swine | ☆

○ chapter 17. ●

CWs: chris, predatory behavior, obsessive behavior, implications of rape and pedophilia, slight blood, murder.

ngl i was uncomfortable writing parts of this chapter. take that as a warning if needed.

○●☆●○

Eighteen years ago

A red-stained hand stroked pale, tear-streaked skin, dark eyes roving over a trembling body. The air-conditioned room was overly cool, and the only sense of solid, stable comfort the young, dark-haired male could find was the wall he pressed himself up against.

Ituko's hand was warm, but Taeko could hardly feel it against his face, stroking up and down his jaw lovingly. Taeko knew that was what the look in Ituko's eyes was; the white-haired boy had established that doubting that fact — his love — was not optional.

"You know why I had to punish you," Ituko murmured, dark eyes planted firmly on Taeko's green ones, though the other boy did not make any attempt to meet them. His gaze hadn't left the wall, riddled with cracks and dents, and it wouldn't. Not until the corpse was removed from the room and its blood was washed away.

It. The impersonal pronoun hurt, but in the moment, Taeko could not think of it as anything else. The corpse had once been a distant cousin of Taeko's, one Ituko had dragged in and beat until the former man was nothing but a bloodied mass on a wooden floor. Taeko was made to watch. That was 'punishment.'

Taeko nodded in agreement anyway. The path of least resistance was best, mindless agreement working in his favor when it came to Ituko, who didn't seem to care if he knew Taeko was lying, as long as he was behaving. And Taeko had not —

"I know you're scared, but you know you are not to run, especially by breaking a window," Ituko spoke in a low tone. His eyes burnt holes into the side of Taeko's face, but the latter would not meet his eyes until he was told to.

"I'm sorry," Taeko whispered, but he wasn't. He would've broken a thousand windows and ran hundreds of times if Ituko hadn't proven that a stunt like that would get somebody else killed. He could take it if Ituko hurt him, but the younger boy just didn't. Ituko would get angry and punch through walls, but he never laid his hands (in a violent sense) on Taeko.

He'd made a point of showing how he refused to touch Taeko inappropriately without verbal permission, which the dark-haired male never granted.

If that sounded like a positive, it didn't feel like it to Taeko. Ituko would tell him of all the horrible, nasty things he'd do to him if given the chance, but he'd never act on them. As if that made it any better —

Still, it was... slightly comforting for Taeko to know that he had some sense of control over his own body. Even though Ituko was stronger and able, he kept to his word.  That was until the idea of a baby was mentioned.

Taeko never knew how obsessed Ituko was exactly until the moment the white-haired boy had told him he wished to have a child with him.

"Hina's pregnant," Ituko whispered after a pause, leaning down to rest his lips on the crown of Taeko's head. Hina was Ituko's older sister, who was in her early twenties. "You've noticed how we haven't had another session for a while. Since her latest test came back positive, I've been waiting to tell you until we knew the sex."

Taeko felt his heart stop momentarily. It was his; it had to be. Taeko had hated those 'sessions' more than anything, and even though Ituko seemed to value his consent, he had no problem keeping a hand over Taeko's mouth so he didn't scream as Hina did — did that to him.