Two Himbos & A Hornet's Nest
TIMING: current PARTIES: Zack & Luc ( @loveandluc ) SUMMARY: Zack is on a run when he encounters Luc, under the spell of beeserkers. CONTENT WARNINGS: None!
It was almost poetic, really, and it would have been funny if it weren’t so inconvenient. Luc should have known better than to brag to Baz about his successes (so to speak) in running away from bees. If there really was a good sort of bee repellant available, Luc was seriously considering buying some once he got home. Well, he would have been seriously considering it and had been considering it before the importance of the hive had taken over most of his considerations. Luc didn’t even feel the aftermath of the multiple bee (or had they been wasps?) stings he’d been rewarded with after his run led him tumbling down a small hill and straight into a swarm of the bee/wasps. The bumps from the stings were still there, mostly on his arms and legs and a few on his torso from where the fall had torn up his nice running shirt, coupled with the dirt and small wounds from the initial fall. Which again, Luc wasn’t paying much mind to the injuries, preoccupied with circling the area, keeping an eye out for threats.
His body was filled to the brim with adrenaline, like a runner’s high times five, but there was very little to do with all that energy. Luc couldn’t venture too far from the hive, not when it needed protecting! So he paced, swatted at any flies or moths that dared venture too close, bounced on his toes and did whatever was necessary to stay on alert.
Which finally paid off when a threat finally appeared running down the path, heading straight for the hive. Luc stilled, body thrumming with anticipation as he sized up the competition. Broad, strong. Definitely a threat. A threat Luc could easily deal with. Without warning, Luc was on the move, closing what little distance remained between him and the threat, tackling the man that dared come this close to the precious hive.
—-
The bees had been a bit of a nuisance his whole run, but Zack had dealt with worse. Every few yards, there was another buzzing visitor, whizzing around his head and darting in front of his path. He just assumed it was due to the weather warming all over Wicked’s Rest, and resolved to find some bee repellent before his next run. It was apparently inevitable that he would end up stung – but was still a good ways off from turning back and that sting hadn’t hurt that badly. Besides, he wasn’t allergic. No reason to interrupt a perfectly good run.
That was about the point when he got hit, hard, with a solid wall of body. He hit the ground with a harsh oof and tried to get his breath back. “Fuck,” he groaned. “Dude. What?” He blinked to clear his rocking vision, trying to gauge what the hell had just happened. Did this guy…trip and take Zack with him? Or maybe he had been trying to knock him out of the way of some larger danger? Not likely, given the guy started grappling Zack in the next minute.
He tried his best just to defend himself. With no clue what was going on, he didn’t want to hurt the other guy. Mostly he worked at prying the man off of him, using his elbows and knees as levers. The bees, apparently, decided they were on this other guy’s side, though, and started stinging Zack. While the first sting hadn’t hurt that bad, ten of them at once didn’t feel nice.
One thing at a time. The bees weren’t great, but the man attacking him was definitely the more pressing matter. “Man, what is your problem?!” Zack splayed his hand in the center of the guy’s chest and pushed as hard as he could, hoping to upset his balance and send him toppling off of him.
—
The threat went down easily, probably the element of surprise, and Luc was pleased with the success. Not enough to let his guard down, of course, there was still a hive to protect, but it made all that adrenaline and… anger feel pretty good. Now he just needed to properly get rid of the intruder, somehow. Luc had never gotten rid of anyone before, in like the mafia sense of the word, but he’d figure it out! He was filled with aggression and confidence and he could do anything with it! Like grasp at this man’s wrists or shirt, maybe rough him up a little more although annoyingly, he wasn’t quite being cooperative with that. The guy was like an armadillo or something, curling up in a way that made it hard for Luc to really get at anything important, like his throat or eyes, and a disgruntled noise of frustration left Luc’s lips.
