Ajaw was, for all intents and purposes, a human whelp— Weak, puny, disgusting spawn of sidegrade hilichurls. The bastard who wore Ajaw's power on his twig of a wrist swung from one place to another, eager to kill the weakened dragonlord by making him almost hurl.
Ajaw cursed, threw colorful insults to his seven generations forward and back. But all that came out of his trembling lips were cries, and from his eyes, tears of frustration.
The bastard held him close to his chest, seemingly careful to not let Ajaw fall. That was the prelude to the confusion upon their arrival at a place inhabited by another of his kind, only taller with one foot in Death's doorway.
"Elder Leik! I—" the bastard addressed the decrepit.
"Is that a baby?" Without even waiting for a reply, this Elder Leik with his disrespect pulled Ajaw into his hold, caressing his cage of a human body. The decrepit tensed, returning his gaze to the bastard. "He looks like you."
"He isn't mine, I assure you."
The decrepit didn't sound convinced but put his attention on making sure Ajaw stopped crying. It was preposterous to think simple rocking motions and soft hums would put him at ease. But in this body, his biological response overpowered his sense of shame, giving him comfort inside the decrepit's arms. Before long, Ajaw found himself quieted down, humiliated beyond degree.
"I'd like to take him to the canopy," the bastard said, ignoring Ajaw's glare and opinion on the matter.
"And?"
"I want you to do it." There was hesitation in his, admittedly, quite young voice now that Ajaw got a good look at him. "You said it yourself. I'm a scion of the mountain, not someone from the tribe. He has my face— I told you he's not mine, don't look at me like that— But please. If anyone can convince them to take him in, it's you."
Ajaw made his displeasure known by struggling in the decrepit's arms. If he had to resort to huffs and whines, then so be it! The great and almighty K'uhul Ajaw would never accept being raised by humans, much less mingling among other disgusting whelps.
"There, there." The decrepit did his magic again and this time lulled him to drowsiness. Curse this human, using Ajaw's weakness against him—
Aaaah, so sleepy. If he could just... keep his eyes open...
〘〙
When he woke up, a woman's face covered his visage. She smiled, amusing herself with his suffering. She even pinched his cheek like he was some kind of a toy!
"You have your father's eyes. They're too distinct," the sadist whispered, the room's light casting shadow on her frown as her wrong idea birthed more misconceptions. Ajaw couldn't deadpan more if he tried. Her attention shifted when someone knocked on the door. "Wayna, where's Kinich and Elder Leik?"
This wayna guy wore such hideous glasses that Ajaw couldn't think of a better nickname. "With the chief discussing the baby. I just wanted to ask if you're sure about this, Lirio."
The sadist hugged Ajaw like her life depended on it.
"I've never been surer. We failed Kinich years ago, but now he comes back for our help. I won't turn them away. Not him, and not this child." She was so confident in her words that it was surprising she'd falter so soon as uttering them. "Tell me, is there nothing to convince him to stay? He's just a boy, Wayna," she pleaded.
Glasses gave her an understanding nod. "From what I heard, Elder Leik is forcing Kinich to come by sometimes to check on the kid. What will you name him?"
The sadist shook her head. "It's up to Kinich. I am to be the baby's caretaker, not his mother."
Ajaw! Ajaw! Ajaw! His name was Ajaw, damn it! They better not be giving him some weird human names. His anger yet again transformed into guttural cries and sobs, only stopping when he heard a familiar voice that he'd come to hate.
"Don't trouble them," The bastard came in an entourage of three alongside the decrepit and another person of no note. Ajaw's sealing device wrapped around the bastard's wrist, taunting him for being caged into this puny body.
"Kinich, would you like to say goodbye before you leave?" The sadist held out Ajaw for the bastard to hold.
The bastard hesitated but came forward, wrapping his arms around the bundle of cloth suffocating Ajaw.
"He's so small."
Yeah, no shit. Ajaw resented the admiring way the human was looking at him. Like he was some kind of attraction to behold. Any other day in his original body it'd have been a given. But he felt his dignity stripped out of him when the bastard continued to do so and even tucked a strand of hair away from his face.
"Ajaw. I'll name him Ajaw. That's what's written in the place I found him." None of the other humans believed the bastard's true words. In fact, their frown only deepened. He handed Ajaw back to the sadist. "I'm sorry for making you take a child in, Miss Lirio. I'll repay this debt in the future."
The sadist nodded. "Take care out there, Kinich."
Ajaw puffed his cheeks when she took him inside again and placed him in a cot. Damn these humans...
〘〙
The bastard came back not a day later, carrying in his hand a stuffed bag that clinked with every sway to the left and right.
"I came with the payment, Miss Lirio." He held up the bag.
The sadist was careful to not let go of either Ajaw or the bottle of, admittedly, delicious milk around his lips. She looked contemplatively at him.
"You need it more than I do, Kinich. Have you been eating well?"
