Tweak

Striking the frigid waters was a cold jolt, the kind of jolt that Shin didn’t like on a good day. Since the garden everything was buzzing, everything was annoying and too sensitive. He just couldn’t shut himself off from his senses and the world was just too much.

Hitting that water brought him back to himself just enough for him to realise why he was falling. That bastard tweaker had pulled Shin with him. After hitting the water, there was little Shin could do but struggle to the surface, pulling Ash with him.

Or perhaps Ash was trying to reach the surface as well.

His lungs didn’t burn at first. Not until the pair of them, Ash’s hand still locked around his wrist, twisted and were pulled under again and again. The third time being pulled down, Ash shot upward. A moment later Shin was yanked above the surface by his wrist. He breathed in, deep and full.

Legs kicking under him, one arm moving to try to keep above the surface, Shin looked around. They were in a quiet pool, obviously far down river from where they had started. Ash made for the shore, tugging Shin away from where he was before the young man could get himself situated, familiarize himself with his surroundings. Shin struggled to remove his wrist but obviously Ash was running on survival instinct.

The tweaker gave Shin’s wrist a hard tug and kept moving towards the shore. Without his feet under him, there was little Shin could do besides allow himself to be pulled along. The moment his feet hit something, Shin used it for leverage, only to be pulled harder. Rocks sliding and slipping underfoot, Shin struggled to get his wrist free. Ash’s grip tightened, the male shot a glare over his shoulder at Shin and continued on.

Feet digging in, Shin was dragged onto the shore.

Sopping wet as they were, with the moon rising and with hours more to go before the sun rose, they were in a predicament. Shin’s hair was plastered to the sides of his head, he had been putting off that hair cut for a month and now he was paying for it. Ash’s, despite the fact that it was sopping wet, stood off the man’s head, like the hackles of a dog rising in duress.

“Let go of me!” is what Shin meant to say, though it came out more growl than words and sounded like, “le o meerrrrr.”

As he spoke, he pulled away and meant to pull his wrist with him. Ash moved just slightly towards Shin before the tweaker bent away and locked his muscles. Shin beat at Ash’s wrist and the male growled in warning. It didn’t stop Shin from batting at Ash’s arm, then shoulder and then about the head when that didn’t work.

Ash lashed out a foot, the pair of them hit the ground. A struggle ensued, in which the pair rolled across the rocky shore and onto the grassy, but no softer, ground beside the rocks. Shin was caught upside the chin with two fingers, scratching across the skin. In turn, Shin clawed at Ash’s shirt, popping off buttons. Ash lashed out at Shin by tugging at the young man’s shirt, splitting it with that power of his when Ash tried to attack Shin with power.

Shirt in tatters, Shin rolled and managed to get the upper hand for a moment, but his well aimed slap was diverted by a flicker of Ash’s wrist. A moment later Shin was on the bottom again and didn’t like it at all. Shin kneed Ash in the groin and struggled out from under the man.

He ran.

Too soon, Ash was up. Quite a bit faster than Shin thought he might.

Two hundred, three hundred? Almost three hundred pounds of annoyed male slammed into Shin’s back. Shin hit the ground, air whooshing out of him. By the time he caught his breath, his hands were pinned to the ground. Ash’s bare torso was pressed against Shin’s back, a free hand worked between them, grazing Shin’s bare backside.

Wait.

What?

Shin gasped in shock and pain as Ash thrust into him. He had used toys before, so he knew what to expect, but he had never been had so fast, and certainly not by an actual, breathing, living male. His only defence was his head, slamming it back and hoping to hit a nose or something. Shoulder muscle was all he hit and Ash’s response was to growl and take the neck, that Shin accidentally bared, in his teeth.

Ash withdrew and slammed into Shin, moaning against flesh. Shin’s body reacted, he shuddered at the moment of pleasure that washed through his limbs. Pain turned to discomfort, discomfort to pleasure. Soon he was writhing beneath Ash, not certain if he wanted to escape or if he desperately wanted more. He thrust his hips back as Ash thrust forward. When Ash withdrew, Shin tried to get away.

Only to draw the male’s malice.

