A lone beam of sunshine pierced the wavy windowpane and illuminated the wood floor of the bedroom. Small dainty birds were gathered under the sill, seeking worms in the cool damp earth. All this went unappreciated by the tyrant hiding his head under his former captive's black shirt.
Pulling his head from beneath the pilfered button up, David hissed a rude curse at the bright sunlight blasting him in the eyes. This day promised to be off to a fantastic start, he could tell by the tender part of his anatomy tucked under the quilt. Both his ego and his balls still felt bruised from the previous day's bullshit.
Goddamn, his nuts throbbed! Gingerly reaching between his thighs, he cupped the area and tried to rub the pain away. It helped but not much. Filling a tight, hot, bruised ass would have felt way better than his own scarred fingers stroking his sac.
He stared up at the ceiling rafters in embarrassed rage. How dare that mongrel do this to him! Clearly, a strong hand was required to yank that disobedient beast back in line. His pet had a lot of nerve for a subhuman make-believe creature.
David knew that one day he'd catch Red out again. When that happened, he swore that he'd find a way to get a belt and strap that fucking mutt's hide until he was covered in bloody welts and drenched in his own piss. Maybe being so damned sore that it hurt to fucking breath would give his pet time to reflect on his errors. The mad man grinned evilly imagining the crack of the leather across Red's muzzle and flanks.
David would enjoy making his pet display that soft belly again. He just needed a clear demonstration of who was really the meanest motherfucker in the jungle. There had to be a way to put that psychotic pound puppy on notice.
An outer door slammed suddenly, and footsteps sounded in the kitchen. Quickly, David rolled to his side facing the wall, drawing the button up back over his head. The footsteps clipped through the living room to the bedroom doorway and paused as Jamie cautiously checked in on the snoozing warlord. David slyly slowed his breathing into the steady, easy rhythm of sleep.
All was silent a moment besides the creak of the floorboards as the other man shifted his weight unconsciously.
Then the footsteps were moving through the living room toward the kitchen and the sound of pans rattling and cabinets opening was heard. After a time, the snap of bacon sizzling reached his ears, and David could smell the delicious aroma wafting into the room. Perhaps a large breakfast would put him in a better frame of mind? Doubtful, but alas there was nothing he do about Red at the current time.
But he had time to give his creative punishment some much needed consideration.
Standing in front of the stove, Jamie tended to the crackling bacon as it snapped and popped in the skillet. He was still bone tired from yesterday's wild adventure and was hoping when his eyes cracked open at daybreak, that this was all just an awful nightmare. Unfortunately, finding himself sprawled out on his threadbare grey sofa, he was forced to accept reality.
Hauling himself upright, Jamie had managed to get through the morning chores of feeding his animals, letting out the ones that roamed, and checking his various plants. Bear had joined him on his excursion and the dog remained outside, eagerly guarding the property.
Now, here Jamie was, cooking a breakfast for two and trying to soothe his jittery nerves regarding his first physical exam in over 20 years. There was going to a lot of touching this morning and he bit back his distaste.
Fuck, he groaned to himself. Why me? I just want to be left alone!
Absently, he rubbed at his aching arm muscles, still tender from the exertion of maneuvering that asshole's wheelchair through the muck all the way up from town. At least, David was still asleep, and he didn't have to deal with any more bizarre behavior this morning. The poor man truly didn't want to deal with it this early as he was expecting Dr. Waters to be knocking on his door soon.
All last evening he had braced for a psychotic, violent episode from his new housemate and all that'd he gotten was some irritating self-pity wallow, involving David attempting to act like a normal human being who'd never committed the atrocious acts he was formerly so proud to claim. If anything, he behaved as if he was a tender, caring, sane individual and desperately wanted to cling to Jamie in some romantic notion of a loving relationship.
Why the fuck couldn't he have just acted like that decades ago? Jamie snorted, shaking his head. Although, I wouldn't exist if he had. Jason would still be here, and everyone could have lived happily ever after.
Deep down, that thought pricked at Jamie's heart painfully and even frightened him a little. What would it be like to just 'poof' and disappear like a dying star? Would Jason's friends ever have been able to accept him and care about him just as much as his former identity? Would he have been good enough? Where was Jason's consciousness anyway?
