Fiction: Mind Forged Manacles part 1

[kethni]

Name: Mind-Forged Manacles part 1
Pairing: Matt/Nathan, Matt/Peter
Rating: Hard 18
Warning: Adult language, explicit non-con/dub-con sex, psychological abuse, death of a secondary character.
Notes: I say ‘non-con’ but I’m aware that I have a different classification to a lot of people so I’ve labelled non/dub to cover all bases.
Sequel to 'Sold'

For leadaisyand dragon6593
  Nathan straightens the napkin on his lap and takes a delicate bite of toast.

“What are your plans for today?” he asks.

Matt looks up from his cereal and shrugs. “Nothing really, Sir.”

“Nothing?” Nathan asks, regarding Matt steadily.

Matt’s fingers twitch on the tabletop. “You want me to do something?”

Nathan’s eyes drop to Matt’s fingers and then back up to his face. “You seem to spend a lot of time doing ‘nothing really’ Matt. If you’re so bored I’ll see about accelerating the clearances so you can come to the Senate with me, as we discussed.”

“I’m not bored.”

“You can’t spend your days doing ‘nothing really’, Matt,” Nathan says coolly. “It’s not good for a man to be a loose end; it saps your drive.”

Matt smiles thinly and looks down at his food.

“I’ll try and be home at a reasonable time tonight,” Nathan says, taking a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been rather neglectful but with these bailout hearings it’s been difficult.”

Matt sighs and nods. “Okay. I’ll be ready.”

“You could look a little more pleased,” Nathan says wryly. “With me busy these past weeks you’ve spent a lot of time by yourself; it’s not healthy to be alone so much.”

Matt shrugs. “I don’t mind.”

“I mind,” Nathan says, taking a bite of toast. “I undertook certain obligations when I bought you from Primatech, one of which being your care and maintenance. I’ve been neglecting you and I’m going to put that right.”

Matt’s spoon clatters against the cereal bowl and he winces. Nathan drums his fingers on the table.


Nathan taps his pen on the desk as he looks through the photographs.

“He’s still looking at the watches?”

“Yes Senator.”

Nathan looks up at the man in front of him. “He’s still spending most of his time out... wandering around the city?”

“He does a little shopping,” the man says. “He goes to the zoo, sits in the park. That kind of thing.”

“He doesn’t talk to anyone?” Nathan checks.

“No, nothing beyond the norm when making purchases.”

“Has he been back to the toy store?” Nathan asks.

“No, not since that first time.”


Matt’s is wandering out of the park when a van screeches to a halt in front of him. He starts backing up and then he’s grabbed bodily from behind. His hand are yanked behind him and secured, a hood is pulled over his head, and he’s bundled into the van.


Nathan is pacing the hotel room when someone hammers on the door. He yanks the door open and nods at the men stood there.

“Thank you gentlemen, over there please.”

They drag the hooded, bound man over in front of the bed and drop him onto the floor before leaving.

Nathan shuts and locks the door and then walks back and kneels down next to the bound man. He pulls off the hood, unties the ropes, and rolls the man onto his back.

“You’re not gagged,” he says, surprised. “You were so quiet I thought you must be.”

Matt glares at him, grinding his teeth.

“My twelve o’clock meeting was cancelled so I had a few hours free,” Nathan says, standing up and swinging his arms. “I thought that, since you had no plans, it would be fun to have you for a while.” He steps to the side as Matt gets up, cleaning off his jacket and pants. “I don’t always have time to get back to the apartment between meetings so I keep this room on standby.”

Matt takes off his jacket and tightly folds his arms.

Nathan unbuckles his belt, folds it in half, and strokes it down Matt’s cheek. “I love fucking you when you’re so... annoyed. Get undressed and bend over the footboard for me.”

Matt strips off, leaving his clothes where they fall. Nathan pulls the sheet off the bed and twists it up into a thick rope.

“Wind your arms around the bars,” Nathan orders. Matt leans over the footboard and wraps his arms around the bars. Nathan ties one corner of the sheet around Matt’s wrist, securing it to the bar and then twists it around Matt’s arm. He pulls it across Matt’s back and then twists it around the other arm, tying it off at the wrist. He undresses, carefully folding his clothes and putting them to one side.