Shin cried out with pleasure, shivering as he came to completion. He just didn’t have the energy to struggle any longer. Collapsing onto the ground, Shin gave in. Ash thrust, desperate. The males growling turned to moans and small noises as the thrusts came faster and finally stilled. Teeth, still buried in the flesh of Shin’s neck, shuddered.

He grunted as Ash collapsed against him. Prickly grass against his front, sweaty male to his backside. Shin just lay there and breathed, it was almost comfortable and he was at least warm. That was his one thought as the minutes ticked away and Ash’s breathing stilled. It was longer still before Ash withdrew, leaving Shin feeling hollowed out and used.

Ash collapsed beside Shin and groaned. A moment later the male rolled onto his back. Shin lay still, on his belly for a little. But it was too cold. He rolled on his side and curled in a ball.

It wasn’t what he had expected, it wasn’t the sort of treatment he was used to. He was a tenth generation genetic, no one man handled him or made any attempt to make his life uncomfortable. It was the opposite, in fact. People bent over backwards to make him feel welcomed. If he wanted to be treated as Ash had just treated him, he could pay someone to do it!

But it wouldn’t quite do the same thing, Shin realised as the twinge of craving roiled through his belly. Here was someone who wasn’t afraid to manhandle him.

Yet also someone who did such a thing under the influence of drugs. Whatever it was that Layaent had had the cook slip into the tablets had made Shin all buzzy and emotional. That was all this was, he told himself, being overly emotional from the drugs that had been given to him. Ash had simply had the same sort of reaction, had let go of all civilization and states.

Well.

That just wouldn’t do, now would it. He should order Ash to-

Ash dropped an arm load of kindling some distance away from Shin. The male went off again. Shin looked at the load of wood and wondered what Ash meant to do. He sat up and searched for his pants by sight alone. He couldn’t seem to find the damned things. They weren’t by the shore, it seemed, or by the pile of wood. His pants were not with the shreds of fabric that had once been his shirt. The pants certainly were not with Ash’s shirt, which was still on the male’s shoulders, Shin noted, annoyed as Ash returned with another armful of dried wood.

Ash dropped it by the first pile and frowned at Shin. That was when Shin noticed that Ash had both his shirt and his damned pants. Yet there Shin was without clothing of any kind. Shin drew up his knees and hugged around them, glaring at the tweaker.

Fucker.

But he’d do it again, in an instant, he’d do it again.

Shin watched Ash take off his shirt and wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have thought that desire so loudly. The male wasn’t as broad as Layaent, but close to being the man’s equal. Shorter than Layaent by a few inches, Ash hadn’t been altered to be an alpha male, a top dog. He had been programmed, probably, to be the second in command, the beta and the back up to Layaent’s intelligence. Muscles to protect the leader. Ash was almost equal parts leg and torso, leg just a little longer than the torso. Well built and handsome enough.

But bruised, by their time in the river, somehow. Dark patches spread down Ash’s sides and inched to the front. A long arm held the shirt out to Shin as the body bent away. Someone who was approaching an unknown. Shin had seen movies where people approached strays like that.

Shin reached out cautiously and took the shirt from Ash’s outstretched fingers. Ash held himself steady for a moment before he straightened slowly and walked back to the forest’s edge. The male pulled logs from the underbrush and dragged them over, not stopping until he had a neat little pile. Using one of the logs, one with a jagged edge, Ash dug a little hollow by the wood. After considering the lay of the land, Ash dug another hollow two feet away from the first, larger and deeper than the first.

“Come here.”

The first words that were spoken properly. They were accompanied by a small hand motion, beckoning Shin. Shirt in hand, Shin stood, uncertain what to do. What did one do in a situation such as that? Etiquette training didn’t cover the touchy grounds of if you were both drugged and had wonton, violent sex.

And his ass hurt, he didn’t want to walk. But those fingers moved again, faster this time, more of an order. Shin shuffled towards Ash.

“Lay there,” Ash motioned towards the larger hollow.

Shin looked at the ground and at Ash. He wasn’t laying in that. It was dirt and he was probably bleeding from something and the dirt would get in the wound and then he’d get an infection and…

Ash sighed and retrieved the shreds of Shin’s shirt. Despite Shin’s size compared to the hollow, the shirt wouldn’t cover much. Shin turned his nose up again. He was tired, he was cranky and he wanted what he wanted, damn it.

