The Younger Ward

32. Janitor. Unclaimed Asset.

[tylerward-asset]

gideon-thereaper:

Gideon didn’t more an inch when Tyler went on his charge. Watching his brother’s movement as he came closer noting all the tells in his actions. Ty might’ve become more ruthless under the guidance of his new family but he had lost his discipline. Ragging like a bull instead of a weapon. He could see the fist coming before Tyler even balled his fingers together. But Gideon didn’t dodge it. Instead he just tilted his head down a bit to send the fist right into the hardest part of Gideon’s skull. Head butting the fist hoping to give as much hurt as meant to be given. “Yeah I left you for 29 days…but shall I recount the number of lives lost in the attacks you and your friends committed since you joined? Because I can imagine you probably should spend another 29 years down in that basement.” Taking a step back but not retreating. “Now if you want to see what a real stay in the basement feels like I’ll invite you take another swing. Because this time after I kick your ass I’ll get amnesia that you even exist down there.”

Tyler heard his knuckles pop and felt the bones in his hand crunch sickeningly when he struck his brother with all his weight and quickly drew back. Resisting the urge to cradle what he was sure was now an injured limb, the younger Ward took a quick moment to examine how quickly his hand flushed red. "You hard-headed fuck." He growled underneath his breath, meaning it both literally and figuratively, before he fixated his wildly hostile and threatening gaze back on his brother who seemed completely unperturbed. Bastard. Leave it to Gideon to take away any sort of pleasure when he finally managed to land a blow on him.

"You forgot about me a long time ago." Tyler spat bitterly, hinting of when Gideon decided to walk away instead of saving him like when they were kids. The clashing memories inadvertently made his chest tighten with heartache and he mentally pushed past it by reminding himself that the man in front of him wasn't his Dumbo-eared brother. "I’ve been dead to you for years, but just know that when I really die, I'm taking you with me. So, come at me." He taunted, his anger and frustration clouding any sound judgment.

[ofgravediggcrs-blog]

@tylerward-asset

It was still on his mind.. the events of a couple of nights ago. In fact.. Tyler’s breakdown had more premise in Jeremiah’s thoughts than the recent things that had gone on in the tower. Jeremiah knew little about what was happening outside of his suite. He knew all of his jobs were put on hold unless they posed an immediate threat to the reputation and legal freedom of his superiors. But his mind wasn’t on that. He had no doubt that his employer had a plan for what was going on. Bellamy Macnamara was a smart man, and wasn’t one to be taken by surprise.

What Jeremiah’s mind was on, however, was Tyler. He’d sent for the asset only moments ago, knowing damn well that while the asset’s had an illusion of freedom for the time being, Tyler was impetuous. Troubled at times and would likely make problems for himself if provoked. He couldn’t get the way the asset had bucked and writhed in his arms out of his mind, and had no intention of letting Tyler get himself in more trouble. Or really letting him out of his sight until he figured out what he was going to do about this.

His head turned at the sound of the door opening. “Ward.” He barked out, moving from the kitchen. “Come here.”

[tylerward-asset]

Tyler had taken a lot of personal blows to his pride and ego in the past week and he didn't know how much longer he could keep up a brave face. Between picking a fight with his brother (and losing) and basically falling apart in Jeremiah's arms, his resolve to keep soldiering on was quickly diminishing. He wanted to be alone so he could drop his constant guard and rest his weary mind and body, but given his security clearance, being alone wasn't an option... until now. When news of Bellamy's arrest came around and that everyone was to be treated 'equal', Tyler was ecstatic despite how dispassionate he outwardly seemed to be. It wasn't so much the equal treatment that had him mentally cheering, it was the suite that was being assigned to him and the freedom to roam the building alone. Finally, he was going to have the chance to recover and put himself back together in peace, but first, he had business to attend to.

It was strange to have a cell phone again after so long and what was even stranger was how it buzzed almost immediately after he received it with an order to report to Jeremiah's suite. A part of him wanted to disregard it and not show up, he was an 'equal' after all, but if he was going to live in his own suite, he needed his things from the Executioner's room. With a reluctant sigh, Tyler begrudgingly made his way to the other man's suite and tried to ignore how the feeling of dread inside him intensified with every step. Since his breakdown, he had avoided Jeremiah like the plague unless he was summoned and even then, he avoided most conversation with seething remarks as he was deeply embarrassed that someone had caught him in such a rare and vulnerable state.

When Tyler reached Jeremiah's suite, he simply let himself in. Unsurprised that the door was unlocked, he kicked it shut and frowned when he heard the Associate call out for him like he was Boomer. "Fuck..." he muttered low and under his breath, disappointed that the older man was there though he had just received a text from him. Following his voice towards the kitchen, he fixated his hard and unfriendly gaze on him. "I'm just here for my things. I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes." Tyler announced from the doorway.