Ajaw side-eyed the bastard, unable to see with his other eye with the bottle in the way.
"I was hunting these saurians this morning and—"
"So you haven't eaten."
"W-well, yes."
With a gracefulness that no doubt came from years of babysitting, she gently shoved Ajaw into the bastard's arm and dragged them both inside.
"You're eating now and don't argue. After that, you'll take a bath and wash all that dirt away."
Ajaw enjoyed suckling his milk with a side of the bastard's indignation at being treated in such a way.
"I'm not a kid!" He argued but no argument mattered against maternal logic.
"Just because you have a child now doesn't make you less of one. Now come on, we're having Sumeru menu today for lunch."
Even Ajaw could tell the bastard had gotten tired of correcting the misunderstanding. That was one thing they could agree on.
This situation sucked. Hard.
At least the milk was delicious.
〘〙
"This is embarrassing for me as it is for you." The bastard deadpanned at him like it was a reassurance. He skillfully threw the used diaper into a dustbin and left to wash his hands. Ajaw couldn't even enjoy watching the bastard hold his hands away in disgust. The humiliation might as well have damned him to his death.
But of course the sadist wouldn't have it.
"Kinich! You don't leave a baby on the edge of the table!" She ran over to pick up a well-powdered Ajaw. She shook her head disappointedly when the bastard came back.
The bastard desperately avoided looking into the woman's eyes, one hand gripping his forearm. "...I'm... Sorry. It won't happen again."
And there it was, the sadist's eyes softening at the display of vulnerability. Ajaw would be impressed if not for the bastard being genuine about it.
That was how it usually went these last few days. Because the bastard always had to visit all battered and bruised, the sadist had forced a house confinement — "Miss Lirio, I don't even live here!" — on the bastard and put him on babysitting duty.
He was bad at it.
Actually, that was an understatement.
He was a disaster.
"Kinich, babies don't eat solids!" The sadist quickly shoved her fingers into Ajaw's mouth until he puked. The bastard looked in horror at the scene while Ajaw heaved on the floor, wanting to curse the two of them with words instead of sobs and whimpers.
There was also that incident when she let the bastard wash Ajaw.
"Kinich, The soap! Watch his eyes!"
The pain was unbearable. For the first time, Ajaw hadn't felt ashamed in crying for help to get rid of the inflaming substance in his eyes. Perhaps the most surprising was seeing the bastard's own bloodshot eyes after the child wiped all the soap away, his warm tears falling onto Ajaw's face.
"I'm sorry."
That was the most common phrase he uttered even when he made minor mistakes, such as forgetting to clothe Ajaw on cold nights. The sadist always reassured him, sometimes going as far as pulling him into a hug, but he pushed her away all the time.
When he was no longer under confinement, he left with a — Forced — promise to the woman to visit in a few days. He came back the same night, drenched from the rain outside, his beloved decrepit carrying him inside.
From his cot, Ajaw watched the two humans lie him down and undress him for drier clothes, fussing over him as they diagnosed him with a fever.
"I found him lying over a cliff," the decrepit told her. "Said that's where he killed... where his father died."
Ajaw leaned forward, interest piqued. That crybaby had it in him to wet his hands with blood?
A healer was called and the bastard, asleep as he was, was told to continue to stay in bed. The medicine would help him with the fever once he woke up.
Late into the night when the decrepit had gone home and the sadist was out cold, the bastard next to her woke up. Ajaw, who'd slept the whole day, had been staring at the ceiling trying to entertain himself. When the bastard crawled and pulled himself to sit beside the cot, their eyes met.
"Why must you look like me?" He gritted his teeth, but his drowsiness and delirious manner of speech made him all the less intimidating. "Why can't you take somebody else's look? Everyone thinks you're mine and wants me to look after you."
The bastard took in a deep breath, choking on his words as tears streamed down his face.
"I told myself I'd never become my father. Yet here I am fumbling with looking after a child, hurting you every chance I get because his blood runs in me." The bastard sniffled. "I want to leave you here, run away, and never return. But I always come back. You know why?"
Ajaw watched him break down as every single world was accompanied by a heave. The bastard, Kinich, smiled so shakily it seemed like he'd crumble at any moment.
"I want to see you grow up, see you make friends. I want us to be happy, like a family I never had." He laughed, looking at the floor. "...all this to play house. I'm so pathetic, aren't I?"
Ajaw didn't deign him with a reply.
The bastard didn't speak for the several days he recuperated from his fever. When the sadist or decrepit asked him a question, he either replied with grunts and body language or none at all.
〘〙
Ajaw had, shamefully, gotten used to his new life. After centuries of being sealed away from the world, even being stuck in human civilization was a better reprieve than any. He hadn't tired out of the novelty yet, and with his three loyal servants, he ventured into this place they called a market.