In response, a question, to which Luc immediately scoffed. “My problem? You’re the intruder-” Luc’s passionate explanation was cut off by a yelp as firm hands found purchase on his chest, shoving hard. He just barely managed to latch onto the intruder’s shirt, gripping on for dear life and managing to yank the man down the slight slope they were on and back down onto the trail. “I won’t let you hurt them,” Luc growled, unaffected by the gravel digging into his back or the newer additions to his growing arrangement of scuffs and wounds. Spurred on by a fresh wave of anger, Luc redoubled his efforts to try and properly straddle the intruder, hands trying to get at his throat.
—--
Zack was ready to ask what the hell this guy meant by “intruder” (Intruding on what? They were in the middle of the woods! No one lived around here for miles, Zack was pretty sure.) but before he could get a word out, both of them went tumbling down the short bank. His adversary had gotten a hand fisted in his collar on the way down and when they landed, Zack found that his shirt had suffered an impressive rip down the middle. “Aw man,” he huffed. That was the least of his worries, really – given the bees, and the scuffs and bruises from the tumble, and the full grown man still intent on grappling with him. But he liked that shirt, and now it was ruined.
“Whoa!” His hands flew up as the other guy’s made for his throat. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding… Maybe this guy had mistaken Zack for someone else? “I don’t wanna hurt anyone!” He could have added that of the two of them, his opponent was the one doing the most hurting, but he wasn’t in the best environment to formulate a proper argument. And he was pretty sure this guy wasn’t really in the mood to debate it out.
As Zack swatted the hands away from his throat, he felt his lower-half slipping. The ground was less solid there, colder and wetter and– Great. Mud. Through all their wriggling around, he and his now mortal enemy had worked their way into a mud puddle. It wasn’t easy, given the slipperiness of the ground, but Zack tried to work the other guy’s momentum against him and get him on his back. Maybe if he could just…immobilize him. Maybe then he would calm down and realize that Zack really, really did not want to be fighting him.
—
Of course he would claim not being here to hurt anyone. Criminals never admitted to their crimes, did they? Luc’s teeth were gritted together hard enough to hurt and that probably explained the thudding headache, it had nothing to do with the struggle of his innate sense of believing in the best of people being trampled by bee-venom. It also did a fair job of making him mostly immune to what was revealed by the accidental ripping of the attacker’s shirt. Mostly. As far as distraction tactics went, it was a decent try but not good enough to stop Luc from achieving his goal - protect.
Hands were slapping at his own as Luc tried to get his hands around the impressively thick neck, every attempt shoved away and fueling Luc’s anger. Around them, the bees had started to keep their distance, not daring to venture into the thick mud the two men had found themselves slipping around in, Luc’s feet now hard pressed to find any solid purchase as he struggled to hold onto his position of dominance. It was fine, he would take care of this, the bees didn’t need to risk themselves. Luc totally had this under control, he just needed to manage to lock his foot into something solid to gain that little bit of leverage and no, actually his foot was slipping real hard.
To avoid slipping face first into the mud, Luc was forced to abandon the thus-far fruitless attempts at choking the threat, instead bracing his hands into the cold mud. It would have worked to stabilise him if not for how persistent the intruder was being, refusing to just let himself be taken care of! With Luc barely keeping his balance, palms splayed against the slipper surface, he found himself shoved and flipped with frustrating ease, back sinking into the thick mud. “Stop it,” Luc gritted out, now having resorted to smacking at the other’s bare chest and arms since grabbing onto him was practically impossible in all this mud.
—-
No matter what Zack did, even only in an effort to defend himself, the other guy only got madder. He seemed genuinely angry at the fact that he was trying not to die. Which was especially confusing given this guy had attacked Zack out of nowhere! That claim of intruding still stuck in his mind, but he couldn’t make sense of it. Plenty of people jogged in this area. Zack himself had been down these trails a number of times before without any issue. Now, suddenly, it was private property? And even if he were intruding, did it really warrant all of this? Zack didn’t think so.
