Can't stay here! Can't stay here! Need to leave! Need to go somewhere! I need Adam!
After returning home, Owen rushed off to his room, packed a bag with random clothes and underwear, then called his driver. He couldn't stay there anymore! What if she got him? What if she enslaved him? What if he never was able to see Adam again? Then he truly would die!
His driver was shocked about his suddenness and the strange destination given to him. What the heck was Night Life? He googled the location on his phone and found that it was a night club a couple of towns west. Now why would the young Master wish to go there? He looked at the state of the boy in his rear view mirror and wondered if he ought not contact the Master. But then, he thought a touch sourly, it's not as if his reports about the young Master's behaviour had been used for anything but twisted ammunition by the child's stepmother. He sighed and began to drive.
*****
Night Life was only just starting to lose its high volume for the night as the party goers went home or went elsewhere. It had been busy for a Thursday now that the Year 13's were done with sixth form and college. Adam tried not to yawn as he totalled up the woman's order upon the till. He smiled as he told her the final figure and asked for payment. Behind that woman, Harmony appeared. Tonight, she had swapped the dresses for tight fitted leather style jeans and a pretty top, embellished with gold chains.
"Um, two glasses of house white," she said from memory, "one gin and tonic, one barcardi breezer and a vodka and coke, please."
"Ice?" He asked.
"I don't think they would notice either way," she admitted as she glanced around at her group of friends. Adam chuckled as he attended to her order. "Heard you on Seven Chances Podcast the other night," she mentioned as she waited. "You know, you guys don't have to be so mean about your descriptions of us!"
"Sorry, old habit," Adam smiled. "Jordan seems to think it makes things more interesting when there is heightened tension."
"He should ask some of us how we feel," she muttered. "I don't need him rubbing salt in the wound and reminding me how much better Trinity is than me! I've never been able to beat that girl at anything!"
"Oh, you know her?" Adam asked. He calculated her bill and informed her of the total.
She rummaged around in her small handbag, frowned then placed items on the bar as she searched for her purse. "Um, yeah," she replied. "Don't tell anyone, but that girl just happens to be my cousin."
"Harmony!" Her friend squeezed through the crowd at the bar. "I forgot to give you this back earlier! Sorry!" The friend smiled at Adam as she handed back Harmony's purse.
"Thanks," The girl said, wryly and dished put some notes to pay for the drinks. She thrust the girl two of them and shooed her away, before returning her things to her bag, as well as the change. She held two of the drinks and looked at the last one. "I think I'll come back for that." Adam nodded and he served a young man a round of shots as he waited. He noticed the small figure of eight shaped case upon the bar and frowned, picking it up and examining it.
"Hey," his heart skipped a beat and his eyes rose to meet two pale ones, which looked at him with relief.
"What happened?" Adam asked him, but the boy simply shook his head as if unable to form the words.
"Final drink," Harmony smiled as she reapproached the bar, but Adam did not look at her, instead his attention was consumed by the young man standing next to her. "Knife? Hubby?"
Owen glanced up and noticed with some surprise who had appeared beside him. "Harmony, hey," he said, but there was not much enthusiasm in his tired voice.
"Where have you been?" She demanded, a hint of worry in her voice. "The entire Faction has been asking about you!"
"Not now," Owen told her. Noticing her frown, he added; "I'll tell you about it soon, okay?" Harmony nodded and took her drink.
"Oh, is this yours?" Adam asked, waving the small case at her. Owen found his eyes drawn to the object.
"Yeah," Harmony said and took it from him almost cautiously, but seeing no particular reaction, she smiled and said; "Thanks." She returned to her friends.
"Contact lens case..." Owen mumbled.
"Huh?" Adam said, but the boy had relaxed to the point where he had almost fallen asleep, the stress dissipating the longer he stayed in Adam's presence. Adam called a colleague over to cover him for a bit. It was fortunate that the night was almost done and he could go home soon. Before Owen's head hit the wooden bar, he was scooped up into Adam's arms and taken into the staff lounge, where he was placed upon the couch, Adam's coat covering him like a blanket.
*****
Owen woke up in a strange room, much smaller than he was used to, in fact the bed was queen sized and there was only enough additional space for a small corner wardrobe, a chest of drawers and nothing else. He was still dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before, just with socks and shoes removed. There was a slight lingering warmth in the small space beside him and a coffee producing a small amount of steam on the chest of drawers. Scratching his fingers threw his hair, he sat up, his body complaining as he realised he could feel the springs of the old mattress he lie upon. This was enough to force him out of this bed. This bed that held the scent of his man.
As if summoned by the thoughts of him, Adam appeared in the door way, water trickling down the lines of his chest and stomach until disappearing into the towel wrapped about his waist. "You're awake," Adam grinned, grabbing a pair of boxers from the drawer and slipping them on under the towel.
"Yeah," Owen replied as he stared, his throat dry. Adam paused as the towel chased the remnant water, drying his taut skin.