Just for once Ajaw let his pride go to point and held his hands in the direction of every shiny thing that caught his eyes. The bastard, Kinich — Ajaw bestowed the boy to be named because he was amusing — carried him the whole journey, making sure to not put him in harm's way. Ajaw believed being slung tight to the boy's back was overkill, but it stopped the sadist and decrepit from doubting him.
Ever since Kinich recovered from his fever all those weeks ago, he'd been diligently tending to Ajaw's every need instead of looking like he was forced to do it. The other two humans had noticed as well, but they only encouraged him in his endeavor. Ajaw only cared that his servant had improved to take care of him better.
That said, there was something that intrigued him.
"It's that boy..."
"Who knows what she makes him do at night..."
"Does she have no shame?"
The hushes and whispers directed at the woman flanking Kinich were full of malice, Ajaw glinned as much. However, the decrepit held some authority over the community that a single glance at the culprits made them scamper away in fright. The sadist herself kept a stoic face in spite of their taunting voices. Kinich was unreadable what with the back of his head in Ajaw's direction, but he probably didn't like it either.
"The rumors are getting out of hand." The decrepit sighed and put an arm over their back, ushering them to someplace less crowded.
The rest of the trip was filled with more unsubtle side-eyes, but in between them were the excited chatters of passers-by and also the sadists' acquaintances who couldn't get their hands off Ajaw. Cute? Adorable?? How preposterous!... But they were praising him so he supposed he could let it slide. Just this once. Or twice.
The end of the trip rewarded them with two baskets full of the week's groceries, plus some shiny toys Ajaw demanded his servants get for him. The decrepit had gone into the kitchen to drop off their groceries, leaving Ajaw alone to admire the wooden dragon figure in his cot. On the other side of the living room, Kinich had an unstaring match with the sadist.
"Miss Lirio, about earlier..." The boy began, toes curling and uncurling as if a better footing would make him more eloquent.
"People talk, Kinich. You can't stop them." The sadist-cum-masochist smiled and put both hands on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes, mouth struggling to open before closing again, a frown on his face.
"Are they... Are what they're saying true?"
At this, the smile the woman sported flipped upside down, hurt and disbelief taking over her features. "K-Kinich, what do you mean?"
Kinich flinched but kept on talking.
"I-I mean... Why would you be so nice to me, then? You take care of me and Ajaw so well without even asking for compensation. What else would you want if not my... my body?"
Ajaw watched the scene unfold in mild interest. The decrepit too was watching from the kitchen, rooted from the tension in the living room.
The sadist, Lirio Ajaw bestowed for her calmness in the face of childish betrayal, looked him in his shaky eyes.
"If I'd asked, would you've given me?"
"Lirio—" the decrepit sputtered from the kitchen but Kinich replied quicker.
"If it's you... I don't mind," he spoke like admitting a confession. He backtracked when he heard her sob. "Miss Lirio, why are you crying?"
"The right answer is no," the woman choked on her words, her tears staining the wooden floor. She kept her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them tight. "I will never take advantage of you, you hear me? Never say that again. Your body is not a tool to repay debts, child."
Kinich looked away, shoulders tense. Disappointment, embarrassment, and all kinds of emotions flickered on his face, ultimately culminating in a strained whisper and the beginning of a tear. "Then why are you so nice to me? I don't understand."
It was at that moment, Leik — It felt unfair to single out the old man. Yeah, Ajaw could be soft too, yeesh — emerged from the kitchen.
"She's helping you for the same reason I took you in." The man pulled them both towards the floor to calm them down while they sat. He grasped Kinich's hand. "You were a child of the tribe, taken away under our nose. You're a reminder of our failure to protect our own."
Lirio wiped away her tears, smiling and claiming his other hand. "You were so small back then. And you're still small now."
"I thought nobody cared..." Kinich bit his lip, hands fisted on his knees.
"You're right. Nobody did." Lirio looked all the more guiltier at Kinich's flinch. But she continued. "I'm sorry we weren't there for you when you needed us."
"Taking me back now won't fix everything," the boy argued but there was no fire behind it. Just defeat. He chuckled through a sniffle, tears sliding down his cheeks in neverending streams.
"No, it won't," Leik assented to which Kinich only chuckled more. "But we want to make up for it."
"That's the debt we owe you," Lirio finished.
Instead of addressing the topic, Kinich brought up another one. Ajaw watched the boy's usually aloof face shift into a weird amusement as he looked between the two adults.
"How long have been scheming to adopt me back into the tribe? Since I brought back the baby?"
Leik looked away but Lirio kept her gaze strong.
"I know you're still distrustful of the tribe," She held his hand with both of hers, eyes gazing into his. "But will you stay? At least for now?"
Kinich glanced at Ajaw's cot slow enough for him to close his eyes and trick the humans that he was sleeping. This was the best entertainment he'd had in ages! He wasn't going to ruin it!
Ajaw couldn't see Kinich, but he could hear the sincerity in the boy's voice.
"I'll stay until Ajaw grows up. Then he'll decide. Wherever he goes, I go."