[tylerward-asset]

gideon-thereaper:

And just like that the rift between them had quickly placed them at opposite edges. It broke him in a way knowing all their years together had been erased in just a couple years apart. Feeling that if he tried to reach out to the other he would only fall into a valley of jagged rocks waiting for him down below. But in a way he could almost see that little boy again in Tyler. Crying as if Gideon had taken away one of his toys. “Trust me. This is a country club compared to the kind of prison your crimes could get you. Imagine that basement only 24/7.” Gideon wasn’t trying to ask for forgiveness for place Tyler here. It was clear which of them was the real criminal here.

“What?” He asked looking just as clueless as his words. “You think it’s unfair you’re here to pay for the actions of you and your….true brothers and sisters?” Eyes narrowing as thin and sharp as blades at his brother. “The ones I’m sure you would’ve rather killed me before I killed a few of them.” Turning away he tried to calm the rage that thought really brought out of him. “Stop whining, Tyler. You’re lucky this is the road I took instead of the other two.” The other two being sending having him sent to the hell hole built for terrorist or just putting a bullet in his head.

What little control Tyler had over his volatile temper slipped and he rounded on his brother like a raging bull. The world around him suddenly became just a little quieter and the most deafening noise was the sound of his blood pumping through his veins. All rational thought flew out of the proverbial window as his face darkened with pure and unbridled rage. Tyler hated Gideon. With every fiber of his miserable being, he absolutely loathed his brother and what hurt even more than his hate was the love and admiration he once held for him. “24/7?” The younger Ward repeated in a low growl before his long legs suddenly and quickly began closing the distance between them. He knew better than to do what his body was gearing up to do - there was still some sanity in his mind but his body seemed to develop a mind of its own as he cocked his arm back and swung wildly for his brother’s face, “You fucking left me down there for 29 days, you sonofabitch!”

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

Dreifuss noticed the way the man’s expression changed and Duncan couldn’t help but grin at the other. This clearly was a glimpse of the guy’s real nature, something Duncan surely would want to dig out at some point. But that wasn’t today. Now that he knew there was so much more in this blonde guy he would dig out all the dirty details after doing some searching in general. He had his ways to get to the files of everyone who worked in the tower and he could find out few little facts of this guy as well. And he surely would. “Now now, watch your temper, boy.” Dreifuss took a step closer, eyeing the man’s face. “If you are saying you aren’t stupid, yet not clever, then you know better not to overstep.” His fingers took a tight grip of Tyler’s chin. “Now, take your cleaning gear and leave. Come back to clean over here in an hour once I’m gone. If you come back while I’m still here, you wish you wouldn’t have. Got it?”

The Asset inadvertently narrowed his eyes in a threatening manner when Dreifuss took a step closer and angrily pursed his lips into a thin line when his chin was seized. He tightly fisted the sides of his trousers and gritted his teeth to keep them from instinctively snapping at the offending hand. There was only so much goading he could take before he snapped, but there was a small Hail Mary when the Associate ordered him away. Not allowing himself to breathe a small sigh of relief, he roughly tugged his chin free. "Yes, sir." He grunted in a begrudging way, but obeyed nonetheless, just like his brother always said he would. Gathering his cleaning supplies and cart, Tyler quickly left the room after deciding it was worth extending his work day by an hour than deal with a riled up Associate.

[tylerward-asset]

ofgravediggcrs:

Jeremiah wasn’t really thinking, not at first. Every movement he made wasn’t a reaction of hostility, or fear or even punishment as much as it was a brutal survival instinct. Barely seeing past the blurred haze of being strangled nearly to death, his blue eyes narrowed on the movement of Tyler, and he bucked again, harder. Using all of his force in an attempt to buck the other off of him as his hand struck and pushed hard against Tyler’s face and his other gripped the blond’s wrist like a vice. Still struggling to catch any semblance of a breath. When Tyler recoiled from the accidental strike, Jeremiah gave a savage, sharp gasp of air. His lungs burning and face and neck an ugly, ruddy red as he shifted forward. Still confused, and using the momentum and any semblance of an advantage he could get against the man on top of him. Jeremiah knew, if nothing else, Tyler’s prowess, and strength, and he still hadn’t put together exactly what was going on. But he knew damned well that he needed to move fast if the asset had actually made the decision to try to kill him.

He felt the mattress heave beneath them as Tyler’s back slammed into it. Barely registered the panicked, aggressive barking and howling as Boomer slammed his big body against the closed door, scratching and snarling to get in to protect his master, and as he moved instantly to subdue Tyler, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl and his knees pinning the boy to the bed, one hand gripped Tyler’s wrists in an unforgiving hold as the other pushed hard on his chest. “The fuck you tryn'a d-”

Jeremiah’s question was cut off, and his expression shifted from slowly forming rage to abject confusion as he stared down through tangles of dove-grey hair at the way Tyler seemed to lose his fucking mind. Taking Jeremiah aback and bucking, fighting and panicking and screaming. Howling desperately for Gideon. It seemed to slowly dawn on the Executioner that this wasn’t anything the boy was doing willingly, that Tyler wasn’t even in his right fucking mind. That the asset was fucking terrified.

