Chapter Text
“Now, let’s keep this meeting short, shall we? I'm sure you have a busy day ahead.” Kaeya chirps with an adorable smile.
From an outsider’s point of view, it’s truly very hard to decipher the happenings in this frame. A man with messed up hair and an even more messed up face, next to two other men who seem awfully comfortable and cheerful.
Certainly hard to figure out why this guy, seated at his own kitchen table, has several broken ribs and blood gushing out from every visible cavity.
No bruised knuckles, no huffing and panting or sheer layer of sweat that coats Kaeya or Ajax. Nothing tangible to prove that they laid even a single finger on this man.
Regardless, Ajax holds him in place by the shoulders with a proud look as Kaeya hovers over his distorted face, palms on the wooden table.
Calm and collected even when his heart is racing with adrenaline. It’s important to play their cards right.
Too aggressive and you convince the guy that he’s getting a one-way ticket whether he snitches or not. Too nice and he won’t talk at all.
You have to be on his side, enough to pose as a friend yet hostile enough to let him know that his time is running out.
Kaeya loves this game, Ajax wishes there was a more efficient way to handle it. A more... hands-on method, so to say.
A gun down your throat, loaded with a bullet eager to meet your insides, wouldn’t you talk?
Regardless, this is how it has to be, Ajax knows it too.
“Now, the boss is already kicking up, I assume. You’re a made man now, after all. Would that explain this beautiful mansion you’ve got here?” Kaeya looks around. With the poise and elegance of a buyer, almost.
He feasts his eyes on the lavish furniture, the huge screen that overtakes a wall entirely, a cabinet filled with liquor so expensive that it would get someone on minimum wage acquainted with life-long debt easily.
Ajax’s grip tightens, “So soon, with a territory this small… Hell, this place is better than ours. Shit’s not adding up, wouldn't you say, Kaeya?”
It's already a bad enough sign that they're using their real names so liberally in front of him.
“Maybe…” Kaeya keeps eyeing the decorations, “...if we were also filthy rats, Ajax. Turns out all we had to do was—”
“Look, i—it’s not what you think—”
He attempts to explain with a raspy voice, barely escaping his damaged vocal cords but instead is rewarded with his face getting shoved against the table with full force. A loud crack of his skull against the surface he eats on every day, now covered in his own blood and spit.
“Didn’t anyone teach you some manners, rookie?” Ajax leans down and hisses in his ear, “Not very smart to cut someone off, especially with a gun to your head.”
“But there isn’t a gun to my—”
Ajax swiftly reaches for his belt and cocks the gun before the cold metal kisses the guy’s temple.
“There is now, because I wasn’t fucking finished.”
Hot, fearful breaths escape onto the table as his chest heaves, crushing his bones even further. Kaeya slides a piece of paper towards his face, still eerily calm.
“I’d hate to turn this into a good cop, bad cop thing but I’m gonna need a comprehensive list, alright? All your connections from both inside the organization and on the outside.”
Kaeya kneels down on the floor, looking him in the eye with a gaze that darkens second by second.
“I lost two men because of you, but I’m far from an unreasonable individual. I could say the same about the Boss.”
He can’t decide which one instils more fear, the one pointing an actual gun at his head or the one that terrifies him simply by giving out simple instructions.
He lowers his voice, “Though, Ajax is a bit... impatient. If you take too long then I’m afraid he would just—” when Kaeya looks up and back down with a fond look it only causes the guy’s eyes to widen even more.
This is — amusing to them. Scaring the shit out of him and beating him up until all air is knocked out from his lungs, they feel nothing but excitement.
No remorse or mercy towards the one that took their comrades from them, that's understandable. But the sheer joy they draw from this act itself—
Kaeya can't help but giggle upon seeing how much Ajax would love to pull the trigger.
He wouldn't mind if this was a futile attempt, if they walked out with zero leads or names. He wouldn't mind pacing this entire city, knocking down every door, shoving every possible suspect down the curb with one knee on their throat and one hand inside Kaeya's palm.
He looks beautiful, reddened cheeks and flexed muscles along his arm. No need to keep up the act while the guy is still pressed up against the table still.
Ajax looks down at him with a sly grin.
“Then I would have to turn this city inside out to clean up your mess. We wouldn’t want that, would we?” Kaeya holds his face. His voice is kind, gentle yet his touch sends a shiver down the newbie’s spine.
“O—okay… Okay… I’ll give it to you.” he stutters.
With one glance from Kaeya, Ajax pulls away and takes a step back.
Somehow, that’s enough for this man to gather all his remaining strength and make a run for it towards the garden's gate. He's trembling like a wet kitten still, it's almost commendable how he can move so fast after sustaining so many injuries. Though, Kaeya is rarely in the mood to applaud the pieces of shit that plague the organization.
“Motherfucker!?” Ajax makes an agile move after him, slightly lagging behind but appearing to catch up just as they turn the corner.
It can very well be a ruse, regardless of how the order was from the Boss directly, it’s still possible that the guy was expecting them.
Therefore, Kaeya waits.
Anxiously, hoping to see Ajax drag him back in just so he can get the goddamn list and beat him to death.
Nothing angers him quite like having to separate.
Ajax on his own, it's a bit tricky.