“Were you doing something nice?” Nathan asks, bringing over a bottle of champagne sitting in a bucket of ice from the desktop. “When the boys picked you up?” He takes an ice chip from the bucket and runs it along Matt’s back, making Matt shudder. “Answer me when I ask you a direct question.”

“Not especially,” Matt says flatly.

“What were you doing?” Nathan asks, sliding his hand around to push the ice chip into Matt’s mouth. He forces Matt’s mouth closed until he swallows the ice. Matt wrenches his face away.

“Leaving the park,” Matt snarls.

Nathan puts the bucket to one side, swirling his fingers through the ice, and flips open a tube of lube.

“Fuck!” Matt hisses, as Nathan pushes cold fingers into him.

“You’re not a child, Matt,” Nathan says mildly, scissoring Matt wide open. “I will accept sulking but not being ignored or you refusing to speak. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Matt growls.

“Good.” Nathan pushes Matt’s feet apart with his foot. “It’s been too long since I gave you a good, hard fuck.” He wends his fingers into Matt’s hair and grips tightly. He hums lightly to himself, letting the anticipation build, before slamming into Matt.

Matt gasps as his body is rammed against the footboard again and again. Nathan’s other hand grips his hip tightly, short nails biting into skin.

Nathan leaves Matt tied to the bed as he goes to shower.


Nathan whistles cheerfully as he wanders out of the shower; skin pink and hair ruffled. He runs a hand up Matt’s arm and strokes the back of his neck.

“I don’t like hurting you Matt.”

“Liar,” Matt says mildly.

“I can’t have you challenging me this way. I thought we’d already sorted all this.” Nathan runs his hand slowly up and down Matt’s back. “I need you to back down, submit. Do you understand?”

“They grabbed me off the street,” Matt says quietly. “No explanation, nothing. Grabbed me, tied me up, threw me in a van to roll around like a sack of potatoes.”

“Were you scared?” Nathan asks, voice soft. He tips lube onto his fingers and works two inside Matt, massaging his prostate.

“That idea turn you on?” Matt asks.

“They should’ve gagged you,” Nathan murmurs. “Would you like that?”

“Don’t care.”

“Don’t spoil my fun, Matt,” Nathan chides. “Play properly. Would you like it if they took you off the street and gagged you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Nathan prompts, reaching his left hand around to fondle Matt’s balls.

Matt sighs. “Because I’d be helpless, trapped... aah...” his voice catches as Nathan slides his left hand to wrap around his shaft.

“And?”

“Uh? Uh... frightened? Not knowing what was happening, where I was going, what was...” Matt’s voice peters out and his breath catches.

“Tell me,” Nathan urges softly. “You’re in the van; tied up, hooded, gagged, what happens now?”

“I...I’m driven somewhere... ohhh... the van’s parked up. The doors opened and I’m dragged out.”

“Mmm,” Nathan murmurs. “Are you struggling?”

“Y...yeah, uh... struggling and trying to call...call for help.” Matt squirms under him.

“Love it when you struggle,” Nathan whispers into his ear. “Do you want me to take over?”

Matt nods, moaning softly as Nathan increases his speed. “Pl...please.”

“You’re in an abandoned warehouse. Windows boarded up, dirty, hardly any light. They throw you down on the floor.”

Matt whines softly.

“They hold you down as you struggle, pull down your pants and boxers. You can’t move, can’t protest, can’t even call for help. You’re moaning as I fuck you, the sound changes slowly. By the end you’re making that pleased sound, like now, because you’re enjoying it. You’re being held down and fucked and you’re loving it.”

Matt’s body tenses and he comes over Nathan’s hand.

“Like now,” Nathan whispers. “Loving it aren’t you?” He reaches over to untie Matt’s wrists, first one and then the other. He pries Matt off the footboard and walks him over to the bed. “Have a lie down. You can go when you’re feeling up to it.”