Jeremiah didn’t know what to do, or really how to react. Instead, shifting forward hard. “Whoa! Whoa whoa!” He bellowed, the shout turning into a gravelly grunt as he moved quickly, the bed creaking from the pressure of the two large bodies bucking. Jeremiah shifted until he was behind Tyler, but still holding him down so the asset couldn’t do much damage. The weight and heat of his chest pressing to Tyler’s back solidly as his arms bound almost restrictingly around Tyler’s upper arms and chest, still holding his wrists against his own chest, Jeremiah’s form pinned Tyler to the bed and himself. One bare naked leg subduing both of Tyler’s own as he grunted again, his breath a stole of whiskey against the scruff of the other’s blond hair as he continued that one word through gritted teeth in an attempt to subdue the other without fucking hurting him.

It almost felt like he was drowning on dry land and Tyler was convinced that he was about to die. Every time his consciousness managed to reach the proverbial surface, he was pulled back down by the undertow that was his neglected trauma. His breathing was short and erratic and it seemed like nothing, not even Jeremiah's gravelly coo, could calm his panicked mind and his oxygen-deprived state only fueled his fight-or-flight instinct. He tried to yank his captured wrists away from the Executioner and when that failed, he twisted his hands at awkward angles in order for him to dig his nails into the other man and leave bleeding moon-shaped marks in his flesh. "Gideon!" The Asset cried out desperately for his brother again, his face scrunched in mental anguish, thinking that his only kin was half a world away instead of only a few floors above him.

The mournful whimper that erupted from Tyler's throat regained its fearful tone when he heard Boomer slamming his muscular body against the door. However, his mind did not register that it was just a dog trying to get into the room and protect its master. Instead, it manipulated the impacting sound into an explosion and the shaking door into the rat-tat-tat of gunfire. Caught without his weapon and Kevlar, his instinct to survive surged and he struggled even harder when Jeremiah began to move behind. "What are you doing?!" Tyler screamed, sweat dripping from his pores, "Get off of me! You're going to kill me!" He squirmed wildly, his panicked state now reaching an all new high as his ability to move became even more restricted when a heavy leg draped over his. Successfully immobilized by the Associate, Tyler laid in his arms, shaking in terror and occasionally freezing up when Boomer slammed against the door and forced him to relive countless fire fights.

Tyler lost track of how much time had passed, not that his panicked mind would allow him to keep track of it, but it took close to half an hour for him to 'calm down'. The fight had left his body like it had once before in his life and what was left was a shell of a beaten man. Staring at nothing as his breathing slowly evened out, his body still trembled, but now more from the cold as his sweat had cooled him too far. It took a few minutes for him to register the warmth against his back and a few more for him to take comfort in the weight on and around him. It reminded him of his body armor and that... that made him feel safe. Slowly, Tyler turned his head, the simple movement draining given his now exhausted state, and peeked at the man behind him. "Rudd..." he croaked, his throat feeling raw, before he made a half-hearted request. "...get off."

[tylerward-asset]

ofgravediggcrs:

Jeremiah had noticed something was off with the blond from the moment the other had entered his suite. There was something off, that seemed to be just radiating from Tyler in wave after wave of shifting discomfort. Something that put Jeremiah himself on edge. He wasn’t the type, however, to force whatever it was out of the younger man. To talk about it, or fix it. The way Jeremiah was raised, the way he was wired.. he wasn’t the type to talk something out. Being open, or even helpful. It wasn’t in his nature. So he ignored it, for the most part. Figuring that if the asset wanted to discuss it, he’d come to Jeremiah.

They were both already on thin ice as it was. Neither were really willing to express any real interest in the other for fear it would be misconstrued as weakness. Both brutal, both stubborn, Jeremiah himself still nearly goddamned incapable of socializing. But they’d fallen into something.. comfortable. The asset knew his suite, well, considering how many times he’d been here. Boomer even seemed to enjoy the blond’s company, and on every other rare occasion, the two tended to share a bed. Oh, they still fought, both walking away with bruises and bloodied lips more often than not, but there was this attraction Jeremiah couldn’t seem to fight when it came to Tyler. Whether it was his biting temper or those blue eyes, it wasn’t something Jeremiah wanted to look into. It wasn’t really something he wanted to understand. They both simply seemed to allow it.

Though Tyler’s silence had left Jeremiah on edge, he’d still fed him. They’d still done what they’d fallen into an almost habit of doing.. though there was strangely.. no bickering tonight. Tyler had given no biting remarks, hadn’t shoved or struck out at Jeremiah.. and when he finally consented to sleep, he’d curled up as far away as possible. Something Tyler wasn’t going to complain about.. or even address. Not yet. Though if it continued, the redneck thought to himself as he dozed off, he’d have to handle it one way or another. It was something he didn’t fucking like.