The male grumbled over his shoulder, then wandered towards the forest. He was back a moment later with some sort of cattail. Some sort of mutated, giant cattail that was the size of Shin’s arm. In Ash’s other hand were several large leaves. Ash broke up the cattail, revealing the fluffy innards of it, and lay it down in the hollow. Atop that Ash lay the leaves. Then atop that went the shreds of Shin’s shirt. Ash very gently tugged his own shirt out of Shin’s hands and lay it over the leaves.

Shin was left standing between two hollows in the ground, confused as Ash wandered up and down the grassy area. Too long, it seemed, before Ash returned and held Shin’s pants out to him. Shin donned the pants as Ash turned his back politely. It was a ridiculous notion, to turn one’s back after what they had done, but it comforted Shin, to know that Ash at the very least recalled basic manners.

Once Shin had his pants on, he curled up in the hollow. The fluffy thing gave some comfort to his weary body, the leaves kept the fluffy stuff from poking in all the wrong places and the shirts were good fabric.

In the other hollow, Ash piled up some of the logs and the smaller bits. Two sticks that were rather straight, Ash began rubbing together. Shin lay his head on his arm and watched Ash do this, not understanding what the male was doing. It took a very long time before Shin smelt smoke. Shin sat up and watched as Ash worked the two sticks into embers and then into a small fire. Ash fed more and more sticks to the flame, then a log.

With a nice fire going, Ash came around the fire and lay behind Shin, curling his arms around the young man and pushing his face into Shin’s neck. The male’s breath came across Shin’s neck, warming him more than the leg that wrapped around him. Possibly more than the fire that was only a few feet away. It was very comfortable and nice, even.

They had just settled, just relaxed, when Shin’s stomach growled pitifully. He was starving, famished, had been since before dinner. A little tablet wasn’t going to do him much good.

Ash made a sound at the back of his throat and stood. The male wandered off and to the forest once more. A moment later he returned with two fruits as big as his fists. He held one out for Shin, which Shin readily took, and then settled to eat his own.

Shin munched on the fruit, not caring what it tasted like or what it was supposed to be. He ate the flesh and then, after considering, he stuffed the core into his mouth and ate it. As Shin licked his fingers clean of the juice, Ash offered over the remaining half of his fruit. Shin ate that as well.

Ash waited patiently, watching Shin, who in turn, watched Ash. He was fed, his head felt funny and his backside hurt like he couldn’t believe. Toys had never hurt him that much, not even close. Shin made a sound at the back of his throat and curled, laying back down in the hollow. He watched Ash over the lip of the hollow and blinked at the male.

For something to do, Ash added another log to the fire, then walked around Shin, laying down outside of the hollow. Putting Ash between Shin and any creatures but also leaving distance between Ash and Shin. This arrangement would not work, not work at all.

Shin sat up and sighed loudly. Ash sat up and looked at Shin.

“Come here.” Shin grumbled.

Ash slid into the hollow and cautiously lay on his back, legs sticking out at one end, head resting on the grassy ground on the other. The male didn’t seem to mind, so Shin said nothing about it. Instead, Shin dropped all his weight onto Ash and smacked his head on Ash’s shoulder heavily.

Mine.

With his back to the fire and his front pressed against Ash’s warm body. Shin let his eyes close and allowed exhaustion to take him. Nothing in the big bad wilds could get him when he was there, where he was.

***

He couldn’t believe what he had done. He couldn’t. How could he…? Ash looked at Shin’s closed eyes and still couldn’t believe it. It had been good pleasure, he had enjoyed it and wanted more. But that’s what frightened him. Shin had fought him, tried to get away and Ash had lost all control, had played through on instinct alone. He had heard of certain types of animals that mounted their… opponents in dominance fights. He had heard of humiliating the rival to prevent such an event from ever happening again.

Ash had even heard of genetics doing such a thing to tweakers. Horror stories whispered in the dark but never said in broad daylight. But never, ever had he heard of a tweaker doing anything like that to a child. A. A what?