Nathan is combing his hair in the mirror as Matt pads out of the shower.

“Good shower?” Nathan asks.

“Yes Sir.”

Nathan turns around. “You’re not still annoyed are you?”

“I thought you liked it when I was annoyed,” Matt observes dryly, sitting on the bed and drying his hair with a towel.

“Not continually.” Nathan walks over and takes the towel from Matt. “I’m not a monster.”

Matt drops his head as Nathan towels his hair.

“I think a monster would want more than ‘annoyance’,” Matt allows.

“I want your complete submission, Matt, you know that.”

“No you don’t,” Matt says, rolling his shoulders. “Not really. You’d get bored. You like it when I put up a fight, a struggle, and you get submission in the teeth of that.”

Nathan smiles at him. “I wasn’t expecting you to be quite so unhappy when you were brought here.”

“You can fuck me any time you want, any way that you want. You had me grabbed off the street, tied up, and thrown into a van. That was... that wasn’t what I agreed to.”

“It’s important to you that you have time alone,” Nathan murmurs, dabbing the towel over Matt’s shoulders. “To make your own choices sometimes.”

“I appreciate you letting me out,” Matt says quietly, shoulders tensed.

“I know you do,” Nathan says, squeezing his shoulder. “I like doing it for you.”

“I thought I knew where I stood. I don’t like surprises, Nathan.”

Nathan tips up Matt’s face and gently wipes it dry with the corner of the towel. “I know, Matt.” He traces his thumb over Matt’s mouth. “I think the head harness tonight, hmm?”

“If I don’t trust you it isn’t because I haven’t been in the harness recently.”

“No, but if you trusted me to look after you then these things wouldn’t bother you.”

Matt shakes his head. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

“You should’ve trusted me to protect you. That’s my fault, I’ll put it right.”


Nathan hangs up his coat and puts his umbrella in the stand. Soft music is playing in the living room.

“Matt?” he calls, walking into the living room, noting the glass of whiskey sat carefully on a coaster.

“Sorry,” Matt says, walking out of his room.

“That’s all right,” Nathan says smiling as Matt takes out his belt, unbuttons his flies, and pulls down his trousers and shorts.

Matt takes a step back as Nathan sits down on the couch and then kneels down between his legs.

“It’s been a while,” Nathan murmurs, closing his eyes. “I’ve been looking forward to this.” He takes a sip of whiskey as Matt laps his balls and then wraps his mouth around Nathan’s cock. Nathan’s other hand finds Matt’s face, his fingers slip into Matt’s hair. “We’ll have to have a holiday. Just us, what do you think? Somewhere quiet and far away. Somewhere I can spend all day fucking you over and over.”

Matt sucks strongly, eyes screwed shut.

Nathan jerks, his fingers tight in Matt’s hair as he comes. Matt coughs, almost chokes.

“Shush,” Nathan says softly. “Easy now, easy. Good boy, such a good boy.”

Matt adjusts his position, tries to back up a little but Nathan pulls on his hair.

“Don’t start that again Matt, you know I don’t like it when you try to pull away.” Nathan takes a sip of his whiskey and opens his eyes. “Do you miss having your cock sucked? I imagine you do.” He puts the glass down and releases his fingers from Matt’s hair. “Alright, now you can stop.”

Matt backs away a couple of feet and sits on his haunches looking up warily at Nathan.

“Go and take the food off the warmers,” Nathan says, dressing himself. He gives Matt’s ass a playful slap as he walks past.


Nathan raises his eyebrows when Matt sits down and picks up his cutlery.

“What?” Matt asks.

“Are you putting yourself on a diet? I like your weight as it is.”

Matt shrugs and picks at his fish. “I’m just not very hungry.”

Nathan watches him silently for a few moments. “You’re not worrying about the head harness are you?”

Matt’s knife scrapes across the plate unexpectedly.

“Matt, you approach it all wrong,” Nathan says, tucking into his food.

“Really.”

“You need to stop thinking about it as a punishment or something being imposed on you against your will,” Nathan says mildly.

“What is it then?” Matt asks flatly.