It was the last thought Jeremiah was aware of, before darkness swallowed him.

Before he was suddenly wrenched awake with the burning of his lungs, the way his body had already begun to subconsciously fight. To struggle beneath Tyler. His eyes flew open, already deprived of air from the blond’s hands around his throat. His vision blurred, blackening around the edges as he lashed out, hard. One hand gripping Tyler’s wrist as the other grabbed the side of the blond’s face and hs struggled and bucked hard in an attempt to get Tyler beneath him, to get the upper hand. Currently, only focused on survival.

"Die." Tyler murmured indistinctly, his voice so soft that the harsh word sounded almost like a gentle sigh. "Just die." His fingers dug painfully deep into the soft flesh of Jeremiah's throat, spurred on by his unconscious demand, and the palms of his hands pressed downwards with the cruel intent to crush the man's larynx. The Asset leaned forward to bear down his weight through his hands and drew their faces close enough to reveal that his blue eyes held no recognition of the Associate underneath him before he shook him violently. "Just fucking die!" Tyler shouted with unrestrained hate and rage as he slammed Jeremiah down as hard as he could against the mattress.

For several long seconds, Tyler's iron grip on the Associate's neck seemed unbreakable. Withstanding all of Jeremiah's lashing and flailing hands as if it didn't deter him in the slightest, it took an accidental thumb jab in the eye for the blond to finally ease back on his assault. He jerked his head away, his grip loosening, and when he looked back down at the man trapped between his legs, there was a flash of recognition as his breath hitched in a mixture of surprise and shock. However, the return of his consciousness was fleeting when a strong buck of Jeremiah's hips had him tumbling off and back onto the bed.

Momentarily stunned, Tyler had very little time to recover and to try to push himself back up when he found himself being pressed back down onto the mattress. A weight settled upon him, one that he no longer found as comforting, and when he looked up, his expression was one of pure and unbridled terror. He didn't recognize the man on top of him as Jeremiah - he saw him simply as someone who was going to hurt him and possibly kill him and he lashed out violently. Throwing his fists and bucking his hips, Tyler snarled and growled like a wild animal when his wrists were seized. "No!" He shouted, trying to pull free. "No! No! No!" His voice grew louder with each repetition, more panicked and more desperate until he threw his head back and screamed, "GIDEON!"

Tyler didn't cry out for his brother - he screamed for him with every fiber of his being and it was such a heartbreaking sound. It was a scream for help, but there was no hope in it and it sounded more resigned to the fact that his brother was never coming to save him.

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

Dreifuss tapped the side of his chin like he was thinking of the answer. Truthfully he didn’t need to think it even for a moment, but he liked to pretend many things. “I know many things about the way the army brats are trained, but I also know many ways of breaking those army brats into pieces – physically and mentally.” Duncan took a step closer to the janitor. “Do you have balls enough to try? Are you brave enough to step into the game?”

His volatile temper reared its ugly head then. Provoked by Duncan's taunting, the Asset felt the foolhardy aspect of his personality rise to the challenge, but he still had his wits about him and quickly pushed it back down. For a moment, he met Duncan's gaze with a fierce and a defiant look before he begrudgingly averted his eyes to defuse the increasingly tense situation. "I said I wasn't clever, sir. I didn't say I was stupid." He finally remarked. Tyler had been tortured before, experienced the pain and torment physically and mentally. As much as his temper and ego wanted to prove that he was brave enough, that he had the balls, why would he invite that experience back into his life? 

[tylerward-asset]

gideon-thereaper:

There was a moment when his brother smiled that Gideon could almost forget the chain of events that led them to this point. A moment of naivety that didn’t last long for either of them before realty set in again. The sight of Tyler’s ‘dead’ body…the rage in his eyes when they met in combat…even the chat in the basement when he set Tyler free from isolation. It brought a tension in his muscle and quickly crumbled any sense of joy in his expression. It was hard. Looking at this part of him that he looked after every since they were little. A part of him that died that day he found Tyler’s body…that was returned twisted and corrupted from the brother he lost. He wanted to just drop his defenses and remember the good times. But he had to come to terms with the fact Tyler was the enemy still.

“Yeah well I figured it best we keep some space between us. At least until you got settled into your place here.” Eyes diverting from meeting Tyler’s head on. Watching his long lost brother standing there and knowing there was a rift wider than the Grand Canyon between them. Gideon could run across the field of bullets flying from every way around him with less anxiety than this moment. “So…how are you fitting in?” Asked with eyes lowered to the floor mostly.