He's intelligent, quick on his feet. Strong. No doubt about it.
The only person strong enough to take on Kaeya, which is one of the many reasons why he shares a life with Ajax.
Kaeya is glad to have him as an ally, otherwise he would be one major pain in the ass. But even as his partner it doesn't soften the impact of how reckless and impulsive he can be at times. He rarely slips up but the amount of worry Kaeya hides from him whenever they have to break off is colossal.
Nothing can quite accurately describe what Ajax is to him.
Boyfriend is for teenagers, husband is for people who don’t come home every day covered in blood and dirt.
It's for when you don't have people gunning for you in every corner of the city. A ring on Kaeya's finger would be nothing but a target on Ajax's back.
Partner is what they are on paper, but the definition of it in their world differs greatly from what it means above the ground, above the dumpster they run and are simultaneously consumed by.
Due to the lacking nature of these labels, Ajax, to Kaeya, is simply the reason why he can never afford to die.
Though this sentiment goes both ways, Ajax is a lot better at almost dying.
A good fighter in Kaeya’s eyes is someone who walks out good as new, without breaking a sweat or losing composure.
It’s quite the opposite for his partner. Losing composure should be part of the fun. The rush he feels with a life fading away inside his palms, he wouldn't trade it for any drug this world could offer him. If killing is his business, what better way to flaunt it than with all the scars and wounds etched in his skin? The ones Kaeya tends to and traces with his lips all night.
Which is why he walks into every fight ready to win, with a smug smirk on his face. Headfirst for halos as if he has nothing to lose. Which, he doesn’t.
Well, almost.
After what feels like forever, Ajax materializes in front of the door again, eliciting a relieved exhale from Kaeya.
“Took him out?”
It wouldn’t be the best outcome to have him kick the bucket before spilling anything useful, but certainly better than him escaping.
The guy is new but obviously equipped with powerful allies, seeing how he flew under the radar long enough to ruin two hold-ups without drawing any suspicion to himself.
They would make sure no one gets a hold of him again and start moving even more carefully. They couldn’t risk it.
“The bastard was about to lam already.” Ajax groans in pain, “Couldn’t drag it out.”
Only then, Kaeya notices how his right palm is pressed against his left hip bone, weighing on his stomach.
“You okay, sugar?”
“It’s fine. Just a scratch.”
Ajax retracts his hand, hoping to prove to Kaeya that he is okay but the sight of blood oozing out only worsens the look on his face.
Kaeya steps towards him with one brow raised, “That’s a big scratch.”
“And quite a big mouth on you today. I said I'm fine didn't I?” Ajax chuckles.
“Didn’t know you had a problem with it.”
“Better to have it shut, sometimes.”
Ajax presses a kiss on his lips, managing to silence Kaeya for only a few second before he has to pull away with a grimace.
“Come on, I’ll stitch you up.”
Kaeya helps him to the couch and hands him a ball of tissues to tampon over the wound. Ajax has to renew it swiftly as they soak up the copious amounts of blood running out of his lower belly.
Kaeya returns with the small kit from his bag and a small pack that Ajax is grateful for.
He slides out a cigarette in momentary bliss while Kaeya settles on the floor between his legs.
The best and worst feeling in the world as the smoke enters his lungs, soothing his mind instantly yet wreaking havoc on his severed veins.
“We patted him down, how did he—” Kaeya gulps as he begins the suture to the side of the wound. The needle drives into his skin, coming up on the other side as Ajax grunts and takes another drag.
“Hid a butterfly knife in his drain pipe.” he exhales, “Not as—hah—stupid as I made him out to be, I guess.”
Kaeya nods. He continues in silence, mending the deep, long cut tearing Ajax's muscles apart.
Until—
“You ever feel like quitting?” he asks abruptly.
“Sometimes… We’d get bored, though. No?”
“I suppose that’s right.” Kaeya hums.
He’s not sure if that’s true, but it’s all they’ve ever known. Running errands to becoming underlings.
Assigned to the same division and taking on every job together until they’re an established duo.
The most stable one the Boss has ever seen, the only two people under his command that he would trust whole-heartedly with a mission. Though it used to mean so much to Kaeya he can’t help but feel like it’s pointless at times, living to die another day.
He remembers vividly, every single instance where he sat by Ajax and tended to his wounds just like he does now. Amateur stitches, a sloppy technique that used to elicit loud screams from Ajax, muffled into whatever piece of fabric he could get his hands on.
The first time Kaeya held him by his waist after he was done, fighting the urge to leave a kiss on his bare skin. The first time he actually went for it, one on his chest, then on his neck, his cheek and lips as Ajax kissed him back for the first time, swearing an oath to himself to never let go.
“Besides, we’d have the same people on our ass but without the protection.” Kaeya states, almost as if to convince himself.
“Well, yeah but I mean… We’ll fuck them up the way we do now.”
Kaeya secures the knot and moves on to the next.
“I’d do anything for you, for—hngh…” Ajax grits his teeth — “Us. You know that, right?”
Kaeya doesn’t look up, even when he feels a warm hand on his cheek.
His aching fingers patterned with cuts and bruises, Kaeya wishes the tears streaming from his eyes could heal them.
So he could be of some use.
He rests his cheek on Ajax’s thigh.
“I do.”