“An act of trust, a way of strengthening the bond between us, it’s your way of letting me show you that you’re safe.”

Matt stares at him. “I don’t feel safe or trusting and I don’t feel that we have some ‘bond’,” he says.

Nathan almost flinches. “Well obviously we’re going to have to work on that.”



Matt tramps across to the sling, head bowed.

“No,” Nathan says mildly, unbuttoning his sleeves. “Not the sling, on the bed.”

“I thought you said it was going to be the head harness,” Matt says, moving to the bed.

Nathan nods and takes it out of its box. “The head harness, but not the sling. “Get undressed for me Matt.”

Matt eyes the chains and restraints attached to the bed as he undresses. Nathan strips to his underwear and sits on the bed next to him.

“Why don’t you trust me?”

“You were my friend and when I asked you for help you demanded sex in return,” Matt says coolly. “You bought me like I’m an animal, like I’m a thing, a thing for you to use.”

“Aren’t I good to you?” Nathan asks, touching his face. “You have nice things, you live in a beautiful apartment, and your daughter goes to a very good school.”

“I never asked for any of those things. I don’t want any of the... stuff you give me. I just want... I just want to be a cop and live with my daughter in a crappy rundown apartment struggling to make ends meet.”

“That isn’t really what you want is it?” Nathan asks. “All that worry, all that stress, all that heartache. I look after you, Matt. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Of course it’s what I want,” Matt says quietly.

“You agreed to this.”

Matt looks at him. “And I stick to what I agreed. But you asked me why I don’t trust you and I’m telling you.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose it will simply take longer than I anticipated,” Nathan says calmly. “But I’m patient Matt.” He holds up the harness. “Remember to try and breathe normally. In a few minutes I’m going to strap your arms together.”

“After, why after?”

“Because I think if you have arms free before you might not panic as much,” Nathan says, gently pushing the gag into Matt’s mouth. “I don’t want this to be an ordeal for you, Matt. Try to stay calm and concentrate on your breathing.” Nathan slides the mask over Matt’s eyes and moves around to tighten the straps. “There,” he says soothingly. “There’s no need to panic, nothing to worry about. Just relax, take regular breaths.” Nathan strokes Matt’s arms and shoulders, catches hold of Matt’s hands. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” He fastens Matt’s right arm into a rubber sleeve and pulls it behind his back. “I’m strapping your arms together now,” he says, pulling the left arm into the sleeve and strapping it tightly. “There now, that didn’t hurt did it?” Nathan murmurs. Matt’s chest heaves as his breathing gets faster. “Whoa, whoa,” Nathan says softly. He pulls Matt onto his side so his head is in Nathan’s lap. “It’s all right, Matt,” he promises, caressing Matt’s hair. “You’re safe; nothing is going to hurt you. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Eventually Matt’s breathing begins to even out and Nathan moves his hand from Matt’s hair to his shoulders, rubbing in soothing circles. “That’s better, isn’t that better?” He gently lifts Matt’s head up off his lap and rests it on the bed. He fetches lube from a drawer and then returns to the bed to lie behind Matt. “It’s alright, I’m here.” He squeezes lube onto his fingers and prepares Matt slowly. “You’re tense; it’ll hurt if you’re tense. Try to relax. It’s going to be nice and slow.” Nathan puts a hand on Matt’s waist as he enters him slowly.


“Where are you going?” Nathan asks as Matt walks out of the shower.

Matt jerks his head at the bedroom.

“The game is on isn’t it? You can watch it in the living room if you like. The screen is bigger.”

Matt shakes his head. “Going to bed,” he says quietly.

“It’s very early,” Nathan says mildly.

“Tired,” Matt says shrugging.

Nathan pushes his fingers through Matt’s hair. “I don’t want you to be unhappy here, Matt. I understand that you’re still finding it difficult to adjust and I appreciate the effort that you’re making.”

“May I go to bed, Sir?” Matt asks.

“Your hair is still wet.”

Matt shrugs silently.

“Don’t go to sleep with it wet,” Nathan says eventually. “You’ll give yourself a head cold. I don’t think I like you sick.”

