serving multiple gunshot wound realness [closed]

[killthepast]

who: Kylo Ren and Various
what: Catch-all for February/March things while Kylo recovers from getting shot up in a street by some COMMON CRIMINALS (it was Poe and John). Mostly for threads that have already been planned, but feel free to poke me somewhere if you'd like me to put up a starter for you.
when: February & March
where: Mostly a skeevy motel
warnings: References to violence and torture

Comments

[hypothermic]

[It's a game of cat and mouse, in that Leonard is a predator toying with his prey. He plays and plays, winning enough to rile his opponent up, and losing enough to keep them on the hook. Leonard's lived elbow to elbow with thugs like these his entire life. He knows exactly what to do and say to make them feel big, bet big, get hard at the idea of having him over a barrel (literally and figuratively).

Then, when they've got their dicks in their hands, and their wallets on the table, he sucker-punches them. Like it was nothing. Because it is nothing.]

Better luck next time.

[Leonard walks away with the cash, the watch, and best of all, their pride. They'll think about jumping him, of course. Not here in no-man's land, where there are unspoken rules, but somewhere outside. Where he can kill them.

Really, it's a win-win.

He looks at Kylo, who was a better partner than even he anticipated, with a glitter in his eyes. Trouble always puts him in the mood for more trouble. The pool game was just foreplay.]

Pick a dancer. I'll buy you a dance. You earned it.

[killthepast]

[ The only time Kylo breaks his glowering mask is when the games end, when Leonard's cleaned them of money, valuables, and their pride. No, not just Leonard. The both of them, working as a team. And it's the anger that he can feel from the men, pouring out in seething huffs and muttered curses, that brings a smile to Ren's lips. It's small, tugging at one corner of his mouth, before he turns and walks away with his companion.

They won't do anything here. He's not as familiar with these sorts of places and their codes, but he can feel it in the Force. They won't dare to try anything here and now. Later, perhaps.

He leans back against the bar, his stupid, weakened body craving the support again, as Leonard makes his offer. A dance? Why. Oh. He gives the other man a funny look. ]

No... [ He drags the word out a touch longer than necessary, an awkward bid at stalling for time. ] thank you. No.

[ He's no Hutt gangster. He doesn't need a dancer!! ]

[hypothermic]

[Leonard watches Kylo's face closely. He doesn't hide that he's watching him, either.

Finally, he tilts his head to the side with a slight narrowing of his eyes. Locking on.]

Shy?

[A low, amused chuckle, and he polishes off what's left of his second beer. Leonard never gets sloppy drunk. He doesn't actually enjoy the feeling of getting intoxicated. A light buzz can be fun, but anything more than that just makes him feel as dumb as everyone else.

They're similar, in that regard. They both manage themselves, in their own ways. Leonard the careful anarchist, and Kylo Ren the controlled... whatever he is. Leonard knows better than to ask. He assumes Kylo will tell him in due time, if he doesn't figure it out on his own first.]

You look done. Should we blow this popsicle stand?

[killthepast]

[ He holds Leonard's gaze, as if to prove he isn't shy. Kylo Ren's no wilting flower in the face of... you know. Debauchery. Inexperienced, certainly. But it's less shyness, in this particular instance, as it is: ] Uninterested. [ His eyes shift over to the assorted dancers, watching them in their trade. ] I don't want to pay anyone to... pretend.

[ Ren pushes himself off from the bar, nodding, though there's the slightest smile on his lips again. The fact that Leonard doesn't push it, use the opportunity to mock him, or try to force him into something he doesn't want to do is oddly meaningful to him. It's pathetic, he knows, that he's so starved of companionship or camaraderie, that the littlest scraps of it make him go weak in the knees. But Leonard's been consistently decent, in his own way, and for his talk of Kylo owing a life debt to him, he doesn't behave with any such entitlement. ]

Yeah. [ There's a pause, then: ] Thank you. For as much as I underestimated this cantina, I had... fun.

[ Which he says like it's an entirely foreign concept to him. FUN? WHAT IS THAT? But he doesn't let the words linger in the air before he turns and starts to head out, so that they can return to the room. ]

[hypothermic]

And it didn't kill you.

[A wry smile. Leonard's teasing him. Someone has to. If there's anything wrong with Kylo, it's that he's too sensitive, and too serious. It's a painful combination. A man needs to be able to laugh at himself. It hurts too much to take everything personally, or seriously. Leonard would know. At more than one point in his life, it was laugh, or stop living. The world is going to screw you no matter what, the most anyone can do is try to find the humour in it, and be anything but a victim.

