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Jabber could spend hours staring at Rudo.
The sleeping poison should be wearing off soon. Those beautiful eyes would open, be all full of confusion, and Jabber’s favorite—murderous rage. It was addicting and adorable how Rudo, in all his innocence, could look at Jabber like he wanted to kill him but wouldn’t or couldn’t.
Rudo was perfect.
Jabber’s smile stretched across his face until it was painful.
That was the expression Rudo woke up to.
Needless to say, his fist broke across Jabber’s face.
Blood seeped out of Jabber’s mouth but his smile stayed put. Rudo eyed him incredulously and with a tinge of uneasiness. Taking his eyes off of Jabber probably wasn’t smart but he took a moment for his sanity to look away from that unnerving grin to take stock of his surroundings.
He was on a couch in a dark room. The walls were strange, made out of random, crushed pieces of objects. It looked familiar but he couldn’t place why. Blue light suffused the room from a screen a few feet away.
One moment, he had space. The next it was overshadowed by long dreads.
That creepy turd face had taken advantage of his distraction and crawled over him like a overlarge bug. Rudo’s hips were shackled by Jabber’s knees while both of Jabber’s arms braced themselves on the couch arm over Rudo’s head.
They breathed each other’s air. Rudo’s cheeks flamed in mortification. He used his arms and legs to try and buck Jabber off of him.
“Get off me, turd face! You’re too close!”
“I know! Isn’t it great?” Jabber cried, gleeful and completely ignoring Rudo’s attempts to move him. It seemed to have the opposite effect. Jabber collapsed completely on top of Rudo.
Rudo gasped, winded by the additional weight on his diaphragm.
Jabber’s lips were hovering over his. Rudo flinched back as he felt the warm air when Jabber spoke.
“I have a poison that I want to try on ya but I don’t want ya to hate me. Will ya let me? It won’t hurt, promise!”
Rudo gritted his teeth. This asshole was getting on his last nerve.
“Who the hell would consent to that?!”
Instead of responding, Jabber carefully used his fingers to pull up Rudo’s mouth into a smile.
“That’s better! Ya look beautiful when you’re mad but I love your smile too.”
Knowing how bad his actual smile was, Rudo could only stare instead of trying to remove the dangerous fingers still on his face.
Encouraged by a lack of response, Jabber continued.
“Have ya ever wanted to know what it feels like to give in and let go of all that anger? I can give ya that and more if you’ll let me.”
Rudo bit his lip and averted his eyes. Unknown to Rudo, Jabber’s eyes gleamed hungrily down at him. He watched the way Rudo’s lip reddened between his cute, sharp kitten teeth.
He wanted a taste.
Jabber leaned down. Rudo startled back to awareness when he felt a pair of warm lips press against his. Jabber gently rescued Rudo’s lip from being abused and sucked on it. He sheathed his claws and ran his hands down Rudo’s sides to his thin hips.
Rudo felt his breathing slow down, his eyes grow heavy lidded, and the constant tension in his limbs ease. The fight or flight instinct he grew up with his whole life seemed like a distant nightmare. Rudo was reluctant to admit to himself that it was the most peaceful he has ever been.
Jabber reluctantly parted from Rudo’s lips.
“Now, does that feel better? I don’t need my claws. I am the poison, baby.”
Rudo could only weakly glower at Jabber, his anger muted.
Jabber gathered Rudo in his arms. As he did so, his manic grin slipped when he was reminded of just how weightless Rudo’s body was.
“Been meanin’ to ask ya this but did those Cleaners not feed ya?”
Rudo let out a weak noise of protest.
Jabber hummed. “The boss will be here in an hour. We have time to get ya something to eat. What do ya like?”
Jabber knew his poison didn’t prevent Rudo from speaking so his baby must be unwilling to speak. That’s alright he reflected. He knew exactly what to do.
“When I kissed ya, ya tasted super sweet. Someone has a sweet tooth, yeah?”
Rudo squeaked. His body attempted to move away but couldn’t do more than twitch. Jabber watched with glee as Rudo’s face flushed.
Regto never prepared him for this level of constant affection that he was being assaulted with. Rudo couldn’t handle it. His lips still tingled from the…he couldn’t even think the word. Jabber’s irritating voice brought him out of his thoughts.
“Hehe. I think we have some cake in here somewhere. I know some of the other Raiders like it.”
Being carried like an infant was humiliating. He wanted to hate it but it felt nice. Wanting desperately to hide his face but unable to lift his hands up reliably, he unthinkingly buried his face into Jabber’s chest instead.
Jabber squeezed him tighter. He was so precious.
An uglier feeling crept into Jabber’s heart.