A child, that’s what he had thought. That was what he had been thinking all along, hadn’t it? That Shin was a child and that he couldn’t take care of himself. Just the kid brother of his companion. But Shin was most definitely not a child. Shin might not be the brightest genetic out there, might not be the smartest when it came to survival.

Ash could teach him though.

No. No. Put thoughts like that away and gone for good. He had hurt Shin and as soon as Shin resumed being the genetic that he was, there would be nothing between them. Shin would have him formally charged with rape and then Ash would be put to death.

At least, he hoped he would be put to death.

Shin shivered against Ash, cold hair flowing off the river and over the pair of them. The hollow could only do so much to hold body heat. Ash slid out from under Shin. The young man made a small mewling sound at the back of his throat and immediately pushed into the spot where Ash had been. Ash paused and reached to where Shin had been laying on the shirts. There was hardly any heat there.

Hardly any smell either, come to think of it. Ash flared his nostrils and breathed in through his mouth, but still he could hardly detect the runt’s presence through scent alone. He wasn’t certain if that was a good or a bad thing. In the wilds, the less a person smelled, the better. But Ash did smell, he had a smell and knew he did.

Ash moved to the pile of wood and added kindling to the embers. He rebuilt the fire and then added logs atop the flames. With a nice fire going once more, Ash moved back to the hollow and prodded a very reluctant Shin back to his spot. The fire reheated Shin’s cold flesh, within moments of Ash curling around him, the runt had stopped shivering and quieted down. Being so small meant that Ash could curl right around Shin, hug him close and exchange body heat.

Being so small meant that Shin could duck and move and run the way his generational siblings could not.

Ash opened his eyes. All of a sudden it was hours later. The sun was rising and the fire was dying down again. He was very warm, not hot, but warm. Ash slid out of the hollow and built up the fire again. Once the fire was large, Ash went into the edge of the forest. There, just under the shade of a tree was a neatly stacked pile of wood. The smell of a male was all over the wood.

Not an animal male, Ash wasn’t talented enough to recognise the differences between the genders of other animals. This was a male on level or nearly the same level as Ash and Shin. This was a male of their own species who had rubbed the wood against his body to mark it, to be certain that Ash knew where it was coming from.

What the…

Ash skittered around the pile and promptly found himself by a marked tree. As in, the same male who had piled the wood had marked several trees around the wood, making it very clear that the territory was his. Ash swallowed, hard, and turned to the pile of wood. He took it as it was, a gift, and moved it to beside the fire. He didn’t like the idea that someone had been wandering around the woods, less than a hundred feet away from Ash and Ash hadn’t realised it.

Having moved the wood to the fire, Ash walked to the shore of the river. Only to find a fish laying on a flat stone large enough to hold it. One that had not been there the night before, the stone that was. The fish most definitely had not been there. It was still breathing, gills working furiously. Beside the fish as an archaic, far beyond archaic, stone tool.

Ash had been meaning to search the shore for any kind of edibles. He glanced across the river. There was a male, nearly his height, dressed in only a loin cloth. The male was watching Ash as Ash straightened. Ash opened his senses to the male. Curiosity and wonder. The male wanted to see if Ash would take the gift, he had taken the wood and thus, maybe this stranger of his would take the new gift.

Hello Ash sent the thought carefully.

The male made a sound in response. The sound brought a call from the forest behind the male. Ash translated what happened next as ‘sorry, got to go.’ Then the male was gone, bounding into the woods.

Ash watched the other side of the river for a moment before he reached down and picked up a large rock and bashed the fish’s head in. Kill or be killed, Ash thought to himself as he went about the dirty job of gutting the fish. He had never done it before but had read about it, had watched his father do it a few times. Fish tasted funny to Ash, but that had something to do with the fact that Ash, and likely Shin, had only ever eaten vegetables and fruit.

Meat was no longer domesticated, a few cattle ranches still existed but meat was no longer sold in supermarkets. Fish was sold to commoners but the genetics and tweaks had relied on fruits and vegetables since fourth generation when it was decided that the genetics should prepare for a time when they had to take over the wilds due to population or commoner revolt. Those who entered growth were given tablets with boosted protein.