It's not up to Leonard to show Kylo how to live, or to care how he lives his life, they're practically strangers, but he'd be lying if he didn't admit he feels something. For better or for worse, being stuck on the Waverider, and being part of a team had loosened up Leonard's willingness to be affected by others. He's not so against whatever it is within him that makes him want to reach out, to protect people that some might consider unworthy of protecting, or simply showing them a different way to live. Not better. Never better. Leonard doesn't pretend to know or care about what's right or wrong. Just what is, and what can be. A freedom that can only be found within yourself.

Leonard Snart. Freedom Fighter. He really is becoming a jack of all trades. Lewis would be spinning in his grave.]

Let's go, partner.

[Back to the motel, to their room, small and comfortable, familiar. Not home, exactly, but Leonard's never really known what home feels like. Now that he's dead, and there's no going back, here is as good a place as any.

Leonard pours them both a drink, because here, behind closed doors and in present company, he's willing to get just a little bit sloppy.]

I've got something for you.

[killthepast]

[ Too sensitive and too serious. Leonard's right on the money there. But, to his credit, Kylo does laugh a little at the remark. And once they're in the motel room again, he relaxes noticeably, his body language becoming less guarded as soon as he's back in familiar territory. And, since he's spent entirely too much time in that damn bed lately, Ren makes a direct line for the couch, wincing a little as he sits, and leaning heavily against one of the arm rests.

Like Leonard, he feels secure enough here, in the privacy of the room, to have a drink-- though only one, given his injuries. What's more important is the something Leonard's alluding to. ]

Not another gift of surgery, I hope.

[ HA HA HA. ]

[hypothermic]

Smartass.

[He takes an easy seat on the couch beside Kylo, still graceful, in spite of his buzz. A cat doesn't stop being a cat if it's drunk. With a flick his wrist, Leonard produces the carbon black watch they'd won earlier in the night from somewhere down his sleeve.

It's a nice watch. A Tag Heuer Black Phantom. The brand doesn't exist in Riverview, Leonard would've heard of them through 'work', so this is a unique timepiece from some version of Earth brought through the portal. A ten thousand dollar watch turned priceless, worth more than the rest of the pot. That thug had been an idiot to bet it. Leonard can't help but wonder if Kylo had some hand in that, too.]

Your cut.

[Without waiting for Kylo's permission, he takes his right hand and wraps the watch band around his wrist. The ceramic is cool against his skin, but will quickly warm with his body heat. Then he won't feel it at all. Light, accurate, and virtually indestructible, the exposed clockwork tells time accurately down to the millisecond.]

Multi-purpose. I've got a thing about time, and it looks good on you.

[His eyes cut up to Kylo's face to gauge his reaction.]

[killthepast]

[ He glances down at the offering, leaning in as he takes in the craftsmanship that went into it. Though primitive, compared to the timepieces he's accustomed to, it's an intricate device, made with care and expert hands, he'd imagine. That, more than any material value it might possess, is what makes Ren feel an odd sort of twinge inside at the gift.

And it's what brings a warmth to his cheeks-- and his ears-- when Leonard takes his hand and fastens it around his wrist. Just a casual, fluid motion, a simple brush of fingers against his skin. Too brief, is what he thinks, when Leonard's finished putting it on him.

It may not be the first time he's been touched, skin on skin, since Leonard's found him, but it's the first time out of the context of medical care. Really, he hasn't had anybody's fingers on his bared skin since...

Ren winces a little and keeps his eyes locked on the watch, until the words 'it looks good on you' are spoken, and he has to take an extra moment to comprehend them. It's not the first time somebody here has flirted with him-- TJ, too, complimented his looks-- but it's still new and strange and so far out of his realm of experience that he feels foolish and stupid.

But he manages to pull his gaze up from the watch, to meet Leonard's. ]

Thank you. [ He almost says that with an inflection at the end, a question rather than a statement. ]

[hypothermic]

[The flush. The wince. That look in Kylo's eyes, when he finally looks up at him. Leonard drinks it all in. For all of Kylo's intended stoicism, he really is an open book. If he's not careful, someone's going to take advantage of that openness.

But maybe they already have. Men like him, like them, aren't born. They're made.]

Don't say I never gave you nothing.

[Leonard smirks, fingertips trailing along the edge of the watchband as he pulls his hand away. He wasn't lying. The watch does look good on Kylo. So do the clothes Leonard bought him. Knowing Kylo is alive by his hand, protected by his hand, even clothed by his hand, brings Leonard a strange sense of satisfaction.