Jamie tried to pull himself away from that train of thought; what good would it do to get himself upset before he had to deal with the tyrant in the next room? Going into his doctor appointment upset would not make his new physician feel any better about their living arrangement. All those questions had no true answers and he'd just have to accept that fact.
"Good morning, sunshine!" David's voice finally sang out, making Jamie's skin crawl.
God, he hated that man's cutesy terms of endearment. It almost would have been preferable to be referred to as 'asshole' or some other negative moniker.
"Sleep well?" Jamie called, moving towards the bedroom to get David up.
He was greeted with a sudden change in temperament as the other man's face shifted to one of anger and ill will.
"What now?" the grey-haired man groaned, crossing his arms and huffing loudly. "I think that was the fastest mood change I've ever seen from you."
David glared up into Jamie's confused eyes behind his black framed glasses, knowing that fucking mutt was probably in there laughing at him. It hadn't registered at first that Jamie honestly had no memory of last nights cockblocking escapade. He'd been too pissed at Red's rebelliousness.
The man standing in front of him hadn't meant to be a smart ass when he inquired abut David's sleep. So, sniping at him wouldn't get very far.
"Just a little sore, darling," he sighed, attempting to back track. "Breakfast smells delicious by the way."
Jamie stared at him a moment before shaking his head in wonderment. Moving towards David's belongings, he assisted the man in getting dressed and up in his wheelchair. Then, with David wheeling himself behind him, Jamie returned to the kitchen to stand in front of the stove.
Pulling up to the table, the tyrant stared at Jamie's back again. Today, he was dressed in beat up, distressed denim pants and loose black and grey checked cotton shirt. The man looked good in blacks and greys; whether this color preference was related to his former uniform under Drakkon's ownership or his new Ranger coloring was unclear.
Speaking of his former tenure under the guise of 'Red', David narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He had a technical difficulty to work out, it seemed. In the pursuit of tearing Red's ass up, Jamie would also be harmed; he wouldn't understand coming back into the foreground with his body beat black and blue.
And oddly, David found he didn't want to hurt this lovely alter, Jamie the Fox Ranger. Obviously, he'd have to get his pet's obedience in a different manner than previously thought. Hmmmm, that would require creativity on his part, but in his prime, most of his punishments were 'out of the box.'
Jamie turned around, placing a plate of bacon, hash browns, and scrambled eggs in front of his roommate. A cold beverage and morning meds followed right behind. Then, he took his spot across the table, settling his own plate and mug of coffee in front of himself.
Sniffing the good smelling brew, David attempted small talk.
"I'm not a coffee fan, Jamie, but that actually smells good," he smiled, tossing back his collection of pills.
"Thanks," his companion replied uncertainly. "I ground the beans myself. Tastes better that way, in my opinion."
He shrugged, trying to reconcile Drakkon's wild, outlandish, and abusive antics with David's much calmer and occasionally personable behavior. Having breakfast and chatting with his former torturer was unbelievable. Jamie still had jagged memories of Red kneeling at Drakkon's knee while his master enjoyed a decadent, lavish breakfast; occasionally, he would toss his pet a nibble of something sweet.
But Red was usually on a strict, protein rich diet due his rigorous training.
Jamie shook the hazy web of a memory from his mind and cleared his throat.
"The doctor will be here soon to talk to me," he reminded, waiting for David to bristle.
The tyrant merely shrugged.
"Don't worry, I'll give you your privacy," he answered. "I actually have something to discuss with him as well."
Alarm bells started going off and Jamie frowned.
"What about? Because if you're going to be a dick to him, you can forget it. He did me a favor losing track of your nonexistent self and I'm not going to let you insult him."
David shoveled in a heap of hash browns mixed with egg and shook his head.
"I just have a question for him. A medical one. He probably won't have any answers; its in a more specialized field," he assured Jamie. "I'm curious what he knows about dissociative identity disorder."
Jamie dropped his fork down on his now empty plate and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, is that a new diagnosis you're claiming? You can't blame being an asshole on some other identity," he teased, not entirely in a friendly intonation. "All Drakkon's theatrics weren't your fault, right?"