Tyler's expression hardened almost instantly and he gripped the wooden pole tighter in his hands in an attempt to stave off his rising temper. There was only so much salt he could take in his wounds and it would seem that his brother was intent on rubbing more in. His lip curled up and over his teeth in a bitter and contemptuous sneer as his eyes flickered back up hatefully. "Just fine and dandy. I've never been to prison before, but I'm sure that this place is pretty close to it." Tyler spat and roughly tossed the mop handle against his cart.

The Tower really was like a prison for him; his day was dictated by his guard and he was told when he was allowed to do certain things, where he could go and even on some occasions, he was fucked. But he wasn't about to tell his brother that - he had been fucked enough because of him. What Tyler really wanted to do more than anything else was to get his hands around Gideon's throat, but now wasn't the time for that as he doubted his ability to stand up to his older brother in a physical capacity so he settled with words. They could hurt just as much as fists. "...you do know that this is fucked up right?" Tyler finally asked, a tiny part wondering if he felt even a trace of remorse.

[tylerward-asset]

@ofgravediggcrs

There was something off about Tyler and whatever it was, it was so subtle and disconcerting that everyone around him seemed to notice but him. For the most part, the former Ranger seemed to act like his normal self but, again, there was something off about his demeanor that made him seem a little different than usual self. He seemed to be lagging just a second behind his normal tempo but the short delay spoke volumes about how there was something definitely wrong with Tyler Ward. As the day dragged on, his fierce and volatile temper didn’t flare as quickly or as brightly as it usually did and by the time he finally reported to Jeremiah’s suite at the end of the day, it was almost as if he had withdrawn completely into himself. Unusually compliant and obedient for the Executioner, Tyler seemed to become increasingly distracted and unfocused despite his one reassurance to the older man that he was fine. But Tyler wasn’t fine and it became very clear that he wasn’t after they had fallen asleep together.

It had taken a lot of time for Tyler to become comfortable around Jeremiah and even longer for him to even consider that a tiny part of him wanted the southern man. During his waking hours and out of stubbornness, the Asset refused to acknowledge the bond he had inadvertently created with the other man but when he was asleep, his unconsciousness had him shifting closer to Jeremiah to press an arm or a leg against him. However, tonight was different. Instead of moving closer to the older man as he always did when he was fast asleep, Tyler had stayed precariously close to the edge where he pressed his arms tightly against old war wounds.

Tyler woke up shortly after midnight and it was as if he hadn’t been asleep at all. He seemed more awake and focused than he had been all day but there was an eerie emptiness in his eyes as he stared at the ceiling of Jeremiah’s bedroom. For several minutes, the Asset just laid there before he slowly pushed himself up and crawled closer to the sleeping man beside him where he lingered by his side before carefully straddling the man’s lower chest. Trapping Jeremiah’s arms between his muscular thighs, Tyler paused for a moment to stare blankly at the other, no sign of consciousness in his eyes, before slowly reaching his hands out to touch the stubble growing on Jeremiah’s neck. Watching and feeling the way it seemed to rise and fall with every breath, he waited for the Associate to be at the peak of an exhale before he suddenly tightened his fingers around his neck and bearing full his weight down on his throat.

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

Probably to someone else a  contemptuous sneer would be a bad thing but that actually made Dreifuss flash one of his most wicked grins. He really loved when people showed their real emotions about him, especially since they could alter in so many different ways. It was interesting and fascinating. Especially when he managed to fool them to think he was something else than he truly was. “Oh but if you really try, maybe you do have something to tell for this old Dreifuss.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know the basic principle of withstanding interrogations, would you?” The inquiry seemed so random and off topic but the blond was quick to press forward and explain the reason why he had asked. “In the Army, they trained us to stick to the truth as much as humanly possible in case we were ever captured by the enemy. They told us to only alter details that must be kept secret but other than that to stick to the truth. Anything you hear from me is the truth or close to it so what do you want to hear besides the fact that I’m just a janitor now and a blond?” Never once did Tyler think that he would have to use that survival technique in his life but he had to in order to survive as a POW and now here he was, utilizing the same technique to redirect the inquisitive snake of a man away from him. 

[tylerward-asset]

gideon-thereaper:

Gideon had pretty much wrote off any contact with his little brother. He wasn’t really in the space to deal with his malice or misdirected discord. Not while Gideon was still trying to get his head screwed back on in the wake of Tyler’s rebirth and Marlowe’s breakup. Though he did keep track of his records to ensure the other hadn’t gotten into any further trouble. In the meantime he put focus to finding his routine again. The Ward brothers being held to a need for normalcy to better control the chaos around them. For Gideon that meant keeping track of missing assets, tending to the needs of his dog and filling all other empty time with a workout regiment. He was actually on his way back from the latter when he turned a corner to find his brother practicing with a mop stick. Being that he’d watched Tyler through his training since they were kids he could tell his littler brother had gotten sloppy. Normally he would call out to offer some criticism but had learned from their previous conversation Tyler wasn’t accepting of any words of wisdom. At least not from him.