At least he managed to get the upper hand, getting the other guy on his back. Too bad they were both covered in mud now. And Zack was down one shirt. He sat heavy on the guy’s middle, knees locked up to keep his arms at bay. Hoping that would keep him pinned for at least a minute, Zack tugged the ruined shirt off – one less thing to get muddy and weigh him down. Still, throughout, the other man grappled and fought to get a hand on him, to do more damage. When he commanded Zack to stop it, he had to roll his eyes. “I’m not the one doing anything! I was minding my own business when you came out of nowhere.”
Something like this would happen in Wicked’s Rest, as far as he was concerned. That thought, unbidden, led Zack to wonder if this guy wasn’t under some kind of spell. After all, he knew Rosemary could control corpses to do her bidding. He obviously wasn’t a corpse, but maybe there was some other kind of mind-control spell. Or maybe he was possessed. Or had entered into some weirdo fae deal. Once Zack began to consider the possibilities, he realized they were literally endless. But it at least gave him a little insight – this probably wasn’t just some crazy dude.
“What are you protecting?” Zack asked, hoping that might lead him to an answer. “Maybe I can help you keep it safe.” At the very least, maybe it could stop them from fully having a mud wrestling match.
—
The disappointment kept growing as Luc struggled to get a hold of the intruder, his attempts continually thwarted by either the slippery mud or getting his hands slapped away. The other guy’s weight was heavy across Luc’s midsection, not budging despite his best attempts to buck him off. Maybe the guy was like a wrestler or something - he certainly looked built for it, Luc noted distractedly - although the weight of the mud underneath and all around Luc certainly wasn’t helping. Luc scoffed incredulously as the intruder tried to argue, anger flaring up again at the lie, although burning just a bit duller than before. The bees still hummed just as angrily, keeping their distance, unable to provide fresh stings to anyone with all of that mud. Of course the guy had been running around here to do something… something nefarious! That was why Luc had been tasked with keeping the bees and their home safe. Right? “You… you spooked them!” Luc argued, suddenly unsure of himself but realizing that you protected things because they were afraid. So that was the logical conclusion here.
At least Luc wasn’t the only one who was a bit confused, the other guy asking a silly question, silly enough even to momentarily halt Luc’s tireless efforts to grab and flip and overpower. “Them,” Luc stated the obvious, with a vague gesture towards the swarm of bees close by, eyebrows furrowed in frustration and now also, slight distress. The intruder wanted to help keep them safe? Why? It could be a trick but then, Luc was also finding it harder and harder to remember why he wanted to keep the bees safe in the first place, aside from like, general eco welfare and bees being cute. His mind was muddy and clear all at once and for a brief, stunned moment, Luc blinked up at the stranger who was maybe no threat at all. Until his scalp burned with a fresh sting from a bee that had squirreled its way into his curls, reigniting all of that anger from before.
With a growl and a whole bunch of newfound energy, Luc planted his feet and bucked his hips once more, successfully jostling the threat off him. Slipping around in the mud, Luc’s hand finally found purchase on the other man’s waistband, grabbing on triumphantly and using it to pull him in closer… and then gripping it even tighter as Luc felt his own precarious foothold in the muddy ground start to slip. Or rather, he was slipping where the ground sloped downwards and the intruder’s weight wasn’t enough to keep them from both making the pathetically slow descent that then steadily picked up speed. At least Luc was bringing him away from the bees.
His stomach swooped as the mud led them further still down the hill, Luc never giving up the grip on the other man’s waistband, even as stray rocks and branches scratched his skin and mud splattered into his face. As soon as they came to a stop, Luc could deal with this problem properly, finish the job. Except for the slight hiccup of the fading ache of that bee sting suddenly being replaced with a sudden and much sharper pain when his head slammed firmly against a larger boulder. It was overshadowed only by the painful thought that Luc had let the bees down, right before everything went black, his grip on the muddy waistband finally growing slack.
