I've had this scene rattling around in my head for awhile, kaey struggling to remove the muzzle. not as tidy as I would like but I am pleased overall ! feral!au kaey and a rather sinister aleksey.
when he wakes up his head is pounding. laying on his back, he opens his eyes to bright light overhead. blinking, he raises a hand to shield his face, then turns his head aside as he makes sense of his current situation. it is only then that he becomes aware of something hard on his face - pressure around his nose and cheeks, something wedged between his teeth and compressing his tongue. when he attempts to work his jaw he finds it restricted, and then the panic sets it.
both hands fly to his face, eyes shut tight as he assesses. the lower part of his face is encased in a hard but seemingly pliable material, secured behind his head by a band that he can find no way to remove. a gag, a mask. a muzzle.
tears bite at the corners of his eyes as he struggles onto his side, then his stomach, and finally on his hands and knees. his breath comes quickly, harshly, and he must fight the part of his brain that insists he is suffocating. in fact his breathing did not feel impeded at all, though awkward beneath the layers of whatever the mask was made of.
"you'll get used to it in time, I'm sure." the voice comes from a corner of the room. kaey bolts upright, scrabbling backwards, away. eyes rising, he finally sees the man leaning against the wall, watching. he is finally aware of the room he is in, all metal and - bigger than he remembered. where there once had been bars, there was now nothing separating him from aleksey. the man seems to understand this realization, grinning. "no need for bars when the rabid dog can't bite. might even get your own room now, instead of a cell."
he takes a drag off a cigarette, and kaey can see his hand is wrapped in bandages. his own handiwork, with teeth marks concealed beneath those wrappings. the last thing he remembered was... "if you behave, that is. and you will behave, won't you ? or else I have more ideas for how we can contain your feral beast." he flicks the cigarette away and straightens, begins to slowly approach him.
kaey pulls himself backwards, until his back hits the wall, and flinches against the contact. with nowhere else to go, his hands once again find the edges of the mask and desperately search for release. head still spinning, heart pounding in his chest, he tries to pry it away from his face, tears streaming now in both pain and panic.
until aleksey is standing before him, then crouching on his level. and their eyes meet for a brief moment before kaey flinches away, turning his head away as the man reaches for him. a hand cups his chin, but doesn't force him to turn back. "not so fierce now that you've been gagged, are you ?" the tone is thoughtful, but when the hand does jerk, turning kaey back to face him, his eyes are hard.
"now that we've tamed the wild animal in you lets begin again, shall we ? you will listen, you will behave, you will do as you are told. you will be rewarded for admirable performance, and punished for anything otherwise. you will earn your privileges, and your mask will be removed at my discretion until you've proven yourself trustworthy. if you ever do so. nod now if you understand." kaey nods, quick and curt, and the man smiles. "fantastic."
but then his face falls, and he tilts kaeys head first one way, then the other, as if examining the mask, his face. he frowns, and his next words send ice down kaeys spine. "pity. I was looking forward to hearing you scream in the coming days."