i just want the one to get hurt and the other to be sad about it
@whump-the-caretaker
jack // my pronouns are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ // long time reader, just now posting // always the same ocs, but continuity is for losers who don't bathe in aus // avery/beckett masterpost here
Bodyguard caretaker tastes whumpee’s food before they eat, much to their exasperation. That is, until the day it’s warranted and caretaker begins to choke on the poison.
(Alternatively, this protective measure is well known enough that whumpee is poisoned instead with an allergen. Caretaker watches as whumpee eats the food they tested and go into anaphylactic shock)
“Now, if you’re not going to behave, I’m going to have to confiscate your toys,” Whumper chides.
The defiant whumpee’s eyes snapped to the caretaker. The panic at the thought of losing them so soon silenced the snappish response already on their tongue.
a new story! this one is a one-shot in an urban fantasy sort of setting
about the characters
The vampire stroked Beck’s hair, looking over his shoulder to meet Avery’s eyes.
“What were you saying, hunter?”
“Don’t you touch him,” Avery breathed. “If you think I’ve been after your kind so far, just see how I’ll be if you touch one hair on his head.”
“But he smells so good,” he answered, face turning into Beck’s neck so that he could smell along the skin, lips parted. The thrall held, and Beck just tilted his head to allow the vampire access.
“Don’t.”
“Just a taste.”
“Don’t you dare!”
Beck gave a soft cry, eyes slipping shut, as teeth broke the skin. He slumped back against the chest of the man supporting him while Avery slammed into the concrete and rebar of the collapsed wall that had separated them.
The vampire licked against the skin to collect drips as he pulled away and smiled up at Avery. Beck made a soft noise of discomfort, held up by the arms that had been restraining him.
“I’m going to enjoy taking him from you,” he answered. “After all those you’ve taken from us.”
Avery’s heart clenched at the soft slit of Beck’s eyes. “I’ll come after you. I’ll make you pay for this.”
“Wake up, little thrall. Say goodbye to your hunter.”
Beck’s lashes fluttered and Avery’s chest was hollowed out by the dull look of his eyes. “Avery?” he muttered.
“Hey, babe,” Avery said, voice cracking. “It’s going to be okay.”
“God, I’m tired,” he said, slumping a little. “What happened? Something’s wrong.”
“I know. I know it hurts,” he whispered. “I’m coming to get you.”
“Time’s up, deary,” the vampire said, and Beck collapsed, slung over the monster’s shoulder.
“Let him go. Please let him go.”
“Not a chance,” the vampire answered with a smile.
Avery’s fists pounded on the fallen rocks as Beck was hauled away from him.
He tracked the vampires to their den, heart feeling like it hadn’t beat since he’d seen Beck disappear. The space between losing his love and finding him on a creaky floor, bite marks speckling his skin, seemed eternal.
His staff clattered to the ground next to Beck’s body. “Beck,” he breathed, dropping down and feeling for a pulse. It was there, soft and quick under his fingers. “Oh, thank god.” He bent over him, forehead against Beck’s shoulder and tears stinging his eyes. “Beck.”
He lifted him up, cradling the sick body to his chest, and glanced deeper into the house. He wanted to storm in, to punish them for what they’d dared to do, but he had to get Beck out. Before anything else happened to him. Before he lost him again.
“Where are you going, hunter?”
The voice halted him before he’d even made it ten steps.
“Too rude to even come in to say hello?”
“Too stupid to not accept me sparing your life?” Avery snapped back. He fought to stay calm and took advantage of the moment to cautiously set Beck back on the ground.
“Step away from him,” the vampire instructed. “We’re not finished playing yet.”
Even with the layers of wards and enchantments he wore to prevent succumbing to a thrall, Avery felt compelled to obey. The vampire must be ancient.
“Not going to happen,” Avery growled.
“My, my, aren’t you the mighty hunter.” The vampire took a languid step forward, and cleared his throat. “Wake up, little one. Come here.”