—-
Zack was loath to take his attention off the threat beneath him, but he needed an answer to his question. Turning his head, he saw that the man was pointing to…bees? A little ways off was a swarm of bees – the ones that had been buzzing around Zack during his run, no doubt. “I don’t want to hurt them!” He hadn’t even swatted at any of them earlier. Plus, bees were important, weren’t they? He felt like maybe Wynne had told him that before. Clearly this guy was confused, or mistaken. But Zack didn’t have long to wonder about that, or argue his defense, as his weight was rocked off the other man and jostled into the mud beside him. And then, they were both sliding.
Zack tried to fight against gravity but he soon realized that his opponent had a hand caught over his waistband, bringing him down with him. Despite all his scrambling, he wasn’t able to stop them, or get himself untangled from the other man. They eventually came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and there was a sickening crack. Once he straightened himself out, Zack saw that the other guy had bashed his head against a boulder and knocked himself out.
“Oh no.” He wasn’t bleeding and his pulse was normal (It was there, anyway, which was really as far as Zack’s medical knowledge went) and he was still breathing, but he was definitely unconscious. “Fuck.” The guy might have attacked him out of nowhere (and ripped his shirt), but he wasn’t going to just leave him there, to wake up confused and potentially really hurt. Fumbling against the mud and the incline, Zack wedged himself between the man and the boulder, sitting cross-legged. Carefully, he positioned the man’s head in his lap and carefully tapped at his cheeks. “Hello? Earth to, uh…crazy bee guy?” No response came and with Zack unwilling to try anything more violent to wake him, he simply had to settle in for the wait.
—
Loud buzzing rattled in the darkness inside Luc’s skull and he didn’t exactly speak bee but it sounded judgemental all the same. Or maybe that was just the throbbing pain in his head messing with him. Why did his head hurt so bad? “Ow,” Luc groaned, his own voice exacerbating the pounding headache along with the first attempt to open his eyes, which were shut immediately against the onslaught of brightness. Luc was aware of something cool sticking to his skin, drying and crackling, like a face mask but over his whole body. The ground was hard and bumpy underneath him, except for his head, supported by something softer and warmer. He was outside, for sure, and there had been… bees? Why was it always bees? Baz was going to be insufferable about this.
Slowly, Luc reached up a hand to feel around his scalp for a bump or a laceration, instead bumping into a knee. A knee? Despite the searing pain, Luc’s eyes shot open, peering and blinking until an upside face came into focus as well as a torso, covered in drying mud but undoubtedly bare. “Oh. Hey?” Memories felt like they provoked the headache further but Luc still let them through as best he could, remembering that same face, not muddy and connected to a fully dressed body, running towards him. Luc then also remembered tackling him. “Oh no. Oh, I tackled you. I don’t know why I tackled you, I–” Luc started moving, wincing immediately as multiple parts of his body protested, whatever strain had been dulled by the bee stings earlier now arriving with full force. Still, Luc pushed through, slowly and steadily moving to sit up, not feeling deserving of this stranger’s kindness and protective lap after he’d tried to choke him out.
“I’m so, so sorry, that’s not– I mean, I would never do anything like that. I think it was something with the bees or maybe like, heatstroke and god, I didn’t even ask yet, are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Luc rambled worriedly, finally getting a good look at the man he’d attacked, relieved to find that he looked mostly unharmed. More than could be said for Luc, who finally ran a palm over his head and cringed at the generous goose egg already growing on the back of his head.
—-
Zack was relieved when the man started to stir, but did tense up. He didn’t know if he was going to start attacking him again. For a long moment, he didn’t move. Just let the man feel for his head and shift around slowly. Luckily, it seemed like whatever had been causing his aggression had worn off or stopped. “Hey, it’s okay!” he rushed to reassure him. “It’s okay, really. I figured something…was weird. It’s all good. I think you ended up getting more hurt than me.”