If those Cleaners came for Rudo or other Raiders tried to covet what was his and his alone, he’d inject their veins with a venom so potent it boiled their blood, melted their brains, before slicing them into ribbons. Setting their remains on fire wouldn’t hurt either.
They walked through twisting tunnels for a while before reaching a space that Rudo identified as a kitchen.
Jabber carefully and reluctantly set Rudo down on a chair and watched as Rudo leaned his whole body on the table with amusement. He dug through the fridge, finding several items that Rudo may enjoy. He dragged them all out.
Chocolate cake, sandwiches, juice.
He set them all in front of Rudo’s adorably wide eyed face. Rudo tried to move towards the food but the strength hasn’t returned yet to his arms.
Jabber eagerly threw himself into the chair next to Rudo. Rudo flinched when a fork was thrust in front of his mouth, loaded with cake.
“Open wiiiiide, Rudo baby!” Jabber cackled.
Deciding that this was too much, even though he really wanted that cake, he turned his head away.
No way was he being fed by this freak. He’d rather starve.
“Nuh uh, we can’t be having that. You’re skinny enough as it is.”
One of Jabber’s hands gently gripped the back of Rudo’s head and turned it towards him. Jabber massaged Rudo’s head, marveling at the silky strands of white and dark. Rudo couldn’t help his mouth falling open at how wonderful it felt. Not even Regto had done this for him before. Rudo didn’t know what he was missing and now he never wanted it to end.
His eyes slipped shut but shot open a moment later when a bunch of cake entered his mouth. He choked. A glass of juice was held up to his mouth and he gulped it down. Coughing, he glared with watery eyes at Jabber, not knowing the effect they were having on him.
Jabber cooed at the large, ruby eyes glistening with tears. The dark lashes fanned across Rudo’s cheeks, highlighting their beauty.
“Ya have no idea what ya do to me, do ya?” Jabber said dryly, not really expecting an answer back.
Rudo only tilted his head in confusion. Jabber placed a hand on his face. Rudo was going to kill him with his cuteness one day but at least he’d die happy.
Rudo cooperated with being fed after that, not wanting to choke again. Soon, all the food and juice was gone.
Rudo yelped when he was scooped up again.
“Up we go! Boss should be here any time now. And my poison should be wearing off soon, too, lucky you.”
Rudo sighed, resigned to his fate until the poison wore off. Jabber kept mentioning his boss. Rudo was curious yet mildly discomforted. If Jabber was this crazy, what must his boss be like?
They made it back to the room Rudo woke up in.
Jabber flopped onto the couch, placing Rudo on his lap. He crossed his arms over Rudo’s torso and put his chin on the fluffy top of Rudo’s head.
Jabber sighs happily.
Silence enveloped the room for several minutes before a door opens at the far end.
Rudo could feel parts of his body starting to come back to him and felt relieved.
A tall, pale man in a dark trench coat, dark foreboding eyes, and pitch black hair steps in.
“Boss!” Jabber yelled, waving a hand haphazardly.
Jabber’s boss approached until his long shadow stretched over them. His eyes ignored Jabber, instead, fixing themselves on Rudo.
Rudo subconsciously leaned back into Jabber, much to his delight.
His deep voice broke the silence.
“Rudo, correct? My name is Zodyl. I am the leader of the Raiders.”
“I don’t care. I want to know what the hell I’m doing here,” Rudo growled. He’d been poisoned, kissed, harassed, force fed, and he was so, so done.
Where were the Cleaners and why haven’t they found him yet?!
Zodyl shot Jabber an unimpressed look.
“Jabber. You have had him in your custody for over 24 hours and you couldn’t be bothered to explain his presence here in that time? What have you been doing?”
Jabber lifted his hands in surrender even though he could easily unsheathe his weapon in the same amount of time it took to take a breath.
“My baby took a while to wake up after I poisoned him. Then he was skinny as fuck so I fed him. Now here we are!”
Zodyl sighed deeply. Rudo found himself begrudgingly sympathizing.
“That is no excuse for you to waste time. While we are in a location that should be untraceable for the moment, that doesn’t mean the Cleaners aren’t looking for him.”
Jabber’s eyes darkened at the mention of the Cleaners.
“They’ll take him at their own peril,” he hissed, his arms going back to hugging Rudo too tightly. Rudo wheezed.
Zodyl eyed Jabber’s arms around Rudo.
Finally, he spoke.
“I can’t say I understand or approve, but that matters not at the moment. Rudo. Who gave you those gloves?”
Rudo startled. He had been looking at the familiar symbol on Zodyl’s coat, the same one on the back of his gloves.
Rudo refused to answer. He didn’t trust Zodyl.
“Hm. Very well. Jabber, I leave him to you. Do not disappoint me.”
“Yes, boss!” Jabber beamed.
Zodyl left, the door clicking shut behind him.