“Just terrified?” Matt asks flatly.

Nathan blinks at him. “There’s no need to take that attitude.”

“I’m sorry, can I go to bed now?”

Nathan sighs and brushes a droplet of water from Matt’s forehead. “I don’t want you to be frightened Matt. That’s the last thing I want. I didn’t hurt you and I wouldn’t let you be hurt.”

“Then don’t put me in the head harness.”

“I want you to trust me, Matt,” Nathan says mildly.

Matt shakes his head and looks away. “You can’t make me trust you by... it doesn’t work that way.”

“All right,” Nathan says softly. “Go to bed.”



Nathan drums his fingers on the desk.

“He hasn’t been out?”

“No sir,” the muscular, large set, suited man replies. “Not since they day he was taken to your hotel room.”

Nathan throws himself back in his chair. “That was more than a week ago!” He rubs his forehead. “You’re sure that he’s not slipping out somehow?”

“Definitely not.”

Nathan looks up at him. “But before that he was going out every day?”

“More or less, for varying amounts of time.”

Nathan chews his lower lip. “Alright, you can go.”



Peter bounces into the restaurant and over to the table.

“Hey! You haven’t asked me out to lunch in ages,” he says sitting down. “Just us?”

“Disappointed?” Nathan asks dryly.

“Why would I be disappointed?” Peter asks guiltily.

“That Matt isn’t here,” Nathan says.

“It’s not like you’d bring him here,” Peter sniffs.

“Why do you say that? I let him out on his own.”

Peter snorts. “Yeah but you don’t take him anywhere. If he was mine I’d take him places. Nice places that he’d enjoy. Not keep him cooped up in that apartment.”

Nathan shifts in his seat. “I don’t keep him cooped up. It’s not my fault if...”

“If what?”


“If he hasn’t set foot out of it in a week,” Nathan admits.

“Is he down? Maybe he’s getting agoraphobic.”

Nathan rolls his eyes. “He’s not agoraphobic. Are you ready to order?”

“Yeah. Well what do you think the problem is?”

Nathan gestures for the waiter. “Prime rib with mash potatoes, and a glass of... the ’54 please.”

“Can I get a hamburger and a beer?” Peter asks cheerfully.

“Hamburger and beer,” Nathan mutters under his breath as the waiter walks away. “I swear you were swapped at birth.” He sighs and leans back. “I know he’s not happy. Obviously he wasn’t happy when I brought him home but we were settling into a routine. I thought once that happened he would relax.” Nathan looks at Peter sourly. “I’ve never seen anyone so tightly wound.”

“Maybe he’s just missing Molly,” Peter suggests.

“It’s been months since he saw her in person, he should be more reconciled to it not less. They write letters, exchange phone calls, and send videos.” Nathan snorts. “They probably talk more now than they ever did before.”

“Is he still angry?”

“About what?” Nathan asks.

Peter shrugs. “About everything; Mohinder’s death, Molly being so far away, you owning him, all that stuff.” He raises his eyebrows. “You didn’t put him in the head harness again did you?”

Nathan colours and looks down at his cutlery. “I’ve never hurt him, never. I’m not always... tender, I admit, but I’ve never hurt him. When he has the harness on I’m very, very careful.”

“When he has it on?” Peter echoes. “How many times have you used it?”

“Just the twice: one just after I first got him and then just over a week ago. It’s not that I make a habit of it. Something had happened and it had scared him. There was absolutely no need for him to be afraid and I just wanted to demonstrate that he could trust me not to hurt him. Even when he’s completely helpless I wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Nathan! You know that Dad only uses those things when the slave has been really disobedient! It’s really, seriously traumatic. No wonder he’s so unhappy!”

Nathan grinds his teeth. “I just wanted to show him that he can trust me.”

“By punishing him?” Peter asks. “Did it not occur to you to just... be nice to him? If you want him to trust you then show him that he can trust you. You can’t force him into it!”

“I didn’t think it would be this difficult,” Nathan admits. “It would be simpler if he was just... disobedient.”