"You know, if you keep looking at me like that," his baritone deepening. "I'm going to be late for work." Owen's eyes snapped upwards, meeting the heated gaze of his husband and his tongue snaked out from between his lips to dampen them. Adam pounced, moistening his lips with his own and tussling with said tongue, before biting Owen gently. "I so don't want to go to work now." Owen chuckled. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Owen asked.
"Will you stay?" Adam asked. "We still need to talk about last night." Owen nodded, his memories of the previous night still slightly hazy. Adam pecked his lips and quickly moved away before the chaste kiss deepened again. "There's probably some food in the fridge and my console is old, but the game still works. I should be home about half six." He finished dressing as he said that and shared another chaste kiss with Owen before bidding him goodbye. "I love you."
"Love you too."
*****
"It was Charity," Owen told him after their hunger was stated that evening. Adam had 'thrown' together a bacon quiche which they ate with oven baked jacket potatoes (which Owen had prepared after step by step instructions by text) topped with chives and sour cream and with a small side salad. Every mouthful brought the usual delight Owen experienced when eating Adam's food. They then curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate. "I can't be around her anymore. Frankly, she scares me." Owen shivered and Adam gathered him closer into his embrace.
"What is her whole deal?" Adam wondered aloud.
"I'm not entirely sure," Owen confessed, "but she told me to break up with you." Adam's hold tightened around his lover. No fucking way! "Obviously, I didn't agree and I would never, but... she tried to use my family as part of her argument."
"Why? I mean I know you are on speaking terms with your siblings now, but it's not like your relationship with them is close."
Owen shook his head. "Not that family," he said, quietly. Adam was confused, but waited patiently for Owen to explain what he meant. A few minutes past before the boy was willing to speak. "You know.. you know that I was 'plugged in' to become a sacrifice right?" Adam had to think about what he meant for a moment, but nodded when he was speaking about their last discussion in the White Space of the Master. "Well, I didn't get the chance to tell you everything, like why I agreed.
"The place I come from was a space faring era, like that where Law and Luck lived, well maybe a bit more advanced? I'm not sure, some of the technology is different, but could be considered around the same level. It's also more peaceful. There's no major wars, that I know of and we aren't under military rule, but there is a galactic government and we have a nominal Royal Family. It's not perfect, no where is, but I was once happy there.
"My dad was an orphan and my mum estranged with her family. We lived on a pretty average world, wasn't really rich, wasn't all that poor. I was almost sixteen and about to become a big brother for the first time. Dad was really excited and wanted to share the news with his dad... but grandpa died on the planet he was working on, it was a work related accident. Every so often dad would root up the family and we'd all go to that world to visit grandpa's grave.
"There was a problem with the crystals that made up the power source of the ship, I only heard about it much later, but it caused an explosion during lift off. There were only a handful of survivors. I was one, but both my parents and my unborn sibling died." Owen felt Adam's face nuzzle into his neck as he shared his lover's grief. "I was in a coma for four months. In that time, none of my other relatives came forward to claim me. I don't exactly blame them, they had their own lives and who wants to shoulder a waste with no prospects for the rest of his life."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked him.
"My body, my real body," Owen said, "is paralysed from the neck down. There is the possibility of surgery, but it's extremely expensive and there's no money after my hospital bills to pay for it. As no family are willing to shell out for the basic expenses I was occurring, the state have to pay instead. But even then, it's cheaper to throw me into an institution where nurses can care for me along with God knows how many other youths and adults they have to deal with."
"What about the company responsible for the accident?" Adam asked, surely there was some system of compensation?
"Ah, last time I received word," Owen said, thinking back as best he could, "there was some issues causing the matter to drag out in court. You see the transport ship should have received maintenance and approval from the transport company and then crews hired by the planet's spaceport should have performed an additional check. So you would think that both companies would be held accountable. However, not only were they refusing to share the blame, they insisted it was the fault of the other. The judges did state declare that both were at fault and said they would both be fined and have to distribute monetary compensation to the victims and their families. That opened up another kettle of fish. Not did the companies then fight over the percentages they were expected to pay, all sorts of 'distant' relatives crawled out of the woodwork."
"None for you?"
Owen shook his head. "They would have to take responsibility for me if they tried such tactics and frankly the amount I will cost outweighs what I am likely to get once all things are settled I think, what with funeral expenses, existing medical bills and such."
"I hate this!" Adam said suddenly. "It's not fair, why can't I be there for you? Why can't I be the one to have helped you through all of that? Why can't..."
Owen stopped him, turning to face him and placing his fingers on his lips. "Have you any idea how much you have already done, my love?" He told him. "If it were not for you, I would have probably already lost my soul and died. If it were not for you, I never would have experienced a second chance at happiness. If it were not for you, I never would have experienced what it meant to love another with your entire being. I love you so much!"
"Never leave me," Adam begged him, "I should let you go, I should let you return to your body someday, but... I can't imagine existing without you."
"What are you saying?" Owen smiled. "Like I would ever leave the archive if I can no longer be with you."