Fish would work, mushrooms, actual meat, but if Shin didn’t get enough protein he couldn’t grow the way his body had been programmed. Ash took the fish, flat rock and all, to the fire. He set the fish beside the fire then went back to the shore and collected rocks. The rocks were, for the most part, pieces of flat slate like things. Ash stacked them on either side of the fire then set the larger rock, with the fish on it, atop the piles.

Shin rose as the smell of the cooking fish filled the area. With a little experimentation Ash managed to flip the fish over. Crisped skin stuck to the rock but with Shin’s hunger, it wouldn’t be stuck there long. Ash could hear the young man’s stomach growling. Which was odd, Shin had been fed the night before.

The runt’s metabolism was running faster than a commoner’s. Metabolism was not biological standard, commoners would receive the standard in the next generation, weaning them off of food and the idea that they had to eat so often. Eating was a social thing, teaching genetics and tweakers to sit and replicate social interaction without food had been difficult. Teaching an entire nation to replicate the interaction, at once, would be nearly impossible.

Ash went to the forest, the small part that he knew he was allowed into, and broke the edges off of several plants. He sniffed this one and that before he selected two varieties. Plucking several leaves of each one, leaves as big as his hand and thicker than those on domesticated trees, he turned towards their camp. On his way back, he managed to find the fruits he had picked the night before. He picked several of them and tucked them into the crook of his arm.

Walking back to the fire, Ash was surprised to see Shin licking the palm of his hand and whining. Ash glanced at the fish and realised the problem. The fool had tried to eat a hot piece of fish and had burned the palm of his hand. Setting the fruit by Shin’s feet, Ash took Shin’s hand gently in his and inspected the reddened flesh.

“You’ll be fine,” Ash murmured, “ no burn.”

“Ash…” Shin said.

Ash made a sound at the back of his throat and handed Shin a fruit. The young man had a glazed look in his eyes, was starting to run hot. A fever would not help the fact that they were in the wilds. Shin munched on the fruit and muttered around the flesh in his mouth. Ash, in turn, ignored Shin’s muttering and moved the fish and cooking rock off of the fire. Despite using power, Ash managed to burn his hands.

He ate a small amount himself, because he knew they had a long day ahead of them.

“Bruised,” Shin said.

Maybe the drugs hadn’t quite warn off, Ash thought, as he looked over at the young man. He expected to be shown a bruise or to be accused of something but Shin was staring at Ash’s sides. Ash lifted his arms away and glanced down.

Down the sides of his torso were speckles of pigment, where something in his alterations had flicked a switch in his skin cells and ordered some of them to darken. His hair was similar, yet somehow everyone seemed surprised when they saw Ash shirtless for the first time. Ash was not conscientious about the speckles, they were, after all, part of him. There were tweakers with worse defects than Ash.

“Not bruises, they’re a part of me,” Ash said, rubbing a hand over his right side. He ended up wincing, apparently one of those spots hid a bruise.

“My backside hurts,” Shin said, shuffling towards Ash as he eyed the fish.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Is that edible?” Shin asked, motioning with his nose towards the fish.

“Yes.”

“How do you know.”

“Uhm…” best not to worry Shin, Ash thought for a moment before he gave in. Shin was a genetic and would throw a larger fit if he found out that Ash withheld information, “a male brought it, set it on shore for us. He also gathered wood.”

“Oh,” Shin knelt carefully, favouring one of his legs, “meaning,” Shin glanced about the forest, “we need to get out of here and pretend not to notice so they don’t come out of the wilds at us? What kind of male, a howler?”

“No,” Ash murmured, “least, I don’t think so. I’ve only heard of howlers, but this was more. Man. He seemed to want us to take the items. Called them gifts.”

“You spoke to him?”

Ash tapped the side of his head and motioned away from himself. Shin gave a small nod, then looked at the fish pointedly. The fish was still hot as could be, which meant that Shin couldn’t eat it. Ash walked to the fruit and leaves and picked them up. He handed them to Shin, who simply stared at them for a moment before he put them on the ground.

“That smells better.” Shin said.

“You should eat those.”

“They don’t smell good,” Shin stressed.