“Well maybe if you treated him less like a blow up doll once in a while,” Peter says jealously. “When was the last time you had an actual conversation with him?”

“We talk at breakfast,” Nathan says as he’s served his food. “If he has plans, what my plans are, that kind of thing.”

“What about after...” Peter pauses until the waiter has gone, “after you’ve... had him? Do you talk to him then? Maybe tell him he was good? Thank him?”

Nathan stares at his younger brother. “Thank him? Peter I wouldn’t have thanked Heidi and she was my wife!”

“Yeah, and now you’re divorced,” Peter observes.



Nathan pushes the apartment door open quietly and walks inside. He carefully puts his coat on the hook, slips off his shoes, and walks from room to room.

Matt is in his bedroom, curled up under the covers.

Nathan leans against the wall and watches him. The clock turns three-thirty and Matt’s alarm clock goes off. Matt slaps it off, sits up and turns around.

“Shit!”

“I’m sorry Matt, I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

Matt clutches his chest. “What time is it?”

“Three-thirty.”

“You’re... you’re early,” Matt stammers. “You didn’t say you’d be early.”

“I didn’t know,” Nathan says, sitting beside him on the bed. “Why are you sleeping in the middle of the day?”

Matt squirms away. “I was tired. Shall I fix your drink?”

Nathan puts a hand on Matt’s knee. “Would you like to go out tonight?”

Matt looks at him sideways. “Do I actually get a choice?”

“I’m asking aren’t I? I thought we could go for a meal.”

“No thank you,” Matt says, standing up and dressing.

“It doesn’t have to be my kind of place, Matt. We can go anywhere you want.”

“So I don’t get a choice?” Matt asks.

Nathan sighs and stands up. “If you really don’t want to go then we won’t go.”

Matt looks at him and frowns slightly. “Really?”

“Really, but I think it would do you good.”

Matt rubs his head. “This is some reverse psychology thing where you tell me I don’t have to go so that I’ll agree to go, right?”

Nathan raises his eyebrows. “Have I done something to make you think I’d resort to trickery?”

“I... I have no idea anymore,” Matt says hopelessly.

Nathan twitches his fingers. “Is there something you would rather do than go to dinner?”

“Like what?”

“Whatever you like, we could go and see a movie or a play. Would you like that?”

Matt shrugs uncertainly. “I suppose. Why are you asking?”

“Aren’t I allowed to ask for your opinion?”

“You don’t,” Matt points out. “You don’t care what I think so why would you ask?”

“It’s a simple question Matt,” Nathan snaps. “Would you like to go out and see a movie or a play?”

“No, not really,” Matt retorts. “I’d really like it if you’d just leave me alone, thanks.”

Nathan recoils and then turns around and walks out.

“Fuck!” Matt turns and kicks the wardrobe. “Sir?” he calls, walking out quickly into the hallway. “I’m sorry.”

Nathan spins around to face him. “Are you really, or are simply panicking at what the consequences might be?”

Matt meets his gaze. “I’m panicking at what the consequences might be.”

Nathan lets out his breath in a huff. “Am I supposed to be charmed by your honesty?”

Matt shrugs. “Why would I want to charm you?”

“I don’t know Matt,” Nathan says coldly. “Perhaps because I provide for you, I take care of you, I keep you and your daughter safe?”

Matt looks away and then back at him. “I’m a grown man, not a child or a... a puppy.”

“You’re whatever I say you are,” Nathan growls.

“You use me. You have no more regard for me than you do for your car or your TV. So forgive me if I’m not falling over myself to thank you.”

“Have you quite finished?”

Matt shrugs. “I don’t know why you did this. It’s not making you happy. If you know me at all you know I’m never going to adjust to it.”

Nathan flinches and shakes his head. “You will; it’s just a matter of time.” He folds his arms tightly. “I talked to Peter and he suggested that I try being ‘nicer’ to you. I want you to be happy here, Matt.”

Matt starts to say something and instead bites his lip. After a moment he takes a breath. “Sir, I’m sorry I spoke out of turn.”

“No,” Nathan says, shaking his head. “Don’t withdraw, Matt, I’m not going to punish you when you’re clearly distressed.”