Avery jolted when Beck stirred, despite the toll this place had taken. Despite the aching slowness of a body too damaged to be functioning right, he started to pick himself up off the ground.
“I won’t let you have him,” Avery growled, stepping between them with his staff clenched in his hand.
“Your devotion to the little human is really very sweet. You would be better served forgetting him.”
“Never.”
“Beckett, dear, grab your hunter for me, would you?”
Avery startled when Beck’s hands closed around his arms. His fingers were weak, and the restraint felt more like he was clinging for support. He tried to pull free, and Beck fell against him.
With Beck weakly holding his arms, there was no way to fight. Torn between two impossible options. He didn’t want to hurt him--was pretty sure he’d die if he hurt him--but he also couldn’t let him be taken. He pushed back, shoving Beck so that he went sprawling on the floor, and dove for the vampire, whipping his wooden staff around to ram the pointed end through his heart.
It didn’t make it that far. Instead, he found himself slammed into the ground, vampires crawling from the wood works. He shouted for Beck to go, to run, begging the part of him that was still there to get away.
Instead, Beck, who had shakily gotten back to his feet, stood and waited for them to gather around him, stroking his hair and fixing their attention on his neck.
“Get away!”
“His blood is sweeter knowing he’s yours, hunter.”
“You’ll kill him,” Avery shouted. “He’ll die if you take any more, and then what?”
“Would you let us drink from you instead?”
Avery froze. This was a dangerous path to go down.
“Remove your wards and let us bite you and we’ll leave him alone.”
What good would he be then? Once they had his blood, he would have nothing left to defend himself with. But Beck was going to die. He could see it in the pallor of his skin and the sway of his posture. He couldn’t afford to lose another drop.
“I can’t let you do that,” Avery whispered.
“Then we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
Avery shouted as he was dragged up from the ground, thrashing against the restraining hands. He’d worked too hard to find Beck. He couldn’t be set back to ground zero.
There was a pounding on his door, just before dawn, the tips of pink light already spreading in the sky.
Avery dragged himself to his feet, bound leg protesting and bandages pulling against his side. He’d fought his way free, but only just. Whoever needed his help would have to go somewhere else. They were just lucky he couldn’t sleep.
The pounding grew louder in the time it took him to haul his aching body across the house. “I’m coming, I’m coming!”
He tugged the door open and stared when he saw Beck standing on the other side, panicking but whole.
“Beck!” he reached for him, only to have him flinch back.
“Please. Please, Avery. You have to invite me in.”
Avery's stomach dropped, his heart pounding. No. They couldn't.
“Please.”
His eyes shot to the first rays of the sun on the horizon. “Come in, hurry,” he said, stepping aside and reaching for Beck, who flinched from his touch.
The door closed behind him, and Beck started shaking, hand pressed over his nose and mouth like he was holding in a sob. He backed away from Avery in the tight space of the hall.
“Beck, it's okay.”
“It's really, really not.”
“Come here,” Avery said gently. He had to put away his own fury and help Beck.
Beck shook his head sharply. “No, I can't. They haven't fed me in days. I--"
Avery saw it so clearly then, what could have happened, what they'd planned to happen. Either Beck would die in front of him, caught in the sun, or he'd invite him in and get drained by the young, starving vampire. Beck was clearly barely holding on. Only just restraining himself from attacking Avery.
Well, fuck them.
He went to Beck without a second thought, already dropping his wards and rolling up his sleeve to expose his wrist. “It's okay, take what you need.”
Beck stared at him, wide eyed. “No, you can't mean--”
“Beck, it's okay. I won't let you take too much.” He held out his hand, wrist up.
Suddenly paler than should have been possible, Beck backed away down the hall, shaking his head and refusing to breathe.
“My heart, you won't hurt me.”
“I can't. I can't drink from you.”
“You need to. You'll hurt someone if you don't.”
“So you want me to hurt you instead?” He was verging on hysterical
“First of all, that's my job. Second, I already told you you won't. I'll stop you before you can.”
“Please, no,” Beck breathed, words choking out of him. “I don't want to know what you taste like.”