The leaves didn’t smell interesting to Ash, but he still ate one of them to prove to Shin they were edible. All the young man wanted, however, was the fish. He wasn’t interested in anything else. Perhaps it was some survival instinct that had kicked in, Shin wouldn’t be interested in the items that were poisonous to him? Or, was it an eating instinct? Shin would be interested in what would provide the most of what he needed.

As the fish cooled, Ash pulled off a small portion for himself and moved out of the way, motioning Shin to the fish. The young man hesitated, watched how Ash ate the piece he had, before going about it. Shin picked the bones out of the meat before he ate the flesh, piling each bone neatly to the side. The runt stripped the fish, which was almost as long as his forearm, and then ate the leaves and remaining fruit. Finally content, Shin sat back and burped loudly.

Ash led Shin to the water’s edge and inspected the water. Looking over the river, he couldn’t see anything. Using his powers, he felt no predators in the water. Bodies of water were some of the few places that people didn’t talk about predators. Normally speaking, when someone got lost in the wilds, they either returned with babbles of monsters in the forest or didn’t return at all. It was only logical to think, given how little talk there was of the predators in water, that water was the most dangerous place to be.

Shin bent at the water, hands dipping in to wash with his body angled away. Obviously the young man had the same thought as Ash. Nothing in the water stirred, nothing moved. Not even fish.

Fuck.

Ash grabbed Shin by the back of the neck and yanked the runt backwards. Thank goodness Shin weighed so little, the young man used his own legs to bound off the ground as Ash grabbed. Ash, not wanting to break Shin’s neck, leapt with him and ended up letting go of Shin mid-leap. The young man hit the grass and let out a squeaked sound at the water. Ash hit the ground just in front of Shin, still standing on the rocks.

He couldn’t see anything. But he knew, just knew that something was off. A rock slid by the water. Then more rocks in front of it.

“Attack it, attack it!” Shin shrieked.

“I can’t see it,” Ash snapped back as he lashed out with his power. Rocks shattered, skittered towards the river.

“Some sort of-”

“Where!”

“There!” Shin’s right hand lashed out over Ash’s shoulder. For a moment Ash spotted it, a fish, little legs working as it rocked on its side. Ash’s first strike had been blindly done but had thrown it off balance. Obviously the creature hadn’t been expecting a power user.

Why hadn’t it been expecting a power user?

Ash used his power to slash about the gills, but the fish was gone a moment later. Give the choice of a quick kill and scaring the thing off, Ash would have rather just exploded the damned thing. But he hadn’t learned how to do that. Throwing power blindly, Ash backed up unto the grass then turned. A startled Shin turned with him and they ran for dear life as something thumped behind them.

Hitting the forest, they ignored the marked boundaries of the male’s territory and crossed into the larger trees. Shin peaked around the corner and let out a squeak, crouching down low and against the tree. Ash looked around the tree trunk, had to.

A bird of prey was standing on the edge of the river, claws dug deep into the dying blob of a fish that had tried to eat Shin. The bird eyed the fire pit, then the hollow they had been sleeping in and finally the forest itself.

“Shin, get up, we have to move.” Ash hissed.

“But you’re standing on a trap,” Shin hissed back, voice turning to a whine.

Ash went cold. Absolutely cold. He swallowed and looked down. One foot was on the entrance to a trap door spider’s nest. The other was inches away from what looked like a protruding root. He knew from studying that that was not a root and was, in fact, the fang of the spider. If he shifted even a little, the spider would lash out and fill him with venom.

“Alright,” Ash murmured, “We’re alright. I’m just going to…”

“Explode it?” Shin muttered, “what if it’s got babies.”

“Babies, you’re concerned about babies?” Ash growled. The trap door shifted ever so slightly under his foot.

“Yes, I am, and you should be as well, considering the fact that they’re crawling up your leg,” Shin pointed out bluntly.

It was the first and only time in Ash’s life that he screamed like a girl. He didn’t even pay attention to what he did with his power, all he knew was that a moment after screaming, he and Shin were running through the forest, branches whipping about them. Ash’s head spun but he wasn’t bit, he was fine, he was alive.

Thank goodness Layaent hadn’t been around to hear him scream like a girl.

.