Rudo felt his body come back to him and he leapt off of Jabber’s lap.
Jabber pouted, quickly missing the warmth.
“Aw, come back, Rudo baby! Let’s have a heart to heart.”
“No way, you weirdo! Don’t come any closer!”
“Those gloves mean a lot to ya, huh?”
Rudo stopped backing away at the question.
Jabber hid his grin behind his hair, sensing an opportunity.
“You lose someone close to ya?”
Rudo side eyed Jabber.
“Yeah,” he whispered in response to both questions
“They give you those neat gloves?”
Rudo lowered his head as tears stung his eyes.
“That’s all I needed to know. Would ya like a hug? I promise I won’t poison ya, for now at least.”
Rudo fought with himself. He didn’t trust Jabber but…he gave him a kind of comfort that quelled the pain in his heart that he hadn’t fully acknowledged in his rage and thirst for revenge.
Kindness was in such scarce supply in his life that when it was so freely offered, he couldn’t help but to latch on. He felt pathetic.
As he slowly made his way back over to Jabber, the building they were in shook violently.
Rudo lost his balance as the ground crumbled under him. Jabber tackled him, protecting his head as he rolled with Rudo in his arms.
When the dust cleared, Enjin stood with his umbrella held up.
“Yo Rudo, I’m surprised you haven’t broken yourself out yet. What’s going on?”
Instead of the relief Rudo expected to feel upon seeing and hearing Enjin, all he could think about was the time Enjin let him be taken by those traffickers and abused when they first met.
Jabber had a tight grip on him and was snarling.
Meanwhile, Jabber had been kind from the start, if a little too touchy feely and creepy.
But he never sold him out to traffickers. Rudo liked the other Cleaners well enough but Enjin always made him feel off.
Feeling conflicted, Rudo stayed silent.
Enjin frowned.
“Did they poison you and that’s why you’re not saying somethin’?”
Jabber pushed Rudo behind him.
“Ya don’t get to talk to him. I beat the ever lovin’ shit out of a trafficker to get information on Rudo. And ya know what he told me?” Jabber sneers.
“That a man fitting your description let them take Rudo and hurt him. So don’t go actin’ all high and mighty for coming to rescue him. I’ll kill ya for what ya did to him.”
Rudo gaped at Jabber. He had no idea that’s how Jabber found out about him. Warmth enveloped his heart.
“Well, Rudo forgave me for that. Right, Rudo?” Enjin asked, disinterestedly.
Rudo took a moment to think. No, he never did say that he forgave Enjin for that. Not really. He kind of buried it underneath everything he was feeling at the time, still fresh from the death of Regto and the many betrayals he experienced on the Sphere.
Enjin merely added to that pile of betrayal.
“No,” Rudo whispered.
Enjin’s scowl grew deeper.
“Rudo, come over here. That dude is dangerous.”
“No, he hasn’t hurt me once,” Rudo refuted.
Now Jabber was the one who gaped at Rudo.
His precious baby was picking him over the Cleaner? Maybe he built up some good karma in between all the bad shit he did after all.
Jabber hugged Rudo and smacked a big kiss on the top of his head. Rudo squawked.
“Stop that, I swear!”
“Nope! You like me, you really like me!” Jabber crowed.
Enjin couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. What the hell happened in the roughly 27 hours Rudo had been kidnapped?
To hell with it. If Rudo was going to be a brat, Enjin would just have to grab him himself.
Enjin ran forward swiftly only to be stopped in his tracks by long claws that nearly took out his face.
Rudo watched the fight happen like he was watching from outside his body. He felt numb. The Cleaners were his hope that he could find a way to the Sphere to get his revenge. Yet, he felt so alone and the black void in his heart felt bigger every day, threatening to swallow him and everything he was whole.
Jabber made him feel normal by being his annoyingly, persistent self. Rudo sensed that Jabber was reliable since he never deviated from who he was once. He stood up for Rudo even before he knew who Rudo was. Maybe it had been for a different reason at first but now he felt that maybe Jabber cared.
A cry echoed throughout the area.
Enjin was on the ground, foam leaking out of his mouth. His body spasmed and thrashed.
Before Rudo could see more, Jabber had returned, sheathing his claws to place a comforting hand over Rudo’s eyes.
“Your eyes are too pure to witness that. I was going to kill him but didn’t know how ya would feel about that so I didn’t.”
Rudo trembled and leaned his face into Jabber’s hand.
“Are ya coming with me, Rudo baby?”
While Jabber had asked the question casually, Rudo could sense that he wouldn’t really take no for an answer and he was… alright with that.
They left together, hand in hand with Rudo avoiding Jabber’s gaze and his face a sweet shade of pink.
Jabber couldn’t be happier.