David just shrugged, grinned his possum smile, and slid his own empty plate across towards Jamie before rolling off into the living area.
Unbelievable, Jamie muttered to himself.
Just then there was a knock on the kitchen door. Quickly depositing the used plates and utensils in the sink, he forced himself to turn the knob and greet Dr. Waters.
"Good morning, Jamie," he smiled, clearly relieved to see his new patient in one piece.
Accepting the invitation to enter, the physician entered the kitchen and was able to spy the infamous warlord seated at a window in the living area.
"Hi doc!" he chirped sweetly, waving a hand. "See, we're both still alive! No horrific bloodbath, right darling?"
"Ignore him," Jamie murmured, gesturing for Dr. Waters to have a seat at the table. "We just ate breakfast, so I apologize for the mess."
"Really? You two ate breakfast together?" the doctor was puzzled. "Interesting."
Jamie groaned and fidgeted with his glasses.
"I know, I know," he answered. "Like I said, he and I both have some serious mental health issues."
Dr. Waters zeroed in on the white bandage encircling Jamie's palm. Glancing between his patient and the wheelchair-bound man in the living room, he raised his brows in concern.
"Jamie, what happened to your hand?" he asked pointedly, placing a slim binder on the tabletop. This particular patient required a confidential chart he planned to keep locked in his private safe in the office.
The grey-haired man lifted his arm and extended it for the physician to examine more closely.
"I know what you're thinking, Doc, but I had nothing to do with that," David yelled into the kitchen and pointed through the doorway arch at Jamie's back. "He did that shit himself!"
The doctor's eyes went to his patient's face and he lowered his voice before asking for clarification.
"How'd you get hurt? Did David do something?"
"Goddammit! I fucking said I didn't touch him!" the man in question snarled, wheeling his chair from his place by the window to sit squarely in the doorway.
Jamie groaned and brushed his hair back from his head with his other hand.
"He didn't do it, Doc. It was my fault. I accidently broke a bowl when I was putting it away," he explained in embarrassment. "I squeezed it too hard."
Dr. Waters carefully unwrapped the dressing to assess the wound to Jamie's palm. To his surprise, there was only a faint white line covered with the remnants of dry blood. Jamie glanced over his glasses at it, not appearing at all shocked.
"Ranger healing, I expect, doctor. At least that's how my Tyranno coin operated. Depending on the severity, it might be minutes to a few days for us to be completely back to normal," he stated, catching David's bald head nodding in agreement from the corner of his eye.
"Unless you're as unfortunate as I was, right, Jamie? Then you get this inspiring outcome," he added, spreading his arms. "The worse the injury, the more painful it is when the Grid heals it. It feels like someone is rearranging your insides and tugging on your flesh. Jamie experienced that as Red, although, I doubt he remembers that occasion."
The physician was almost too stunned to speak. Jamie had mentioned the healing ability of their power when he confided the truth about the two men's histories, but to see it up close was something else. The amount of dried blood clinging to his palm and the dressing itself was substantial. It must have been deep to have left behind so much reddish-brown gauze.
Jamie carefully clenched and unclenched his fist before the doctor's gaze.
"It doesn't even hurt anymore, just feels a little tight," he commented.
"Amazing," the physician breathed, jotting a few notes on the lined paper in the binder.
Then he cleared his throat and glanced at David's smirking countenance.
"Jamie, is there somewhere private we can go to complete the physical exam? I'll only go as far as you're comfortable with. If I'm going too fast, let me know. I want you to be as comfortable as you can," he stated, knowing the man was probably dreading it.
Swallowing nervously, the patient attempted to keep his expression neutral. Inside, though, he was quivering with fear.
"Ummm, I guess we can go to my room," he offered, as he looked at David sternly. "If this one can sit out here and act decent."
David rolled his eyes and waved the pair off.
"No, I planned to run outside in the nude and swim with your ducks, Jamie. What the fuck you think I'm going to do in here?"
The man didn't even dignify that question with a response. He and the doctor moved off to the bedroom and closed the door.
Reaching across the table, David picked up Jamie's abandoned mug of coffee and sipped the brew thoughtfully.
Hmmm, not bad at all.