Watching Tyler he felt a flash of his younger self, the scrawny blonde kid that followed him all through their karate classes as a kid. It felt nostalgic, more than Gideon wanted to admit. So he stayed quit and watched right up until the point Tyler smacked himself in the face. He was quick to cover his mouth to muffle the laughter. And once he had control of himself he cleared his throat, though the smile was still wide across his lips. “Tyler Ward…taken down by mop. Damn shame.” Shaking his head he dropped his gym bag to the side and undid the weight lifting gloves on his hands. Keeping a bit of distance between them and staying on his guard. His brother was armed after all so he couldn’t exactly take the chance that murderous rage had calmed since their last chat.

Tyler had lost many things during his time in the service and his hearing was one of them. It wasn't Gideon's muffled laughter or the rough clearing of his throat that drew his attention away from the sharp ache in his jaw, it was the heavy thud of the older Ward's gym bag on the marble floor. He turned towards the noise, his hearing-impaired ears finally registering his brother's voice and cheeky remark, and for a moment, there wasn't an ounce of hostility in his demeanor. The Asset seemed at ease in Gideon's presence, despite his sudden appearance - so much that his lips had actually curled upwards into his boyish grin in response to his brother's teasing. "Oh, yeah? I've seen you go down with a light breeze." He fired back without thinking.

His grin faltered the moment his teasing jest left him and his expression went through three distinct phases in a matter of seconds. The first was surprise - surprised at how easily it was for him to forget how Gideon had wronged him in more than one way and how he engaged his brother like there was nothing wrong between them. The second was sadness - sadness that there was some ill will between them, even if it was one-sided. And the third was resignation for him to return to being bitter and petty like a sullen child. The mop slid loosely in his hand until it clunked loudly on the floor and Tyler looked down awkwardly, trying to figure out how to interact with his blood after being so friendly and familiar. "Haven't seen you around lately." He finally remarked bitterly, though honestly, it sounded half-hearted.

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

Oh look at that, the kid actually seemed to have a personality. Interesting. But what else would there be than a glimpse of arrogance? “Oh but my status makes me get all the good things.” Maybe he didn’t deserve any of those things he got, but he didn’t care one bit. He was referred as the god up at the labs and that was the only thing he cared about. “So come on, give me a good lie.”

Tyler quirked a light-colored eyebrow at the stranger’s haughty reply and inadvertently allowed his lips to curl up again but this time into a contemptuous sneer. There was only one ‘clique’ in this building that allowed for such vanity and ego and the Asset mentally chided himself for thinking that the other man was anything but another Associate. He watched the inquisitive stranger for a moment, contemplating his next words before he finally replied, “I got nothing good to give you.” It could have been a lie, it could have been a truth - it all depended on what he wanted.

[tylerward-asset]

ofgravediggcrs:

There was something different about the asset, about his demeanor, Jeremiah could tell that much even here in the darkness as his eyes narrowed on the other through the slant of his own dove-grey hair. The man seemed.. satisfied, relaxed. Not in the same way he’d been the first night Jeremiah had left him, when he’d yanked his clothes on and stormed ouf of Jeremiah’s apartment drenched.

The blond’s annoyed expression, the low curse, it wasn’t lost on Jeremiah, but neither were as infuriating as that arrogant little smirk as the blond tugged on his shirt. There was something different, and when Jeremiah stepped closer, he caught it. The scent of some fancy cologne, something that he’d never wear, something the asset now fucking reeked of. A scent that wasn’t his. Instantly, a wave of something he wasn’t entirely certain he could identify overwhelmed him as his lips pulled back to bare his teeth in a snarl. Something strangely akin to possessiveness as he closed the distance between them in several long steps. “Think y'lyin’ t'me, boy.” He growled, the skeptical annoyance in his tone instantly overwhelmed by aggression, anger as he leaned forward, gaze sharp, fingers fisting in the blond’s half-on shirt. “Don’t see y'guard. I just see you. Somewhere you ain’t supposed to be, half fuckin’ naked.” He couldn’t explain, or understand the anger he felt as he gave Tyler a short shove. “You think gettin’ fucked means you can talk to me like that?” He asked, voice low and gravelly, stepping forward with the intent to back the defiant blond into the wall behind him.

The moment Jeremiah's first step echoed towards him, Tyler raised his hackles and turned towards the Associate fully. Every muscle in his body was instantly tense, his posture more fight than flight and was a sharp contrast to his previously relaxed post-orgasm state. He peered cautiously at the older man in the dark, his hearing-impaired ears barely catching the other's sudden and sharp intake of air but his eyes did catch the way his nostrils flared and scrunch almost immediately with apparent distaste. Tyler furrowed his brow slightly in confusion at Jeremiah's peculiar reaction when it wasn't the first time the Associate had scented him after a day's worth of work and then it dawned upon him - he must have smelled differently today. His skin and clothes were saturated with the smell of sex and of Ashcroft's expensive cologne that he could no longer smell, his nose already accepting it as part of him, and Tyler came to the quick conclusion of why the other man was so riled: he didn't smell like Jeremiah.