Avery stepped forward calmly, catching his hands, his skin cold beneath Avery’s, and lifting them to his chest. “I’m not abandoning you. I’m not killing you, and I’m not going to just let you die. I planned to share my life with you, and that’s just… a little more literal now.”
Beck choked on a sob that might have been intended to be a laugh. “I’d really rather you let me go.”
His grip tightened. “Not going to happen.” He held onto him for a moment longer and then turned Beck’s hands over, placing his own in them, pulse point beating just under the surface.
It hurt, of course it did, when Beck’s teeth pierced his skin, but he’d had worse injuries in his time as a hunter--hell, he’d had this injury a fair number of times before he learned how to protect himself. The relief sagging Beck’s shoulders was worth a little twinge.
Before he could begin to feel more than a little light headed, he rested a hand on the back of Beck’s neck. “That’s enough.”
Beck practically leaped away from him, scrambling back until he was pressed against the far wall. “Fuck, no, I’m sorry.”
“Shh, no, Beck, I was just stopping you before it went too far. I’m fine.” He stepped carefully towards him.
Beck pressed a hand over his mouth and slid down the wall. “Like I don’t know how it feels.”
Avery’s stomach clenched. Beck had been bitten. Over and over, without time to heal, he was bitten and drained, a drop at a time until he died. “You didn’t hurt me,” he repeated, crouching in front of him. “I’ve been bitten before. I’m okay.”
“Never again.”
“Yes, again. Tomorrow.”
Beck shook his head sharply.
“You need to feed often or you could hurt someone. If they’ve been starving you, it’s going to take a few days before you can go between meals.”
“You are not a meal!”
Avery smiled softly and pressed a kiss to Beck’s forehead. “I love you, Beck. You’re going to be okay.”
Beck shook his head, eyes watering. “I can’t hurt you, Avery. Please don’t make me hurt you.”
“If the price I pay for having you back is a couple of bite marks, I will jump at the chance,” Avery said firmly.
Beck shook his head against him. “I don’t want to be like this.”
Avery shuddered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“It’s not your fault,” Beck’s voice, usually so firm and brash, shook on the words. “I--I remember what happened to me under the thrall.”
Avery stiffened, breath sucked out of him.
“You came for me. You tried so hard to save me. I don’t blame you for any of this.”
“They did this to get to me, They would never have touched you if you weren’t mine.” Avery rested their foreheads together and held Beck’s hands to his chest. “I’d give anything to keep you safe.”
“And I wouldn’t trade my life with you for all the safety in the world.”
Guys! I just got my BTHB card!!!!! I’ll be tagging as #bthb and will be tracking completion here as a masterpost to keep from cluttering up anyone’s dash.
Whumpee could no longer feel anything below their waist. Somehow, miraculously, they were still upright, despite the fact that they had no more energy left in them. There was no other option. Not really. Not with a collar around their throat, spiked and rigged to tighten if they sank to the floor.
They weren’t sure how long they’d been there, but they knew that they weren’t going to make it much longer. They were delirious with exhaustion and felt their consciousness flickering.
“Whumpee?”
They flinched at the first sound they’d heard in an eternity and reeled back hard enough to cut off their air with a stabbing, shooting pain.
“Fuck!” Caretaker was suddenly beside they, prying away the noose and stemming the blood. “Whumpee, shit, I’ve got you.”
They stared deliriously at the face in front of them, unspeaking and disbelieving. It had been dark and silent for so long that his brain couldn’t even process this. “Caretaker?” they whispered, voice ragged. “Are you…”
Okay, y’all. Whew. That’s the end. For now at least.
I just finished a long-form thing! A huge, heartfelt thanks to @meghiemootriesawhumpblog and @iaminamoodymoodtoday. Your replies/tags/comments gave me life.
Next up is some shorter stuff. It’s time for a few one or two shots and some drabbles before anything of an epic scale again.
There may be more shifter vignettes, depending on the whims of inspiration. If anyone has anything they’d like to see, send me an ask or a dm.
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