He moved with the other guy, hands out to help keep him steady. Zack wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t pass out again and it was clear that he wasn’t going to try and fight him anymore. As he brought up the bees as a potential cause, he remembered the man pointing to the swarm. “Oh! Yeah, I bet it was the bees. You said you were protecting them from me.” The bees had since dispersed, were further up the hill, but Zack looked up in that direction warily. “I wonder if they’re some kinda…weird bees.” Magic, is what he meant. Or maybe fae? Either way, if they had caused all that, they weren’t normal bees.
“Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m all right, I promise.” Sure, he felt a little bruised and achey but nothing too bad. He stood, stretching, and offered a hand to the guy. “We should probably get you checked out though. You weren’t out for too long but you did get knocked out which can’t be good for you.” Even if he just dropped the guy off at an urgent care center, he wasn’t about to leave him to fend for himself.
—
How lucky it was that this poor guy hadn’t been seriously injured due to whatever had compelled Luc to attack him. Equally lucky was the fact that this man had been kind enough to stick around after all of it, just to make sure Luc was alright. The reassurances that he really was okay helped Luc relax some, dissuading some of that guilt but not managing it entirely - it was Luc’s fault that the two of them were currently sitting in a puddle of mud. And probably his fault that the guy was down one shirt. In the chaos of it all, Luc hadn’t even begun to consider how weird it might sound to blame the bees for his sudden aggression - another stroke of luck, there were no strange looks or arguments. This didn’t seem like the time to ask why ‘bees’ was such a solid explanation to this stranger but maybe Luc could ask at a later point. “Yeah… that felt, like, super important at the time. I couldn’t really think about anything else.” Luc ran a palm over his arm, finding multiple small bumps from the bee stings, grimacing. “Definitely weird bees…”
Watching the stranger shift, Luc slowly started to do the same, accepting the offered hand without hesitation. He did feel slightly woozy but nothing horrible. Maybe Luc could get away without a visit to the doctor, though, if he called his mom or even Mickey. Monica would probably be home tonight but it wouldn’t hurt to use this as an excuse to have Mickey around for the night. “I have a few medical professionals on speed dial, actually. I’ll be alright,” he assured the other with a smile, trying to brush off the bulk of the dirt with little success. There wasn’t even any nausea or dizziness present, just a headache, which was a good sign Luc knew from previous experiences.
“Thanks. Seriously. For being so chill about… murder bees?” Luc’s voice rose with a bit of hesitant doubt, even as he couldn’t help a slight smile of amusement. “I’m Luc, by the way, and I so totally owe you one.” Not wanting to tempt fate by hanging around longer than they needed, Luc moved his achy legs to start heading back towards the trail. “Maybe a new shirt would be a start?”
—--
Definitely some kind of supernatural bees, then. Zack watched as the other guy ran a hand over the stings the bees have left behind and winced in sympathy. He wanted to explain about being possessed, that he knew something about waking up to find that you had no memory of some horrible, aggressive act you had committed. He could have killed Regan, who was nothing more than a stranger to him at that point, had done nothing to deserve it. Zack remembered how bad he had felt for Regan, for scaring her, and he didn’t want this other guy to have the same angst. “Really, man, don’t worry about it. I got bit by a big worm one time and almost bled out in an alley. This is far from the weirdest thing this town has had to offer for me.” He had also fucked a demon, but that was a less relevant life experience.
Zack was relieved to hear that the guy –Luc, apparently– knew some doctors or something that he could call. “All right, but you gotta promise that you call them first thing, all right?” Luc was standing pretty steadily which was a good sign, but Zack would still feel better knowing that he had gotten fully checked out.
“Zack,” he offered, following him back to the trail. His run was definitely over so he turned the opposite direction he had been jogging. At Luc’s prompt, he looked down, as if he had only just realized or remembered that he had lost his shirt. “Hey, you gave me an excuse to show off. No harm done.” With a wave, he made for home, keeping an eye out for bees the whole way.
