Chapter Text
Ethan gasped as he was shoved backward and into the chair that Heisenberg had pulled out for him, his most immediate thought being that he should have seen this coming.
The fact that the man had been the first person besides the Duke to try having a seemingly civil conversation with him since he'd arrived in this god-awful village was not reason enough for Ethan to have lowered his gun. It had been a stupid move on his part, one of many he had made in the last twenty-four hours, but probably the dumbest. Heisenberg was now looming over him threateningly (much like how he had after he’d shoved a fucking metal beam into Ethan’s stomach) and every nerve and cell in Ethan’s body screamed fight or flight, demanding that he do something, anything other than just sit there helplessly.
He tried to stand, but Heisenberg snarled and grasped his left shoulder punishingly, keeping him in place. “Goddamn it, Winter’s, will you just-”
A thought seemed to strike him, and he smiled ominously. “On second thought,” he drawled, “I suppose if you can’t sit still on your own, I might as well take a load off too. After all, plotting to take down that bitch Mirander is absolutely exhausting.”
Before Ethan could properly comprehend any of that, he found himself with a lapful of grown-ass man.
“What the hell are you doing!?” he shouted, trying and failing to buck Heisenberg off himself.
“Making you listen to reason,” Heisenberg replied cheerfully, taking a long drag of his cigar. He then blew the smoke directly into Ethan’s face, grinning as he coughed.
“Mother fucker,” he rasped.
“That’s the idea, Papa.”
Ethan glowered at him, before finally giving in and sagging under the man’s weight. “Okay, fine, I’m listening.”
Heisenberg hummed. Not taking his eyes off of him, he reached his hand out and behind himself, back towards his wall of plans. “Lady, super-sized bitch,” he began, using his powers to remove the knife he’d embedded in the wall and having it continue to hover close to it. He then turned his head to look at what he was doing, gesturing sharply. The knife immediately lodged itself into Beniviento’s picture. “Ugly ass psycho doll-” he continued, moving the knife in and out, in, “-and that moronic freak.”
Ethan jumped with each clang of the knife burying itself in the concrete, making him more and more aware of the man on top of him. As much as his mind screamed that he needed to run, to fight, his body was starting to shut down on him. He’d been so cold ever since fighting Mareau in his icy reservoir it had almost made him wish he were still in Alcina’s suffocatingly hot castle. Every bone in his body had long since lost any semblance of heat, and, as much as it pained him to admit it, Heisenberg was like a weighted blanket on top of him; confining yet comforting at the same time. It settled a deep feeling of unease in the pit of Ethan’s stomach, and it was hard resisting the temptation to wrap his arms around the Lord’s middle and bask in his warmth.
A warmth that was - to Ethan’s realization and growing horror - starting to draw unwanted attention from a very specific part of his body. The adrenaline and exhaustion had finally caught up to him, and all of his blood was beginning to rush south. It didn’t exactly help that he’d been attracted to Heisenberg from the start, regardless of the fact that the man had tried to kill him twice already.
Ethan’s face heated in mortification, and he swallowed, praying silently that Heisenberg couldn’t see his cheeks turning red through his glasses, or god forbid, shift another half-inch on top of him.
“Don’t you get it, Ethan?" he said, bringing Ethan’s focus back to what he was saying. “This is all a test, to see if you’re strong enough to be a part of Mirander’s family.”
Ethan's stomach twisted into knots at the thought. “I don’t want to be a part of Miranda’s family," he hissed vehemently.
“Neither did I,” Heisenberg growled, “But here we are.”
Ethan bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. God, that voice was going to be the end of him. “Here we are,” he agreed hoarsely. “Now what?”
At that, Heisenberg grinned, baring inhuman canines in a sharp smile. “Now, we’re gonna save your precious Rose, Papa Bear.”
Ethan was at a complete loss for words.
“What?” he eventually whispered, not willing to believe what Heisenberg was saying, but so desperately wanting to.
“She’s the key to all of this,” Heisenberg continued. “We let Mirander fix her, and then we can use her to grind that bitch into paste.”
...oh, of course. Why Ethan expected anything different was beyond him.
He clenched his remaining fingers into the palms of his hands. “My daughter is not a weapon," he snapped. "Fuck you!”
Heisenberg stared at him for a few seconds in shocked silence. “Do you have any idea how powerful that kid is?” he finally ground out. “Even Mirander is scared of her. She’s our best, no, our only means of taking that bitch down.”
“I don’t believe that!"
“Believe it, Winters, you have a better chance of putting out an active volcano than you do killing Mother Miranda on your own.”
Despite his better judgment, Ethan leaned closer to Heisenberg’s face. “I haven’t survived both the Baker’s and this hell hole just so you can use my little girl," he seethed. "I’m going to kill Miranda, and if you even think about getting in my way or hurting Rose, I’ll fucking kill you too.”
“Oh really?” Heisenberg sneered. “And what exactly do you think you’re gonna accomplish when you can’t even move?”
“Let me up and I’ll show you.”
Heisenberg had the audacity to laugh at that, taking one last puff of his cigar before dropping it onto the ground. “I like you,” he declared for the second time, resting his arms on Ethan’s shoulders and leaning close enough that Ethan could see his eyes through the man’s dark lenses. “Ya got spunk.”
Oh, oh shit, Heisenberg was too close now.
Ethan could feel each breath he took mixing with his own; the smell of cigar smoke and metal curling against his senses. It was fucking intoxicating, and his traitorous dick was taking a renewed interest in the situation. He needed Heisenberg to move, now.
“Get the hell off of me,” he demanded, beginning to thrash under him in his panic.
Heisenberg did the exact opposite, scooting forward to keep him in place. “Look, will you calm down already?” he said in exasperation, grabbing Ethan’s wrist when he tried to shove the man away. “I hear ya loud and clear, alright? You wanna leave little Rosie out of this, and at this point, I need allies more than I need another enemy. If you would relax for just two fucking seconds we can-”
At that moment Heisenberg’s crotch met his, and Ethan swore his heart stopped beating.