The Asset stood his ground defiantly when Jeremiah closed the distance between them and met the Associate's angry eyes with his own. His lips trembled with controlled rage and curled upwards a fraction to flash him the white of his teeth in a smaller but just as fierce snarl. He was beginning to understand the peculiarity of the grizzly man in front him and recalled why Jeremiah must have been more receptive of him during their past encounters. Washed with his products, dressed in his clothes, living (sort of) in his suite... Jeremiah thought he was his. Tyler would have laughed at how ridiculous and stupid it was for the Associate to think that but the shove had his temper doubling and then tripling when he was accused of being a liar. He clenched his jaw to the point it ached as his resolve to keep quiet began to weaken and it only took Jeremiah's comment about being fucked to set him off. The Asset sprang off the wall and practically slammed his chest against the Associate's, squaring him up and allowing Ashcroft's cologne to waft over him. "What?" He growled low and tauntingly, “You saying that I can’t talk to you like this unless I’ve been fucked by you and not by someone else? Funny, because I am talking to you like this and I have been fucked by someone else.”

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

There was something shady in this guy. Duncan knew shady guys, and this fellow clearly was shady. Not in the most typical way, but there definitely was something shady. In a way Duncan felt like finding out what it was, but all those lies were one bright proof of the blonde’s shadiness. The guy telling him he was just a janitor and stupid, those were the facts that were telling Duncan this guy was exactly something else than that. Clearly not stupid.

Duncan eyed the guy’s face, raised his brow mimicking the other, trying to figure out what was going on in that pretty head. Wait, did the pretty boy just call Duncan a charmer? That if anything was a lie for sure. Dreifuss was everything but a charmer. But when he did get the smile out of the other Duncan hummed softly. “Lies”, he commented after a short moment and folded his arms over his chest. “Why do you use your pretty head on lies? In bad lies. You should at least try to come up with good lies.”

A corner of his lips curled up then into a snide little smirk before he replied, at first, with a derisive and haughty huff of air. He took a moment to tie off the garbage bag, deciding that the task was more important than immediately answering with words, and tossed it into his cart. "You didn't give me a reason to make up a good one." Tyler finally replied. "You don't get good things without earning it."

[tylerward-asset]

firestvrter:

Ashcroft watched lazily as the man approached him. Shit, his silhouette alone was ridiculously intimidating. Broad shoulders, muscled arms, wild tufts of hair that, as the man got closer, became apparent to be about as blond as Ash’s own. He’d seen him, well, glimpses of him. Ashcroft was rarely around enough to deal with the Class C assets, but he knew this man. Had he been staring when he could? Why the fuck not.. hell, even as the blond man approached, he shifted. His motions were fluid, deliberately seductive.

Ashcroft shifted, sliding a couple of inches further down the wall as his chin dipped. His elbow lifted to rest on one knee as long legs splayed, leaving little to the imagination in those fucking tight skinny jeans he was wearing. At the other’s words, he laughed, a haughty sound.

“Look at me, Thor. Do I look like a good little boy?” Blond brows rose as he flicked the lighter again. “I’m not scared of the dark, and unlike the stupid, pussy guards, I’m not scared of you either. I know a caveman fucking bully when I see one.”

Tyler quirked a light-colored eyebrow at the other blond, mildly taken aback by his rather spritely and unjustly aggressive response, before he eased forward and rested his forearms on the handle of his cleaning cart. Taking a moment to watch the deliberately slow and licentious way the smaller and undoubtedly younger male splayed out his limber legs, the janitor couldn't help the way his lips tugged upwards into an amused but a lazy Cheshire smirk. It would seem that not only did he stumbled upon a little Napoleon in the dark, he stumbled upon a horny one. "'A caveman fucking bully'." He repeated in a slow drawl, his voice a pleasantly deep and alluring rumble before he lightly tapped a closed fist on the cart as if he had just made a decision.

He circled his cart slowly, each step seeming resolute and unswerving like an animal on the prowl as he steadily closed the distance between them. "Seems like you think you got me down to a tee." Tyler demurred as he ceased his approach once he was standing directly in front of the sitting Asset. His foot slid forward and hooked underneath the other blond's ankle before he moved it outwards in order to spread his legs just a little wider. Watching the way the boy's skinny jeans stretched further and tightened on him, particularly at the crotch until it left little to the imagination, Tyler finally knelt down between the other male's splayed legs and pressed his muscled thigh high, leaning his weight teasingly against his groin. "I don't care if you're scared of me or not, but if you were a smart boy, you'd be just a little curious about why I have an armed escort everywhere I go and maybe just a little concern that I seemed to have lost him."