He leans back against the couch, crossing one leg over the other. Glances at Kylo out of the corner of his eyes. Glances away quirk of his lips. His fingers drum against the cushions. Starting. Stopping. And then finally--]

I was going to give you a lap-dance, but with that hip? I figured the watch was the safer option.

[killthepast]

[ Under Snoke's tutelage, Ren had never really gotten an opportunity to truly grow up. Even before he fully turned (tried to turn, despite the insistent call of the Light), he'd lived a sort of arrested half-life, trying desperately to suppress half of himself, the parts that were dark and wrong, because that's what he was taught to do. The path of the Jedi, to only live as a fragment of oneself.

He'd never been very good at it, even when he'd tried. Light, or Dark, he was always too emotional, too expressive, wearing hurt or confusion or rage on his face so plainly that an actual mask was the only way to project the image he was so desperate to impart, that he was a cold and disciplined enforcer, not a wild animal snapping at the end of his leash. He doesn't have his grandfather's presence, his legendary ability to command fear and respect simply by standing in a room, but he'd tried to recreate it by covering his face entirely. It's easier to be frightening when nobody can see how boyish he really looks.

For so long, he's hated how nakedly his face wears his feelings. Right now, with Leonard, though... He's happier for it. Unexpectedly. Here's somebody who's never known the imperfect copy of Lord Vader. He sees Kylo Ren as a person-- occasionally awkward and annoying, too serious, a bit grouchy, inexperienced with casual conversation-- and he doesn't laugh at him or sneer in disgust or hold him to impossible standards. He may be changing Kylo's sense of fashion, sure, and getting him involved in the petty, lowlife scams of his own father, but that's different. Those are surface level, and through it all, Leonard hasn't asked him to be somebody he's not, or spoken of his darkness as if it were a weakness of his, a fault that must be suppressed.

And he's not afraid. Not afraid, but not in any mocking, underestimating sort of way.

For the first time in... since... he doesn't even know when... He feels like he's enough. Just him, Ben Solo, not some phantom version of himself. It may not be love; this may be an infatuation that will end tonight, or tomorrow, or when he's healed and back on his own. But at least for now, he feels a semblance of freedom when he's with the other man, and that's something rare and precious. ]

Perhaps... Some other time.

[ It's impulsive-- when has he ever been any good at reining in his impulses?-- but he does it anyway. He leans in to kiss Leonard, lips on the corner of the other man's mouth, quick and without finesse, like an adolescent. He doesn't think he's misread the situation here (the Force kind of gives him an unfair advantage, to that end), but his own technique, well. That, he's less confident about. But at least now, he can admire that jawline of Leonard's up close. ]

[hypothermic]

Perhaps.

[Kylo didn't misread the situation, and he won't need the Force to know what's on Leonard's mind. His hand goes to the back of Kylo's neck, fingers knitting into the thick of his hair. His thumb strokes along the soft edge of baby hair, hidden behind his ear.

Leonard turns his head, catching Kylo's lips. Soft, at first, but only for a moment. Just long enough to give Kylo a chance to change his mind. If he pulls away, Leonard will let him. He doesn't get off on anything less than consent. If Kylo doesn't pull away? That's when he claims them. Rough, and possessive, with everything they've both been feeling that's been left unsaid. All the energy that's been conducting between them in this room burning through Leonard's lips like like electricity.

With one hand on Kylo's chest and the other buried in his hair, he push-pulls Kylo down onto the couch, as much of him as will fit, one knee between his thighs as he leans over him, tongue tracing the outline of his lower lip before pressing against and between his teeth, demanding more. Deeper. Now.]

[killthepast]

[ Fingers in his hair, that's the kind of touch he leans his head right into, like a big cat feeling some burst of affection. There's no pulling away. Quite the opposite, really. He meets Leonard's lips with unpracticed enthusiasm, seeming to come alive all the more when the kiss turns from soft and seeking to something harder, rougher.

There's some familiarity in violence, and it's thrilling to have it turned to him in a way that's meant to be pleasurable. Yes, Kylo can be sweet and gentle-- he's been those things with Rey-- but roughness excites him, too. His free hand (his only functional hand, thanks to the sling) grips at Leonard's shirt as he's pushed back against the couch. There's a grunt of pain, low in his throat, as the movement aggravates his injuries, but if anything, that seems to add to his own pleasure.

Mouth receptive, teeth rough when he's able to catch the other man's lip, Kylo practically growls out his approval as he reaches under Leonard's shirt, to find warm skin and lithe muscle at his fingertips. He presses against the slimmer man's thigh encouragingly, eager and impatient.

It's his first time, after all! ]