AU - Rat

[everymonstrousthing]

In the days after she goes, he's Dirtyhands more often than not. He stalks Darrow, sharp enough to cut. So little soft left in him. It's worse, because he'd let himself soften. He'd let too much of Kaz Reitvald come back and now reminding himself how to be the man he was in Ketterdam is hard work. It hurts.

Still. There's rough work to be done. So here he is.

The air in the club is close with tobacco, the smell of bodies. Kaz's mouth makes a moue of distaste as he slips up to the bar and orders gin, neat. He leans his back against polished wood, looks up at the stage. He's in time to catch the tail end of the performance.

Comments

[plaguedrat]

"I do."

With his other hand, Rat reaches out and cups Kaz's chin, making good on the touch he'd offered minutes before. The touch is delicate, careful, even as his lips part to deepen the kiss. He knows what he's doing. Knows how to make it good.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz has always been a leader but, now, here, he's content to follow. It was like this with Inej, sometimes; with her, he'd learned all of the ways that it was possible for him to yield.

He tilt his head, parts his lips and lets Rat kiss him deeper.

[plaguedrat]

He would have expected, even without much experience, for Kaz to fight, to demand control. That he's so pliant amazes Rat a little. He allows himself to be more bold, to lick against Kaz's lips and then stroke fingers into his hair. They are simple things but they're inextricably based in touch.

[everymonstrousthing]

The tongue, though he opens his mouth to it, is a lot to take but it's balanced by the fingers in his hair. Kaz makes a soft sound against Rat's lips.

[plaguedrat]

There's a part of him, even now, that can't resist the opportunity to push his limits. His fingers tighten in Kaz's hair, not really tugging, just affirming again that they're there. Tilting his head, Rat moves his kisses from Kaz's mouth to his jaw, lips brushing toward the juncture of head and neck.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz makes another sound, louder his time, at the fingers in his hair, soft lips against his jaw. He worries his lip with his teeth a little.

[plaguedrat]

"Careful, I bite," Rat says, all teasing and warning. Even after he says it, he drops a soft kiss properly onto Kaz's neck, presses it firmly into his skin.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz nKes a soft, lewd sound at the kiss to his throat, pressed just above his crisp collar.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

[plaguedrat]

Rat hums a little, a thoughtful sound, as he tilts his head. His lips are faintly tacky with the glass he still wears, making it noticeable as he parts them and nips at Kaz's skin.

[everymonstrousthing]

The sound that Rat makes sends a soft shiver down Kaz's spine. The bite, small as it is, makes him gasp. He presses his palm against Rat's arm, grounds himself with the feel of warm, firm skin over muscle.

[plaguedrat]

Pulling back, Rat looks Kaz over with a mild expression. His control is unruffled, except for a brightness in his eyes that speaks to a desire he's carefully kept at bay before.

[everymonstrousthing]

Kaz likes to think that they're friends, but he has never seen that particular look on Rat's face before. He raises an eyebrow, ignores the rising heat in his own face.

"What?"

[plaguedrat]

"I'm enjoying you," Rat says, matter-of-fact. "It's nice to get a glimpse of who you really are." Thoughtful, forever playing with Kaz's boundaries, he lets go of Kaz's hand and places his own at the edge of Kaz's collar, fingers thumbing at a button.

[everymonstrousthing]

"You should count yourself lucky," murmurs Kaz. Rat touches a button and Kaz's head spins in a way that he doesn't think has anything to do with the gin. He tilts his head, looking up into Rat's face. He knows better than to tell him he's beautiful.

[plaguedrat]

Rat favors him with a smile, playful that verges on sweet. He's careful, deliberate, in the way he undoes the first button and then the second, fingertips running over the bared skin.

[everymonstrousthing]

It's a definite shiver that goes through Kaz, when Rat touches skin that's so rarely vulnerable to the air. He reaches up, fiddling with the knot of his tie.

"Should I...?" He frowns. "Do you want me to..."

[plaguedrat]

"Do you want to?" The question is asked seriously now, without any of the earlier playfulness. He looks up at Kaz, gray eyes meeting brown ones.

[everymonstrousthing]

He's not sure what he's admitting to wanting, not really, except this and more. He nods, tugging at the knot of his tie.

"Yes, I fucking want to," he says, all in a rush.

[plaguedrat]

That startles a laugh out of him when Kaz hurriedly undoes the tie. Everything has been so careful and deliberate until this moment and it thrills him a little. Rat nods, unwinding it from Kaz's neck and tugging the collar open so he can bend forward and kiss the newly-exposed skin.

[everymonstrousthing]

A little dazed, undeniably turned-on, Kaz lets his head fall back, giving Rat room to work at his throat. Tentatively, his fingers push into Rat's hair. He wonders, for a moment, if Rat would prefer something else; if he would prefer Dirtyhands to the boy in front of him, more Reitvald than Brekker in the moment under the moment.

[plaguedrat]

Rat has seen enough contradictions in his lover to know that Kaz Reitvald and Dirtyhands can live in the same person, can balance. The progress of this is slow, perhaps slower than with any other partner he's had, but there's a certain enjoyment in that too, like unwrapping a present with teeth and tongue.

At the base of his neck, where it will be hidden under that stiff collar and perfectly knotted tie, Rat bites again, sucking up a mark.

[everymonstrousthing]

His breath catches, sharp, at the small pain of Rat sucking up a mark on his skin like that. His fingers tighten in the other boy's hair.

[plaguedrat]

He can feel the tightening grip in his hair and Rat hums his approval against Kaz's skin. Planting another kiss lower, Rat one-handedly works open the buttons of Kaz's waistcoat so that he can more easily slide a hand over and down Kaz's chest.

[everymonstrousthing]

There are scars which will come as no surprise to Rat: the shiny one under his jaw, a stab wound in his shoulder, the remnants of shallow slashes across ribs and belly. Inej knew him like a map, knew him by heart, but he thinks that Rat might recognise him, too. He likes that noise, though. He tightens his fingers again, tugging lightly at the silky hair in his hand.

[plaguedrat]

As he discovers them, Rat touches each scar with gentle, curious fingertips. Kaz has already seen–can see them even better as Rat moves low along his body–the worst of Rat's own marks, though there are a few that still remain to be uncovered. Scars indicate survival and for that he admires them, kissing a mark onto one of those knife wounds as he undoes the last button of his shirt.