Suddenly, Tyler increased the pressure at the boy's groin to the point of sharp pain and slammed the hand that held the lighter against the wall behind him to prevent him from doing something as stupid as trying to burn him with it. His eyes glinted darkly as he leaned a little closer to the blond, but not too close to be in the range of snapping teeth or a rushing forehead. He had several days, weeks really, worth of frustration that was on the brink of a fiery explosion and it was really fortunate that there was no power in the Tower. It meant that there was no power to the cameras which in turn meant no one to stop him. "Because you want to know what I see?" He asked rhetorically as his free hand shot forward and grabbed the boy's jaw in an iron grip. "A caveman fucking a bully."

[tylerward-asset]

@gideon-thereaper

It didn’t take very long for Tyler to develop a routine at the Tower; after all, with his limited freedom, there wasn’t exactly a wide variety of things available for him to spice up his humdrum life. Each and every day since he had been incarcerated had closely resembled the day before it and the Asset had to constantly remind himself that he wasn’t trapped in some morbid Groundhog Day and that this was his cruel reality. Condemned by his oh-so-merciful brother to live out the last of his miserable days as a slave, it was pretty safe to say that Tyler was less than pleased every time he had to wake up and report for his very stimulating career in custodial services which, in retrospect, was much better than getting shot at on a weekly basis but, fuck, was he bored! Eat, sleep, clean, repeat - that was his daily and mundane routine and never had Tyler ever wanted to be back in the Army as badly as he did now. At least then, his routine would be eat, sleep, clean, kill, repeat.

For the umpteenth time that day, Tyler let out a frustrated but resigned sigh as he lazily circled his cleaning cart and waited for his supervising guard to finish his business in a nearby restroom. The poor man must have been having a serious case of the runs because it was not the first delay in his cleaning schedule - it was the fifth. A tiny part of Tyler knew that he should have had some sympathy for the ailing Associate but he only found himself slowly getting more and more irritated. Tyler liked keeping as closely as possible to his cleaning routine because it kept him busy both mentally and physically but the unscheduled and extended breaks were beginning to make him restless and allowed his mind to wander onto unpleasant topics… like his brother.

A frown was quick to form on the Asset's tanned face when Gideon managed to sneak his way into his thoughts again and stopped his pacing to search for another distraction. Taking several moments to rummage through his cart, Tyler settled on disassembling his mop and began experimenting with the handle. He twirled the long pole in his hands and slowly warmed up to more extravagant displays like spinning it behind his neck to catch it with his other hand. It didn't take long for Tyler to begin running through some old karate drills and it took even less time for him to realize how out of practice he was when he cracked the pole directly on a bruise on his jaw that Jeremiah had given him during their romp when he became a little too spritely for the older man. "Shit..." Tyler hissed in pain as he lowered the mop handle and gently massaged his jaw. That was certainly one way to get his mind off his brother but now his thoughts were beginning to wander towards the Associate who had mottled his skin with bruises and hickies.

[tylerward-asset]

dreifussx:

Duncan looked at the the cleaning cart, then at the guy and he raised his brow. “You really thought I’d want stuff from your cart?” he asked and got up from his seat by the table. “I have way more interesting – and far more useful – stuff up at the labs”, he said as he walked around the table and stopped right in front of the man, eyeing him from head to toes. “And what I want from you definitely isn’t in that cute little cart of yours.” The gaze of the dark brown eyes stopped into the bright blue ones and a grin spread on Duncan’s lips. “Come on, smile for me, pretty boy.”

The Asset shrugged his shoulders innocently, still pretending to be ignorant. “I’m not clever like you Associate types.” He lied, “I’m just a simple janitor and a blond to boot, but I do think you’re severely underestimating the usefulness of some of the things I have in my cart. Pretty sure I can make myself a homemade explosive if I really tried.” More often than not, most people judged the blond before they even got to know him based solely on his short and volatile temper and honestly, Tyler couldn’t blame them. There were days when it annoyed him but in retrospect, it gave him an upper hand and the element of surprise when he revealed that he wasn’t another mindless Army grunt. For a moment, the frown on his tanned face seemed to become a permanent feature as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously when the Associate drew closer with a peculiar set of words on his lips and a tiny part of him did not like it one bit. 

However, Tyler refused to allow his coy facade to falter and simply raised an eyebrow at the even more peculiar order. He wanted him to smile? The Asset wanted to refuse the simple request on the basis that he had nothing to smile about but rather than start a scene, especially with his work day almost over, he let out a resigned sigh. “Well, aren’t you the charmer,” Tyler commented just a little snidely before he obediently lifted his lips into a quick smile. Flashing the man with the white of his straight teeth, his half-hearted smile made it nowhere near his eyes but still managed to take away his annoyed and jaded appearance for just a second to make him appear friendly before it fell lifeless once more. “Was that as satisfying for you as it was for me, sir?”