverse reactions, but everything seems to be just fine. Small pinch." The man whispered softly, but Kid's attention had been caught by the shiny metal dangling from the stranger's ear and he fixated on it as his vision started rapidly dimming.
The artist felt a tightening in his chest at his own helplessness, he tried frantically to hold onto consciousness and must have made some kind of sound because the man immediately made to soothe him.
"Do not be afraid, Eustass-ya, everything is fine." His name again. "When you wake up, everything will be explained. So, just relax, you're safe. Go to sleep. It's going to be just fine." The gentle voice washed over him, distantly he felt fingers running through his hair.
The last thing he saw was the shine of the man's earrings and a glimpse of black letters that spelled a familiar word.
'D,' 'E', 'A', 'T', 'H'.
'Death...' Then everything went dark.
Law sighed as he laid the redhead down on his side across the comfortable backseat of his car, he watched contentedly as those beautiful carmine eyes slid shut and pale features softened with sleep.
He stood after making sure the redhead was securely fastened in and comfortably situated on his side in case of vomiting. He didn't believe there would be any ill effects from the injection, but wanted to be on the safe side rather than pulling over halfway because his guest was suffocating from his own vomit.
He closed the door of his Escalade before moving around and climbing into the driver's seat. Before starting the car, the man turned in his seat to gaze intensely at his captive.
Shaking his head to refocus, the dark haired man turned back around in the driver's seat, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself. Idly, he adjusted the rear view mirror to keep an eye on his passenger only to suck in a breath as he took in a 'small' detail.
The fabric of the artist's pants that he had 'accidentally' soaked with his coffee was now plastered to the young man's groin, providing a stark outline of- while obviously soft- an impressively sized cock.
The surgeon closed his eyes, took a deep breath and studiously focused on starting the vehicle, stopping only to ensure the street he had parked at was still empty. He had parked a short distance away from where he had planned to intercept his artist, out of sight of the security camera set out front of the closed liquor store twelve yards from them. He knew there would be no one watching them, but he had gone the added mile to switch his license plates and brought the needed forged documents should he be pulled over, already having created multiple cover stories to explain the unconscious man in his backseat.
Satisfied but still cautious, he put the vehicle in drive and set out towards his home, ensuring to obey every traffic law and sign on the way.
To ignore the annoyance of a certain organ making itself known, he summoned to mind the contents of the periodic table and began reciting them in his head while listing their attributes and uses.
It was going to be a long drive.
The first thing Kid registered was the painful throbbing in his head. He almost let out a hiss when the slightest movement of his head caused a sharp ping.
He breathed deeply for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. His sight was a little blurry at first, but he was soon able to take in a white ceiling. The redhead tried to make sense of what he was seeing. The ceiling of his studio flat was all dark exposed wood, one of the reasons he had bought it in the first place.
White ceilings reminded him too much of hospitals.
For a second, he thought that maybe that's where he was for some reason. He moved his hand to touch his face but it felt heavier than normal, and there was a familiar metallic sound.
Chains.
That's when he remembered everything, or at least everything before he was too drugged to think.
He jolted upwards quickly, but his head felt like it was going to explode, and he was suddenly pushed back down.
"Now now, the effects have not completely worn off just yet, so take it slow."
The feeling of someone else's hands just made him struggle harder, choking down the nausea that resulted from it.
"Get the fuck off me!" He growled. He tried screaming it but his head felt like it would split in two.
"Eustass-ya, if you do not calm down I will be forced to use extreme measures to subdue you, please do not make me do so. I would much rather having you coherent for our introduction."
Someone's face was hovering above him, and judging by the outline it was a man. The young artist jerked away from the other's hands as they left him.. When he was as far from him as the binds would allow, he stopped struggling and tried to focus on keeping his stomach's contents where they were, the thrashing having worsened his already bad headache.
The redhead tried shaking his head to fix his vision, but things were still a little blurry as he listened intensely while his eyesight adjusted. He stayed there until he could see, and though the details were a little fuzzy, he could tell they were alone.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"I'll answer your questions shortly. For now, would you like to sit up?" Kid glared at the man and weighed his options. Basically, either stay put in some futile attempt to keep distance or gain a better vantage point at least.
He gave a curt nod and stayed where he was as the bed moved. There was a sound and he felt his upper half rising up, much like a hospital bed, dizziness hit him again and he was forced to close his eyes or risk being sick, but as the bed rose there was also the rattling sound of heavy chains.
"There we are. Please, take your time to let yourself adjust."
Kid snarled and snapped his eyes back open. "Shut the fuck up and tell me who you are! What the hell am I doing here?!"
The tone of the other man's voice was almost happy when he spoke. "Feeling better already?"
The redhead, now seeing clearly, noted with added hostility that it was the 'doctor' from earlier. "What the fuck do you think, you son of a bitch?! What the fuck am I doing here?!"
The dark haired man hummed softly before walking away to drag a chair close to the bed Kid was laying on. The redhead made the mistake of trying to lash out with his fist when the man was close enough, but his hand stopped short just a few inches from the bastard's face.
'Trafalgar', or whatever his real name was, just tilted his head and sighed softly before pulling a remote from the pocket of his white lab coat and pushing a seemingly random button.
Kid snarled when his arms were pulled up and snapped his head up, ignoring the waning dizziness, to look at what the fuck was pulling the chains.
His scowl deepened as he noted the industrial built mechanism, knowing he wouldn't be able to yank it down or jam it with anything he could probably get his hands on. He then eyed the chains, welded steel with a red chrome finish. He tugged them lightly and noted the quality, also taking in the soft but inescapable cuffs with no keyhole but fingerprint recog-fucking-nition. He wouldn't even be able to fucking pick the lock because there wasn't one.
'Who the fuck is this guy?! The amount of cash it would take to get a hold of this shit-'
"Now that you have noticed your- accommodations, I would like to begin introductions." Kid's attention snapped back to the room's other occupant.
"Who the fuck are you?!"
The man looked fucking pleased at the redhead's attention. "I somewhat introduced myself during our 'bumping into' each other yesterday," Yesterday? How long had he been out?! "And while the nature of our meeting was not honest, I gave my name and occupation honestly. I am Trafalgar Law and a cardiac surgeon is my trade."
"Good for you, that just means you can afford to fix your face when I'm done crushing it in."
The creepy fuck was still smiling. "But, more importantly than my day job, I am your anonymous patron."
'What?'
"...What the fuck are you talking about? You? You're the guy who's been buying all my shit?"
The creepily serene man nodded. "Yes, but we will get to that later."
"That still doesn't fucking answer why I'm here! What the fuck do you want from me?!"
The man crossed his legs at the knee and folded his hands on them almost delicately. "Is there something I want from you? Admittedly, yes. But this is more about what I can do for you."
Kid eyed the nutjob warily. "What the fuck makes you think you have anything I want?"
"It is not so much what I have, as much as what I am." The obviously unstable doctor, if he really was one, smiled almost softly.
"And what the fuck are you?" Kid was actually getting the feeling he didn't want to know.
"I am a serial killer."
To Be Continued