“May I go back to my room?” Matt asks.

“No, come into the living room. Have a beer, relax.”



Nathan finishes his whiskey and Matt immediately fills it up.

“You’re not keeping up,” Nathan slurs, pointing at Matt’s beer.

“I’m fine,” Matt promises. “Are you hungry yet?”

“No.”

“It’s gone eight, you’ve had a lot of whiskey on an empty stomach,” Matt says mildly.

“I can take it. I was in the navy; I know how to hold my booze.”

“Do you mind if I order dinner?” Matt asks.

“Nah go ahead.” Nathan waves a hand. “Why is it so hard?” he wonders.

Matt pauses, telephone at his ear. “I’m sorry?”

“Why is it so hard?” Nathan repeats.

“Why is what so hard?”

“I don’t know.” Nathan slides off the couch and onto the floor.

“Oh, yes. Dinner for one person please,” Matt says into the telephone. “No, the senator isn’t feeling very well I’m afraid.”



Matt drags Nathan along the floor, his head bouncing off the carpet, and tries the door to bedroom; locked.

“I should throw you out a window,” Matt says darkly. He drags Nathan back to the couch and lifts him onto it. He pulls off Nathan’s shoes and jacket then pauses and goes through the pockets. He leaves twenty dollars and but takes the rest of the cash. “Nice watch,” Matt says, looking at it. “That’ll help.” He taps the handwritten piece of paper in the wallet and then picks up the phone and dials.



“I can’t believe he got drunk,” Peter says shaking his head as he walks into the apartment. “He hasn’t done that in an age.”

“Work stress,” Matt says with a shrug.

“You know,” Peter says, turning suddenly. “I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe this is a good thing you know? Like a chance for you and me to get to know each other a little better? What do you think huh?”

Matt blinks. “You think I asked you here to get you into bed?”

Peter laughs tightly. “No, no, of course not. I mean... you could if you wanted? Nathan’s not going to know, is he?”

Matt opens and closes his mouth. “No, I suppose not.”

“So... so... I mean... maybe...” Peter pants.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“What?” Peter asks stupidly.

Matt shrugs. “I guess I can’t.” He walks into the living room and unfolds a blanket. “Can you check he’s okay now?”

“What do you mean can you trust me?” Peter asks, walking over to him. “We’re buddies aren’t we?”

Matt just looks at him.

“Hey, come on, what happens between you and Nathan is between you and Nathan. We’re still buds, still compadres, right?” Peter asks.

“If you were my buddy, if I could trust you, you’d help me,” Matt says, putting the blanket over Nathan.

“Help you do what? Oh man, what is that smell? It smells like someone peed on the rug.”

Matt presses the blanket to his face. “It’s not this.”

Peter leans down. “Oh gross, Nathan pissed his pants!”

“It sure looks that way,” Matt says innocently. “But if we pretend we didn’t see it then we don’t have to do anything about it.”

Peter smiles. “Yeah, you’re right. Nathan’s great in a lot of way’s but sometimes he’s a pain in the ass too.”

“He’s not a big sharer,” Matt suggests.

“No! He’s really not,” Peter says hotly. “Would it kill him to let me sleep with you? I mean it’s not like I’d want to be on top or anything.”

“It’s not?”

Peter blushes and smiles at him. “No man, I want you to top. And the same for the kinky stuff, I know you’re his bitch. I don’t want you to be mine.” Peter licks his lips. “Are you thinking about it? You’re thinking about it aren’t you?”

“No,” Matt says firmly, shaking his head. “He’d send Molly back to Primatech and I can’t risk that.”

“But, but, but he wouldn’t have to know it’d be our secret, you and me,” Peter says desperately. “And you could hurt me as much as you want because it’ll heal.”

Matt purses his lips. “But we have the same problem Peter; I don’t trust you. I’d be putting everything on the line and you’d be risking nothing.” He walks to the front door and Peter trails after him. “Thanks for your help.”

“What? Are you throwing me out?”

“No, but Nathan is asleep, it’s late, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here.”